Originally Posted by
SharpestTool
Would you negotiate with someone who says we have a deal and then says, well not really, just kidding? More importantly would you reward that behavior by offering them a superior deal? Remember, the MEC gave the green light for the table position. Most importantly, can you show me an example where that tactic has worked in this business? What airline union has actually pulled that off?
Originally Posted by
SharpestTool
Fine. Don't use history solely. How about using some of it? You need to study this business. It ain't the military. I'll save you time though, but you'll have to trust me. I've been in this business for nearly 22 years and nobody has pulled off the trick yet. Bait and switch does not work.
Originally Posted by
SharpestTool
Read what I'm saying and not what you want me to be saying. We can negotiate until the cows come home. We don't have to accept anything they're offering. We can demand whatever we want and as long as we have the patience and intestinal fortitude we can endure.
What we cannot do and what will not be tolerated is to bait and switch. We cannot agree to something and then back out because we changed our minds. It destroys credibility.
Find me an example where that has worked. Just one.
Part 2:
USATODAY.com - American flight attendants OK new contract concessions
Posted 4/25/2003 11:41 AM Updated 4/25/2003 2:37 PM
American flight attendants OK new contract concessions
By Dan Reed, USA TODAY
FORT WORTH — Flight attendants at American Airlines agreed Friday to concessions that the company said it needed to avoid bankruptcy.
Flight attendants at American Airlines agreed Friday to concessions that the company said it needed to avoid bankruptcy.
Leaders of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants had been badly split over a concessions offer that the company sweetened this week, with lingering anger aimed at Don Carty, who was forced to resign as chairman and chief executive Thursday.
"With new leadership in place at AMR, there was a renewed willingness from management to begin to repair the damage done to relations with its employees," said John Ward, president of the flight attendants union.
Gerard Arpey, the company's president, replaces Carty as CEO, while board member and former Sears CEO Edward Brennan will take over as chairman.
Arpey said some employees will lose their jobs, and he praised the unions for agreeing to the concessions.
"By any measure, we have our work cut out for us," Arpey said at a news conference Friday afternoon shortly after the flight attendants announced their agreement.
"We are not out of the woods yet, but as your new CEO, I am up to the task. I will always do what is right. Working with our unions and all of our employees, together we will put American Airlines back on top," he said.
To secure the union's approval of the concessions deals voted on last week, AMR's board sweetened the deal:
The length of the contracts was shortened to five years, or until April 30, 2008. Previously, the contracts were to run five years and eight months, until Jan. 1, 2009. Airline contracts don't end. They become amendable at a set date, while existing terms remain in effect.
Either the unions or the company can move to reopen contract negotiations two years early, in April 2006, effectively reducing the contract's length to three years.
Unions can seek to renegotiate one contract item of their choosing during a 30-day period that begins May 15. However, total value of the contracts cannot change. Disputes on those points can be settled by arbitration.
Terms of an incentive pay plan added as a deal sweetener earlier this month to coax union members to approve the concessions will also be applied to management. Employees will be able to earn larger pay raises if American reaches "reasonably achievable" operational and financial goals. The plan is in addition to profit sharing and stock-option plans included in the concessions approved last week.