American, pilots union to restart talks
 

American Airlines and its pilots union to restart talks this week | HighYieldBond.com

"...American CEO Tom Horton told employees in a letter yesterday 'Negotiating teams are scheduled to meet in intensive bargaining sessions beginning this week'...”

"...pilots...blamed the loose seats on American’s outsourcing of maintenance"


American Airlines and its pilots union to restart talks this week | HighYieldBond.com

The pilots should negotiate like there is no BK and demand an industry leading contract. Of course the "association" will probably try to play nice and get their hats handed to them again. While the AA pilots stand is indeed a presidence(sp?) setting event it will not be of much value unless the pilots use the leverage they currently have and go for the gusto. Every professional airline pilot should be supporting these guys and be willing to stand and walk with them if necessary.

The best they can hope for, and should aim for, is a very short term contract with snap back provisions after BK exit. Both sides are realizing that they will lose more from protracted strife than they stand to gain. I hope for everyone's sake they do come to an agreement, and for the pilot's sake, I hope it's only a 1 or 2 year deal, short term pain for long term gain.

You are correct that any agreement should be short term unless there is a major gain, which is very unlikely, for the pilots. Unfortunately when dealing with AMR management who are famous for their unethical behavior, whatever the pilots agree to today will be twisted by management to their favor tomorrow. A two year deal with AMR could easily last more than 6 years. Plus the "association" has been consistantly putting less than complete, in full legal language, agreements to the pilots for a vote. UCAL has had a TA for months but still have not had it presented due to the necessity of providing the pilots a completed contract for them to vote on. The last two "contracts" AApilots voted on were not the final documents. A rush to get an agreement will again backfire on the pilots if they are not careful.

We had an AA jumpseater yesterday, and he said that management had a new contract proposal ready that would be similar to Delta's. Any truth to this? I find that hard to believe, unless management is trying to offer a more favorable contract than Parker to stop the support for a merger.

Best of luck to our fellow aviators at American. Hope their negotiations are fruitful and the pilots can move forward with strength and dignity.

There is a rumor on another site that there is a contract done, or close to it.

Boowaahahahaha. That's hysterical. The union said they don't expect serious discussions until later this week.

Please, Please, PLEASE: APA, don't be in a hurry. I think you'll need to mull this whole situation over, at least through the holidays.

There is absolutely no contract proposal yet. Not even close. What the jumpseater might have been referring to were rumors being spread by some "in the know" that a Delta-style contract is what APA is after.

Regardless - anything short of a DL contract will most likely get voted down - again... and the company knows it. APA has all the leverage in the world, they just need to realize its full potential.