AAflyer

December 7, 2007

American pilots drop a little bombshell

At the negotiating table Thursday, the union representing American Airlines pilots made a proposal that gets to the heart of more than 20 years of hard feelings between its pilots and American -- and for that matter, for many pilots at big carriers.

The Allied Pilots Association proposal:

All flying performed by or on behalf of the Company or an Affiliate shall be performed by pilots on the American Airlines Seniority List in accordance with the terms and conditions of this agreement.

American Airlines quickly put out a response, in the tsk-tsk style that it uses on its public negotiations website, www.aanegotiations.com:

AA negotiators raised serious concerns about the impact of such a proposal and believe our efforts should be focused on helping American be competitive in all areas of its business.
What that means is that only American Airlines pilots will do its flying, whether it's 37-seat regional jets or 500-seat jumbo jets.

Very reluctantly, the APA back in the 1980s agreed to let American contract with regional carriers to provide the short-haul flights into its hubs. But that has grown over the years to long-distance flights and not just into hubs, and the American union has never liked it, even as it had to back down because all of American's major competitors were benefitting from out-sourced flying.

Complicating this question now is American's Nov. 28 proposal to spin off its separate American Eagle unit that does most commuter feed for American.

The union in the past has proposed that its members do all flying, with the proviso that the commuter pilots would be paid lower rates than those who fly bigger airplanes. But the average American pilot gets benefits and such that also raise the employee costs in addition to the hourly pay rate, so American hasn't shown any interest.

This will get interesting.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

JoeyMeatballs

That would be great, but wasnt it the arrogance of major airline guys that allowed flying of "rjs" be done by someone other then a mainline pilot. Either way I think this is a great idea, very interesting............. The comment about the proviso that the smaller airplanes pay smaller, well isnt that the whole idea, they should take the payrates on the 737's and proportion the pay down to the 50,70,90 seat RJ's

VegasBoy

This is what should have been done years ago.

ALPA missed that boat when the RJ's came on-line 15 years ago; however, it's absolutely reassuring to see a real union take a stand on one of the most important issues affecting all of our livelihoods!!!

BoilerUP

Let me preface this by saying I'm glad to read this, and I hope AA pilots make a stand for this proposal. That said...

Even if AMR was willing to give this up, how much would it cost the APA to buy their scope back???

Pilotpip

From a regional guy flying with an all blue chicken on the side of my plane from time to time:

THANK YOU!!!

Why wasn't it this way from the beginning? I never understood how it costs less to do fee for departure when most of us would be more than happy to work for these wages with the chance to move up the line into bigger and better. Good luck guys.

JoeyMeatballs

lets see if CAL follows suit and at leasts stops the bleeding with the 50 seat RJ's, I think we all know well and good that Larry Kellner can't wait to throw the CAL pilots some b/s carrot and let CHQ fly the 170'sin CAL colors...........

Nashmd11

You Nailed it. Very impresed. Not many remember the late 80's. The arrogance of the Major Airline Union leaders brought us to were we are today. The regional pilots were losers to them. And they did not want em on the seniority list. This is because if they did, there buddy's would have start out at Eagle and not the 727. This was said by Rich Levoy-AA- many times.

All pilots, Main line and Feeder, need to be on ONE list. This is the only way to gain leverage. The lowest bidder will always win- look at Republic for example. Explosive growth.

HercDriver130

Rich Levoy was a joke. I was at eagle 92-94 when they were part of APA. APA screwed the Eagle pilots in 94 and generally showed nothing but disdain for them then. Why would it be any different now... simply bringing the Eagle pilots onto the seniority list wont change the attitudes that "mainline" pilots show for those who fly smaller jets.

I agree with the one seniority list concept but having suffered under both APA and the treatment received from many ( not all ) mainliners ... i wonder just how it would work. Could you imagine the #1 guy at Eagle with say 15 years or more seniority being stapled on the bottom at AA..... not likely.

SharkyBN584

It'd be nice if this happened...but it's not gonna. Ever. Mainline pilots will never bring the regionals into the fold. We're the red-headed step child of aviation despite the fact that a lot of those guys bummin' around in an MD80 were here once doing exactly what we're doing...but somehow THEIR scope clauses make US bottom feeders....right.

box-hauler

Yes I could imagine that. His pay would remain about the same or better with the work rules that he will now fly under. He would be better off in his ability to bid to bigger (more money) aircraft. He would get a better benefits package. Not sure about retirement but I can only imagine that AA is better than eagle.

This is the only way to stop the crazy airline management. One list, one voice.