AMR made a presentation during the APA contract negotiations on Wednesday. They want the scope clause modified to allow Eagle and "other non-owned commuter carriers" to operate an unlimited number of 76-seat Embraers in a 2 class configuration. APA's stance is basically that no scope clause exception in the past has worked out to benefit AA pilots, so why should this one?

Eventually AMR is going to get what they want, whether it's now or through bankruptcy. APA is just dragging their feet while hanging themselves in the process. Meanwhile it's not surprising to see management leaving open the option to completely outsource...

 

I didn't write this.

 

That "theory" isn't reality.

Do you really think Eagle furloughing 3% of their pilots is going to sway the APA in negotiations ?

The APA couldn't care less about this and AMR knows that.
Neither of these two parties are that stupid. The Eagle furloughs are a result of Eagle management chipping costs out of every nook and cranny possible. This is just ONE of those chips.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Although it is an ill-timed error as the typical summer scenario that happens EVERY summer will see us shorter staffed then usual.

 

Agree.

The only variable is how wide will the APA's anuses be after scope is dealt with (in or out of bankruptcy) ?

You've seen the movie "Dumb and Dumber" ?

Well, you can call this one, "Wide and Wider".

 

One of two things must be true: either the order to furlough came from somewhere higher than Eagle management for "other" reasons, or the stupidity of the people in crew planning has no bounds... Drop requests were denied due to staffing last month while at the same time the company was claiming to be understaffed. Countless JM's, reassignments and canceled flights due to lack of staffing mere days after furloughing. They better hope for good weather system-wide during transition every month. Otherwise let the cluster ******* begin! The facts speak for themselves and either way it's messed up.

 

This past transition was a cluster at DFW!

 

Eagle managment is free to lean the mixture until the engine is running rough. They've done that before staffing-wise and are doing it again. They botched it before and will botch it again.

What consequence is there for doing this ?

Well, ALPA could (again) file a greivance on the contratual requirement to "staff the airline properly", but like most of the Eagle contract, "proper" staffing is subjective.

Besides if they filed the greivance tomorrow, then it wouldn't be heard for 18 months...............again, there is NO consequence for repeating the past here.

Another rumor (which MAY have some meat) says that the request DID come from up higher, but not to directly influence the APA, but instead to show Eagle's costs as low as possible for another spinoff or sale possibility. If Eagle is seperated (at least temporarily) from AMR, it would provide a safe haven for shareholders and certain other assets and information to be isolated should AA go the BK route to eliminate any chance of mainline labor (not JUST the APA) from forcing AA into what THEY BELIEVE will be a hopelessly uncompetitive labor cost structure.

If the APA goes chaos, then AMR might believe the only way to mitigate that is with a nuclear counterstrike...........that being a pre-packaged BK with all their goodies (and perhaps embarassing revelations) stashed temporarily elsewhere until it can be shifted back after the mushroom cloud has cleared and the radiation level has gone down.

They announced they wanted UNLIMITED 76-seaters (EMB-175 or CRJ-900's) last week..............................UNLIMITED !

 

It's an entertaining show, that's for sure. The real kicker is that they're leaving open the option to farm off the flying outside of AMR. Gotta keep the torch up Eagle's ass in order to keep us from getting out of line...

I put nothing past those people. Whipsaw one employee group off another? Sure why not? Bog ALPA down with minor contract violations and "drop in the bucket" furloughs to sidetrack them from contract negotiations at AA that directly involve them? Brilliant!

I think I complain too much...

 

I don't see APA giving Eagle anything - pilots on the street or not. I get the general feeling they don't like us that much.

Nothing like sitting in the JS on an AA flight and having a Captain say to you, "I hope APA buys Eagle and gets rid of the whole damn thing."

There are a lot of things I wanted to say back, not one of them appropriate...but I held my tongue and kept smiling. I just hope he understood that if we went down I wasn't going to pull him from the wreckage.

 

Well, that comment shouldn't bother you. The APA couldn't afford Eagle and AMR wouldn't "sell" it to them even if they could. That Captain owes his seat to Eagle, for without it AA would go bankrupt due to losing 40% of its revenue stream and would shrink by 50%..........he'd be lucky to be a reserve narrowbody F/O and even MORE ****ed that he got his wish.

If AA wanted to convert itself to a MUCH smaller stand alone carrier with no feeder system, then some of the survivors there would be happy, but the bottom half of the pilots who became unemployed would have a new audience to ***** about Eagle at various Home Depots, Lowes and Walmarts across the country.

Personally, if it's THAT important to them, they can sell Eagle and allow us to compete with other carriers flying EMB-190's now. Like it or not, THAT is where the future domestic growth will be.

Excuse me captain, er........can you point me to the millwork section, please ?..................I've got to re-fasten a screen door before my trip this afternoon.