Flight attendants scrap deal with American

CNN ^ | 041903 | AP

[Archangelsk]

FORT WORTH, Texas (CNN) -- Outraged by news that troubled American Airlines had planned to give its executives bonuses, flight attendants rescinded their approval of wage cuts and plan to vote again, a union official said late Friday.

No date for the new vote was set. Wednesday, the flight attendants agreed to more than $10 billion in wage concessions over six years. The airline had said it would file for bankruptcy protection if the union did not approve the cuts.

[WhatHappenedtoAmerica]

My AA Platinum card goes back today.

As an AA employee I ask that you please reconsider your decision. As you said, management already has theirs. They don't need your business, but the rest of us do. Will you reconsider?

[ClancyJ]

I've long realized that CEO's and their teams are stealing from the top. Have you ever noticed the salary comparisons they use to justify increases? A round robin - they do a survey and find someone higher paid than their own, therefore, they claim they MUST raise their executive salaries to "hold on" to the cream of the crop. Then the next year, the same is done again - ever spiraling higher. Much like baseball player salaries.

Noteworthy also is the fact that this same survey is done on lower ranking positions. Yet - in those - they seem to find other companies paying lower salaries, therefore, they must lower their ranges for positions - ever spiraling downward.

Whatever they choose to call it - it is stealing profits to pad their pockets instead of growing the business.

[dark_lord]

I always thought SW was non-union.

Okay, here's the deal. This link contains this quote:
"Southwest Airlines, today's fastest-growing major airline, is partially employee-owned through stock options for pilots, and through a condition of company-wide profit-sharing that a quarter of the money go to buy company stock. There are millionaires and near-millionaires among rank-and-file employees of the highly unionized airline as a result, but no employee representatives on Southwest's board."

A little diligent web searching will reveal that:
(1) The pilots are members of SWAPA which is a teamsters affiliate.
(2) And the flight attendents are members of the Transport Workers Union Local 556 which represents 7,300 Southwest Airlines flight attendants as of February of this year.
(3) And the SouthWest Airlines mechanics are represented by IAM (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) which just negotiated a new contract in December of 2002.

So, yep, SouthWest Airlines which is so profitable is also quite unionized.

[antaresequity]

After all, who could have forseen that their airline was not competative against Jet Blue and SouthWest

I saw this coming a couple of years ago...Exec Pork and Titanic Unions = death in the new lean mean business world.

Adapt or die.

[John123]

So, yep, SouthWest Airlines which is so profitable is also quite unionized.

Wow! SW should be the case study for college business programs across US. They must be doing something right when the management and labor work together.