travelRN777

I have to agree, where do the FA's think that they get off wanting more money?? Their parent company continues to loose money left and right.

Maybe its time to start laying off from the top and working down, for example the top FA are OLDER and make more, so lets be financially smart and get rid of some of them! LOL JK, I know thats not how it works with Unions.

Ready2Go

Not how it works in this industry, period. DL's flight attendants have never been unionized, for instance, but their seniority system is every bit as rigid as AA's.

virmaior

Actually, their offer included $1.1B of cash from TPG, which is a hedge fund in Texas that's already invested in American. They don't have $1b in cash to spend on anything.

Umrswimr

I have a hard time defending anybody asking for more money when their company is incapable of making a profit to begin with. If my company lost money for an entire year, I wouldn't be thinking about a raise- I would be wondering what unemployment pays...

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Unless you worked in banking. Seriously, the FAs need to take a look around. A real unemployment rate of 17%-18%, people going months and months before they find a job (usually at a steep pay cut), salaries being slashed (at my company will all took a 15% hosing last fall), benefits being cut (come on, how many actually have pensions anymore), etc. What they should be doing is finding ways to become more productive and trying to get the airline to pay incentives based upon cost savings from being more productive. I understand their frustration that now nearly seven years ago after taking a haircut they expected to make that back well before now, but the industry (and most business) has changed and not for the good.

austin_modern

I have to agree with this. I have a hard time siding with someone who wants more money as their company is hemorrhaging cash trying to stay afloat.

Also, perhaps this is a bit rude, but FAs need to take a look at what skills they bring to the game. They are an upskilled set of waitresses and waiters. Serving drinks? Helping organize the overhead space? Perhaps a CPR class or two? How to mad scramble down the slide? Seriously.

Doghound

Although I think you're oversimplifying their job a bit, I will agree with what you and newyorkgeorge said as well. It's just not the right time to ask for the benefits you gave up 7 years ago.

Heck, they should be happy that AA hasn't cut more of their benefits this year due to the horrible economic situation. During the recession of the early 2000s, my company forced even top performers to take large pay cuts just to prevent having to fire people. Now, during this recession, they were able to avoid anyone making pay cuts because they better prepared for an economic downturn. Granted a lot of people have gone without raises in awhile, but at least they still have a job.

And, imo, that's exactly how the AA FAs should feel: they actually still have a job with a company that can, at the moment, afford to pay them and isn't in bankruptcy.

That's why I asked in my first response of this thread: "What are the FAs even thinking?"

zman

Just remember the AA managemnet team still gets thier stock Bonuses and has been almost every year.

wolf539

Ouch; if I were you I'd watch out for a steaming hot cup of coffee in your lap on your next flight!

Doghound

That's because that is in their contract. AA can't take that away as management's contracts aren't up for renegotiation. If they don't give them that stock bonus, then AA can be sued. The FAs are also getting everything in their contract/employment agreement as it is drafted right now. They are trying to renegotiate that to change it. And using the argument of your post's facts is baseless. It's like crying, "he had one more doughnut than me last year".

freeupgrade

I must agree with this. I know people that have been looking for a job for over a year. While I appreciate all of the hard work that the FAs do, this country is in the worst economy since the great depression. With all due respect, anyone with a job should be grateful they have it. I don't mean to sound so harsh or insensitive, but sadly, it has become reality.

brp

Are these incentive bonuses above and beyond what is guaranteed in their negotiated contracts? Given the performance of the company, I sure hope not. If not, then this is not at all relevant to the discussion here. If so, it is definitely inappropriate.

Cheers.

Dallas49er

I agree 100%.

Also, I believe the title of this thread is "Is a flight attendant strike coming?", for which there are 3 possible answers right off the top of my head:

1. Yes. If so, when?
or
2. No. Okay, let's get back to flying!
or
3. Don't know. Great. More INFORMATION is needed.

LarryJ

The taking of a strike vote is a normal part of the process. It doesn't reflect on the likelihood of an actual strike. If they get a very high (> ~97%) result it improves the flight attendants negotiating position. If they don't, it can hurt it significantly.

We don't know what are the important issues to the F/As. Even their current negotiating positions won't tell us that as they know that they have to have some other things on the table that they can negotiate away. They won't reveal which items are their top priorities, and which are there to give them room to negotiate, as that would compromise their negotiating position. The big concessions, from both sides, don't occur until the final days of the negotiation which, judging by the timing of the vote, they have not yet reached.

paseom2

I have to agree here. If I was ANY AA employee and my compensation was frozen/reduced, you bet I would be upset if senior management was awarded "performance bonuses". If the stock compensation are part of the base package then so be it. If one is upset with low bars set for perfomance bonuses or other perks for execs, then anger would best be directed at the AMR board's compensation committee. To really understand what metrics the execs will be judged by, and thus granted bonuses, take a look at the most recent Form DEF proxy statement. There are many 'metrics' that aren't neccesarily related to AA making a profit...

IMHO, AMR (and other legacies) could improve labor relations by a little more perceived 'fairness' in the negotiations. Don't tell your unions that you can't afford to compensate them more (due to economy/company financials, etc) while awarding performance related bonuses to top management. On the other hand the unions should recognize the economic environment and realize the precarious position all of their jobs are in. Maybe they would consider additional compensation in the form of stock as well?