And yet, he still has no evidence of this management pay raise. Methinks LTRS has drunk a bit too much of the Kool-Aid served up by AMFA. :)

Yes, and there is a reason why (which tends to prove my point):

"American Airlines gets profitable, thanks to its workforce

American Airlines just posted its first profit in five years -- thanks to working with its union to find ways to cut costs. Only a few years ago, its workers (who'd made huge wage concessions) were ready to go on strike over the fact that management had handed itself fat bonuses and protected its pensions from creditors, but now that the old guard was turfed out and replaced with a CEO who works with labor, the company is turning a profit.
Two American Airlines mechanics didn't like having to toss out $200 drill bits once they got dull. So they rigged up some old machine parts - a vacuum-cleaner belt and a motor from a science project - and built "Thumping Ralph." It's essentially a drill-bit sharpener that allows them to get more use out of each bit. The savings, according to the company: as much as $300,000 a year.

And it was a group of pilots who realized that they could taxi just as safely with one engine as with two. That was instituted as policy has helped cut American's fuel consumption even as prices have continued to rise to record levels."

That's why I fly most of my $30K a year on AA. :)

ALPA and PFAA voted no at 12:03am -- it's been in most of the news articles I've read.

No Choice? What a bunch of Cr*p!
 

Lets fast forward this conversation to present day realities. As of August 19th if an agreement had been reached 50% of the mechanics would have been furloughed with a severance package and insurance. As of August 20th, odds are very good that 100% will be dismissed with no severance package.

This strike which will most likely cause NW more financial hardship will do nothing as in NOT ONE THING to convince NW to keep 60% of the mechanics instead of 50%. In fact I think my choice if I was a mechanic would be to walk right across that line and report to work just like yesterday. Especially if I was a lower seniority mechanic since then I could almost guarantee I would stay employed vs. almost guaranteeing I will be unemployed when this is all said and done.

End of commercial. Fell free to go back to your discussion about how the strike was inevitable to keep all the jobs and ignoring the reality of the airline industry today.

MJCasta, you did get one thing right though. The other unions are the next in line. However, the Pilots wisely looked at AA, DL, etc and saw that their employees agreed to take cuts and keep jobs so they already agreed to concessions. The rest will take notice now as the mechanics take lower paying jobs in other industries, but at least they get to keep "their pride" which along with $5.00 will get them a Latte at starbucks.

my heart goes out to the NWA mechanics ...
 

I was a former Ramp Agent for UA............(just worked 2 years, laid off at LAX after 9-11) .....I was in the IAM (the machinists union)....
(yes, me, a petite athletic female wearing the kneepads in the baggage bins and driving beltloaders)

I worked with many guys that have been there 30 years, or almost...
It is absolutely disgraceful to have their pension pulled !

After working their butts off for years (and with hernias and back injuries galore), it was promised in the union contract that the pension would be there for them...

The rich keep getting richer...........and the gap is widening between the rich and the working class...


The CEO and the other top management should not keep getting bonuses !!!!!
Stop the insanity !!

Luckily, for me, I had a way out , as I had been dealing poker part-time on the side, a job I also loved. So I just went to the full-time status, and I am currently back from LAX area, and dealing poker in a big new casino in Atlantic City..

That's the one recommendation I can make to fellow laid-off airline workers.
Consider the gaming industry ! As much as I loved the perks of flying for free, with the good tips I'm making I can just pay for my own darn tickets !
And get great deals on the internet by "pointing and clicking", and also by checking in with this great "flyer talk" site...

And hang in there, mechanics...........you've been taking concessions for too many years already......yes, enough is enough....

I agree with you LTRS !

As far as the small mom and pop business owner that posted, that is much more understanding that you cannot provide pensions...........and I'm sure you just pay yourself enough to get by and do the things you want to do, but I doubt you give yourself the liberty of paying yourself obscene bonuses!
(that have been unwarranted , due to the poor performance of NWA)

And I hate all the silly stuff, like some of the airlines doing away with peanuts , just so they could save a buck or so.......many folks actually look forward to the tradition of the peanuts (or my favorite is the potato chips on Jet Blue)

Have a great "rest of summer" everyone..

from Ellen in NJ

"It's ridiculous. Fire the execs and find some that realize that you can't charge less for a service than it costs to provide it. The financial troubles with airline companies will go away immediately."

And you will find qualified individuals capable or doing this and willing to work for minimum salary where?

There seems to be a union belief that that there are a million people out there who can do a better job. Well, its simple.At the price of NW stock, thye union should by NW and put the people they believe can do a better job and who are willing to work for $50,000 a year in charge.

While I am pro-NWA management in this case, I think the mechanics were also right to strike. Look at NW's proposal: 53% laid off, the rest with 26% cuts. Is anyone going to accept this? Obviously not. Surely 53% won't. They'll be out of a job whether NW goes into BK or not. So NW is clearly itching for a strike.

Now look at it from the union perspective: you can cave at this point in which case, you have zero future leverage. Management knows you're too scared to strike. And you're out $176M annually. For now.

Or you can strike. If you succeed in crippling operations, you can presumably knock NW way down from the $100M that you most recently proposed. I don't believe for a second that NW is anywhere close to BK. I'm hoping management is smart enough to doctor the numbers to make them look as bad as possible (to maximize negotiating position). And if you fail, well, NW will presumably need to hire some of you back. Managers won't be able to keep fixing the planes forever. And realistically speaking, maybe it's better to go off and start finding a new job now while the economy is healthy rather than waiting for the next round of layoffs during an economic downturn when there are even fewer jobs available. I'm sure for the most senior guys, they would prefer to accept the NW offer. But ultimately when 53% of a union are going to get laid off, a strike is pretty much inevitable.

Look, it's a free country. You are free to support the driving down of US worker wages if you like. You can also save 12 cents on a gallon of milk at a Walmart superstore and use your tax dollars to pay for their workers health care problems instead since they won't provide a decent health benefit or wage to support their workers buying their own benefits. And now you can support the same thing with the airline industry. They count on consumer ignorance to make it work. :)

Yep, you can drink all the kool aid you want. This is America.

And how many of those 48 million are here illegaly or are children of the 20 Million illegals?

Also- at one time in America no one had health insurance. You got sick and you died-When did health insurance become a right? Did Mr Madison hide it some place in the Constitution?

Like the republican comment- There was so body without health insurance during Johnson's, Carter's and Clinton's terms in office?

In this country unless you are severley handicapped you can make yourslef into a zillionaire.

$50K a yr? Seriously, what planet are you living on? These guys bonuses and stock options alone are far, far, above that. Try on some facts:

Between May 13 and June 8 this year, NWAC Chairman Gary Wilson sold nearly 60 percent of his stake in the company, according to disclosures filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (from 4,218,180 shares on May 13 to 1,745,697 shares as of June 8), taking approximately $13,435,000 out of the corporation.

Additionally, between April 23 and May 3:

o Al Checchi, financier and former NWA Board of Directors member, sold off 1,650,240 shares netting him $8,439,884.

o NWA President and CEO Doug Steenland, dumped $405,137 in NWA stock.

o Tim Griffin, Executive Vice President – Marketing and Sales dumped $274,036.56 in NWA stock.

o Phil Haan Executive Vice President – International, Alliances and Information Technology, Chairman NWA Cargo – dumped $242,870.42 in NWA stock.

o Andrew Roberts, Executive Vice President Operations. Dumped $177,220.09 in NWA stock.

Wrong!! No FTer is asking anyone to work for free. AA pilots and FA's agreed to a 30% across the board pay cut 2 years ago and AA showed a profit in either Q1 or Q2 (don't remember exactly, probably Q2). All FTer's are saying is that in order to survive in this economy all the companies have to be competitive. I think NWA is managed about the same as the other major airlines. Probably better than US and UA, probably worse the CO and AA, and probably on par with DL if we look at financial results, etc, etc.

Of course an airline mechanic in a post 9-11 society has a lot of options for employement if they want to go to a better managed company. Get on the list behind all that companies furloughed employees. Good choice!

FT did not make the economic environment the industry is operating in today, we are just outside observers that take our experience with other industries and know some basic business principles. The main one being, if your company does not make money, it does not last forever. There will come a time when you are downsized or when things are cut. That economic model works fine in every other industry, but the mechanics can not look outside "my paycheck, my job, my pension" to the bigger picture.

Maybe since in other jobs they just downsize you at will and you don't get to vote about it is why it works better in non-union industries. The free market forces dictate how many employees a company needs, not the employees.

Allow me to clarify: 48 million US citizens. Your FELLOW citizens, for whom you will pay health care costs if they don't have insurance, through your tax dollars and higher insurance premiums. That means that part of the $110 billion that Mr and Mrs Walton are kicking back with so they don't have to pay decent benefits to their workers comes out of your pocket. Perhaps you can explain to me why that is a good thing for anyone except Mr and Mrs Walton?

Shirley
 

Surely you jest. You just put one foot in front of the other, make your way to the check-in kiosk, put in your information, print your boarding pass, head to security, go to the gate, board, and take your seat. :cool: ^

Buck up, little camper! Put on a face like this => :D

-Alan

Methinks your kool aid was electric.

update from msy
 

My husband's flight 1476, MSY-DTW, is cancelled for tomorrow, Sunday, Aug. 21. However, my husband has been rebooked on another flight through MEM, so we'll see how it goes. I don't know about any other cancellations, as neither of us has been to the airport yet. He would have preferred the nonstop, but if this is the biggest problem he encounters, he'll consider himself lucky.

I think some of the posts about impact on "us" got mixed in with the other posts discussing the strike issues for employees, so it's a little hard to find all the information you might be looking for.