AA Pilots Union Press Release

[cpamomfromtexas]

Source: Allied Pilots Association

ALLIED PILOTS ASSOCIATION ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING PILOT RETIREMENTS, FINANCIAL CONDITION OF AMERICAN AIRLINES

Fort Worth, Texas (Oct. 3, 2011)—The Allied Pilots Association (APA), certified collective bargaining agent for the 10,000 pilots of American Airlines (NYSE: AMR), issued the following statement today:
“For each of the past two months, a larger than usual number of American Airlines pilots have chosen to retire. This increase in retirements can be attributed in part to the stock market’s decline during that same period.
“Another likely factor behind recent pilot retirements is the change in mandatory pilot retirement age from 60 to 65 that Congress legislated nearly four years ago. That change in retirement age created a backlog of pilots who otherwise would have retired upon reaching age 60. As many of these pilots now approach age 65, they are making individual judgments about the right time to retire. Stock market volatility—along with concerns about the global economy and, by extension, prospects for the industry and our airline—has likely prompted a number of them to decide that now is a good time to conclude their careers.
“By way of explanation, a pension provision enables pilots to protect part of their pension benefit from recent market fluctuations. When pilots age 60 and older retire, a portion of their pension is based in part on a 60-day ‘look back.’ As an example, pilots who retired on Sept. 30 secured the pension unit value that was in effect on July 31 before the bulk of the stock market’s decline.
“We have seen some rumors suggesting that our pilots are acting on inside information about the financial state of American Airlines. That is not the case. APA’s rank-and-file members are not privy to inside financial information. Our advisers have in fact indicated that the airline does not face any immediate liquidity crisis and possesses respectable cash reserves.
“Last week’s announcement by American Airlines that the carrier would offer aircraft- backed 10-year enhanced equipment trust certificates (EETC) for $726 million, along with an additional offering for $232 million, indicate a continuing ability by the airline to refinance debt and maintain sufficient liquidity, which is good news. It’s clear that American Airlines would likewise benefit from good news about long-running contract negotiations with its represented employees. To that end, we remain focused on intensive bargaining with management, with the goal of reaching agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement in the near future that benefits both the airline and its pilots.”
That is the full text of the union’s statement.


Read more: https://public.alliedpilots.org/apa/AboutAPA/APAPublicNews/tabid/843/ctl/ArticleView/mid/1242/articleId/583/Allied-Pilots-Association-Issues-Statement-Regarding-Pilot-Retirements-Financial-Condition-of-American-Airlines.aspx

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Hint: the problem is not pilots or pilot pay. Managers simply cannot manage even though there are at last count around 8000 "Managers". And there has not been any rightsizing of management.

The pilots are done giving, they've given back approximately $1 BILLION A YEAR since 2003 to save American Airlines and their crack management team has managed to piss it away by buying regional jets for American EAGLE which will eventually be turned into beer cans they are so inefficient, Taj Mahal terminal makeovers, PUP payouts for Management. Only the bottom of the class at business school think you can burn cash in such a way, shrink the fleet, rape the employees, and steal from the cookie jar and think you can stay in business.

Consider this-a pilot with 20 years at American Airlines has NEVER GOTTEN AN HOURLY PAY RAISE and last year got around $200 for an entire years' bonus. That's right, after taxes, they might can go to the grocery store ONE Time.

They make 50% less than Southwest pilots, half of Fed Ex and UPS pilots. Divorces, Suicides, and bankruptcies abound in the American Airlines pilot force. Over 10% have gone bankrupt, suicides are 10 times the expected rate.

[proverbialwisdom]

1. K&R

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

2. Airlines are a basket case industry because they are inherently irrational competitors

Airlines ridiculous and paranoid territorial tendencies waste billions of dollars and entrap them in business models based on gouging in markets where they can so they can cross-subsidize markets where they probably have no business being in the first place. The revenue nerds just can't tolerate that another airline might make a go of a destination you can't for reasons intangible to them - so better throw another dozen CRJ's at the route because it must be frequency!

The costs of this insanity are then squeezed from the rank and file.

[SoapBox]

3. K & R

...such bullshit at the airlines.

I also know that at the LARGE airline in Atlanta, that the flight attendants pay stops at 12 years! After that...NO MORE PAY increases. And, according to sources, the management at the company has fooled around with the pay scale SO many time over the years (they are non-union and management can do ANYTHING it wants), that they feel that they are paid virtually the same that they were over the last 20 years or so. If the company is not tweaking the pay scale, they are tweaking the staffing levels and/or the amount that you have to work...net result, they make the same or less.

Just more of the Wall Street "Banksterism" at work in Corporate...oh, sorry..."People" companies.

[cpamomfromtexas]

10. 12 years is max for pilots at AA, few know this

So much for the job with no holidays, or weekends, but plenty of getting felt up by TSA goons, and no shortage of bomb threats on those planes.

No exaggeration, got a text from husband last week just in case it made the news, that they had landed to have the plane swept because of a possible threat. And it certainly wasn't the first for us either. Who the F*** will put up with this shit? Every pilot we know is either doing something else or looking for something else because it's just not worth it anymore and frankly hasn't been for a long time.

Just a few weeks ago he had a drunk on a commute flight that said the pilots up front were drunk. My husband said he was out of line and if he persisted, he'd advise the Captain and First officer get off and get tested, which of course would cancel the flight and make everyone late. The drunk persisted and by the time they landed, he was threatening my husband. I asked him what would happen if this guy had physically attacked him, and he defended himself? Would he be covered from a liability perspective? Because no where do I think he is indemnified for self defense. I have no doubt he could have crippled the guy for life, but where is the protection for flight crew? The last time flight crew was attacked, the guys that attacked actually hurt the Captain, but since the doors weren't shut, the DA dropped the charges. Talk about bullshit. Here's the link http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-07-28/news/29844220_1_flight-attendant-american-airlines-pilot-plane

And the National Officers and Board of the Pilot Union didn't do jack shit either.

Where is (past president) Captain Lloyd Hill when you need him? That man is a real union leader.

[SoapBox]

13. wow....and I mean WOW.

I had not heard about this...I do get mailings from the AA FA's but may have missed the story.

Thank you very much for posting the link...I'll spread it around.

Folks looking through here, please read the article at the link. This is the type of crap
that Pilots and Flight Attendants put up with on a daily basis, through out the industry and
it gets ZERO coverage by the media. Of course, management makes sure to hid this crap away as well.

[Downwinder]

4. The glory of deregulation.

[demosincebirth]

11. +1

[Kennah]

5. Another nail in the coffin of cheap air travel. Time for high speed rail is NOW! Years ago really.

[tawadi]

6. Taking the money and running

Part of a pilot's pension is tied directly to the stock market. They can lock in the value of what the market used to be worth 90 days ago, when it was trading higher.

Who can blame them?

[cpamomfromtexas]

7. Rumour has it that CEO and higher ups sold lots of stock today

[spartan61]

8. It's time for Arpey (CEO of AA) and all the other

high priced "talent" to get the heeve hoe. They have taken a once great airline and have totally trashed it. Although the employees of AA didn't much like Crandall (former CEO) they did know that he ran a great airline. In 2003, all the work groups took huge concessions to save the airline while mgt made sure they voted big annual bonuses for themselves. American's downfall began with Don Carty, who succeeded Crandall, and then Arpey succeeded Carty. It's time for airline regulation to be put back into place.

[Psephos]

15. +1 n/t

[Synicus Maximus]

9. We should nationalize the airlines.

[SoapBox]

14. I fully support some form of RE-regulation.

...with so many other aspects of life in America (and the world), power, water, food and even travel (by air, rail, bus) need some form of reregulation.

All of America now depends on several of these and they can mean life or death (water...and in some cases power).

[bloomington-lib]

12. I do not want a suicidal pilot

[cpamomfromtexas]

16. Love your tag line