All AA Contract Groups Now Under Federal Intervention  

Every contract group at American Airlines is now in federal mediation after TWU’s Mechanics and Related groups, and the TWU Technical Specialists declared impasse and filed for mediation on Jan. 26. 

They join the Pilots Union, the Flight attendant union, and all of TWU’s other work groups, includ•ing Fleet Service, Stock Clerks, Simulator Pilot and Ground School Instructors, Flight Simulator Technicians and TWU Flight Dispatchers, in mediation. The Pilots Union has been in mediation the longest period of time, having filed in April of last year.

TWU has been in negotiation with American for the better part of a year.

In characterizing talks for all of TWU’s contract groups with the carrier, ATD Director John Conley said last month that TWU negotiators came to the table with an open mind to the company’s position in a recessionary economy.  “We negotiated with a full understanding of industry challenges; we considered forward looking seminal contract changes while protecting and enhanc•ing the economic interests of our members.”

However, American had other ideas. “The Company came to the table with demands that were short sighted, unrealistic, impotent efforts to achieve what other carriers could only execute in a bankruptcy court room,” said Conley. 

Negotiations with all the contract groups seemed to be poisoned from the outset because of management’s decision to award itself millions in bonuses while the unionized groups continued to work under concessionary agreements reached in the wage of the 9/11 terrorists attacks. ATD Director Conley would not speculate on time lines for mediation. But he did acknowledge that the multiple steps of mediation that eventually lead up to releasing the parties to self help (legal strike for the union, or imposed contract terms by the company) can be quite lengthy.