A quick summary of major and noteworthy events since the start of negotiations.
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October 13-17, 2008
American Airlines and the Transport Workers Union have agreed to meet October 24. This will be the first meeting since the company presented the union with a comprehensive contract proposal on September 24. American looks forward to continuing negotiations.
September 22-26, 2008
On Wednesday, September 24, American Airlines presented the TWU with a new comprehensive proposal aimed at addressing key areas of interest identified by the union while recognizing American's need to be competitive in today's business environment.
The contract negotiations process is complex, but the ultimate goal is to reach an agreement that is in everyone's long-term best interests. American is trying to balance the union's requests for improvements in pay, holidays, sick leave and vacation with the fact it has the highest labor costs in the industry. To offset that disadvantage, American needs improvements in overall work rules to remain competitive.
American values its strong partnership with the TWU and hopes further discussions lead to a contract benefiting TWU-represented employees and keeping American competitive by giving it the flexibility to respond to an evolving industry.
August 25-29, 2008
There are no Technical Specialists updates for this week.
August 18-22, 2008
There are no Technical Specialists updates for this week.
August 11-15, 2008
There are no Technical Specialists updates for this week.
August 4-8, 2008
There are no Technical Specialists updates for this week.
July 21-25, 2008
There are no Technical Specialists updates for this week.
July 14-18, 2008
Please see the Maintenance & Related Timeline and updates page for new information regarding negotiations this week.
July 7-11, 2008
On Thursday, July 10, the Company and the Union continued negotiations.
American provided proposals to the TWU on Articles 5: Shift Differential and 39: Physical Exam. Currently, the Company is reviewing other articles that are still open, and will respond to these at a later date.
Both parties agreed to meet again on August 26, 2008.
June 16-20, 2008
On Thursday, June 19, 2008 the Company and the Union continued negotiations at the Transport Workers Union Air Transport Division office in Hurst, Texas.
Both sides established the disposition of negotiations and any outstanding articles that have not been addressed since the Company withdrew its comprehensive contract proposal.
During the meeting, tentative agreements were reached on the “Notice of Intent” and Article 23: Training.
The following articles remain open:
The parties are scheduled to continue discussions on July 9, 2008 at the ATD office. The Company continues to evaluate economic conditions in the marketplace and our competitive position. We are preparing new proposals based on this review.
May 26-30, 2008
This week, American Airlines sent a letter to the Transport Workers Union to formally withdraw its comprehensive contract proposal for all seven of the TWU workgroups. The specific changes included in American’s proposals were conditioned on ratification by the membership of all seven AA/TWU collective bargaining agreements and this condition was not met.
The Company and the Union will tentatively continue negotiations on Monday, June 16, 2008 with the hope of reaching an agreement that will better position American Airlines and its TWU-represented employees for long term success.
May 19-23, 2008
American and the TWU did not meet this week. The two parties are in the process of scheduling when negotiations will continue, which we anticipate will be in mid to late June. In the meantime, the Company will post updates if anything develops.
May 16, 2008
This week, American Airlines presented the Transport Workers Union with a comprehensive contract proposal. Unfortunately, the TWU has rejected the company’s proposal. American sought to address the key areas of interest identified by the TWU, including pay, holidays, sick leave and vacation; and at the same time recognize the economic realities facing the industry and our company.
American Airlines, along with the entire airline industry, is facing unprecedented challenges. In addition, American’s labor costs are the highest in the industry. While we could not address structural increases at this time, the tentative agreement did include improvements in pay and paid time off for TWU-represented employees.
Regardless of the current situation, American appreciates our strong business partnership with the TWU. We recognize the commitment by these employees who have helped to save money, generate additional revenue and improve operations. Despite the many challenges facing us, we believe this would have been a responsible investment in our employees and would have reflected the company’s commitment to our continued business partnership.
Summary of Key Common Proposal Components Across all Seven Workgroups:
Duration:
Pay:
Holidays:
Sick Leave:
Vacation:
Health and Retirement Benefits/Pensions:
Profit Sharing:
Eagle ASM Cap:
In addition, there were items specific to each of the seven agreements which were proposed and discussed.
Today, the TWU advised us that the Fleet Service committee accepted their tentative agreement for ratification. The Fleet Service group is part of the larger Joint committee which also includes the Stock Clerks, Simulator Technicians and Ground School/Simulator Instructors workgroups. As a result, the Joint committee elected as a whole to take their agreements out to the membership for ratification. However, three of the included workgroups individually voted not to take the agreement for ratification.
A condition of the company’s offer in each workgroup was that all seven of the agreements had to be ratified before any of the contracts could be implemented. Therefore, since that condition cannot be met, even if the Joint groups were to ratify, the agreements could not be put into effect.
The company is in the process of re-evaluating our current situation and is considering what future course of action will be appropriate.
May 12-16, 2008
American Airlines continued discussions with the Transport Workers Union this week. The Company is seeking to address the key areas of interest the TWU has identified, while recognizing the economic realities facing the industry and company.
The TWU has worked with American over the last several years to improve processes and productivity and has helped save money, generate additional revenue and improve operations.
May 5-9, 2008
American Airlines and the TWU did not meet this week. Instead, the Company utilized the time to meet internally to continue working on any open and outstanding articles. Negotiations will continue next Monday, May 12.
April 28-May 2, 2008
The amendable date for the TWU labor contract was May 1, 2008. While we have not reached a complete Tentative Agreement, we have made lots of progress during the last eight months, and have closed out most of the non-economic sections. We are committed to continue to make progress in negotiations and to support reaching a ratifiable contract that creates a stronger, more secure future for both the airline and the TWU-represented employees in a timely manner.
This week, the Company and Union continue to discuss all outstanding letters of memorandum that are not in agreement from last week. The Company also provided a counter proposal on Article 12: Promotions and Jobs to be Posted that aims to further automate the processes associates with this article. Negotiations will resume on May 12, 2008.
April 21-25, 2008
The Company and Union did not meet in an official capacity this week, but made plans to compare all current letters of memorandum for both parties and reconcile conflicting dispositions early next week.
April 14-18, 2008
The Company and the Union are currently discussing Article 7: Holidays and Article 12: Promotion and Jobs to be Posted.
Discussions will continue next Wednesday, April 23.
April 7-11, 2008
The Technical Specialists negotiating team met with the Union on Monday to give a status update, and both sides will meet again next Monday, April 14.
March 31- April 4, 2008
The Company and Union did not meet this week and will not meet again until Monday, April 14, 2008.
March 24-28, 2008
The Company and TWU did not meet this week and are still finalizing a meeting schedule for next week.
March 17-21, 2008
The Company and the Union met Wednesday and discussed issues from previous meetings.
Negotiation discussions will continue on March 31.
March 10-14, 2008
The Company and Union did not meet this week and the Company used the time to carefully review the Union's comprehensive proposal from last week. The Company is focused on balancing the TWU's interests with the need to provide greater flexibility and allow American to best compete in the ever changing airline industry. The Company will next meet with the Union on March 17 to ask questions about the comprehensive proposal.
March 3-7, 2008
The Company and the Union met on Thursday, at which time the Company received a comprehensive contract proposal from the Union. Both parties will continue to discuss open issues with the goal of reaching an agreement that will balance the interests of all the involved parties.
The Company and the Union will continue discussions on Monday, March 17. American will use the next week to meet internally and review the Union’s comprehensive proposal.
February 25-29, 2008
The Company and Union reached tentative agreements on Article 13: System Seniority List and Article 25: Recall and Call-in Work. Article 13 was updated to match the prior agreements reached by other contract groups with no substantive changes. The current contract language for Article 25 was also preserved.
The TWU also presented a proposal to modify the current Notice of Intent which is unique to this contract and acknowledges job functions formerly filled by employees in this work group when they were managers as well as an additional letter of memorandum. Both of these items are under consideration by the Company and a response will be provided next week.
The Company has tabled discussions for a number of articles relating to scheduling guidelines to focus on how flexibility and headcount could be increased to better handle field issues as they arise. The Company and Union will not be meeting next week and will resume negotiations on March 10 to continue exploring these issues.
February 18-22, 2008
The Company and Union reached tentative agreements on a number of items this week, including:
Both have exchanged proposals with the Union on Article 3: Hours of Work, but are currently making little progress on this article.
The Company and the Union are also still working on a number of articles, which we will continue discussions on next week:
The Union has also given the Company a proposal to modify the Notice of Intent, which is at the front of the Technical Specialists contract, and is unique to this workgroup.
February 11-15, 2008
Negotiations between the Company and Union resumed this week as both sides continued to reach agreements on new articles and make progress on items left open from previous weeks. The Company continues to pass and respond with the goal of balancing the interests of both parties within each article.
The Company and Union were able to reach tentative agreements on a number of items this week with no changes to current contract language, including:
February 4-8, 2008
The Company and TWU met this week and have reached tentative agreements on the following items with no changes from the current language:
Both parties are also discussing Article 2: Definitions, Article 30: Dismissal, Article 31: Grievance Procedures and Article 32: Board of Adjustments. These discussions will continue when negotiations resume on February 12.
January 28-February 1, 2008
The Company and TWU did not meet this week, but will continue negotiations next week.
The TWU negotiating committees will meet internally next week to review letters and other correspondence that have been generated between the Company and the TWU since the restructuring agreements. The purpose is to determine if the letters are still in effect, should be deleted or incorporated into the contract. Once the TWU has completed their review, the Company will meet with them to try and finalize the disposition of each letter.
January 21-25, 2008
Discussions continued this week as a number of items were passed between the company and the union. Tentative agreements were reached on Article 18: Military Leave with no changes from the current contract as well as Article 16: Recall and Article 46: Effect on Prior Agreements.
Both parties also exchanged proposals on Article 12: Promotions & Jobs to be Posted/Transfer. Proposals have also been exchanged on Article 3: Hours of Work, Article 17: Leaves of Absence, Article 26: Field Work, Article 27: General, Article 39: Physical Examination and Article 46: Effect on Prior Agreements. Discussions on all of these items will continue next week.
January 14-18, 2008
The company and TWU discussed a number of items at the negotiating table this week. Both parties reached a tentative agreement on Article 22: Regular & Relief Assignments that preserved the previous contract language for this item.
Both parties exchanged proposals on Article 12: Promotions & Jobs. The company believes the employees could benefit from changes that would improve productivity and flexibility. Discussions on this article will continue next week.
Finally, the TWU also made a proposal on Article 18: Military Leave that the company is evaluating and will respond to next week.
January 7-11, 2008
The company and the TWU had another productive week at the negotiating table with each of the teams able to make progress on several new articles and items. The company and the TWU agreed to tentative articles regarding Article 10: Seniority, Article 35: Temporary Employees and Article 44: Moving Expenses. The group is still catching up from the week lost due to weather before the holiday break and is currently exchanging proposals on the following items.
Discussions on these items will continue next week.
