Respecting the Process
March 10, 2010
Mark Burdette, VP Employee Relations, on last week's talks with APFA
Every negotiation has ground rules that lay out the terms of engagement. Some of these are even written into federal labor law, including the obligation of each side to negotiate in “good faith.”
Good faith is not, however, strictly defined and may be subject to interpretation. So here’s how I see it:
Successful negotiations demand honesty and integrity. The bulk of the work takes place in making proposals; it is the duty of the negotiators to advocate for and communicate to those they represent. There’s also a time and place for rallying supporters. Emotional rhetoric is just part of the process – union members expect it and the media appreciate it.
But real good faith at the bargaining table means treating the process with respect, and that requires communicating events the way they happened.
Unfortunately, that is not what happened during our recent negotiations with the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the union that represents American Airlines flight attendants.
Last week, the company met with the APFA negotiating team for five days of contract talks in Washington, where we were assisted by a federal mediator with a schedule designed to help both sides make progress toward a deal. We were all tired and frustrated after days at the table failed to produce an agreement. But in communicating its frustration, the union took serious liberties with the truth, including the false allegation that the company “walked out” on negotiations.
Let me set the record straight.
During my years with the company, we’ve negotiated dozens of contracts. We bring professionals to the table. We see no advantage and achieve no gains by approaching contract talks with anything but the goal of reaching a fair deal and then getting back to business.
That was and is our primary objective in negotiations with the APFA. Both teams set up shop at the offices of the National Mediation Board in Washington, D.C., for talks that spanned a weekend and were scheduled to end on Wednesday, March 3. Early that afternoon, union negotiators told the mediator that they were working on a proposal with a “new direction” and asked us to stay into the evening to receive it. So we did, with several members of our team missing their flights home to honor that request.
But whether the union changed its mind or was simply testing us I can’t say, because more than four hours later they emerged with a proposal that represented no change in their position from the day before. The “new” proposal in fact changed exactly two words, neither of any consequence.
So with nothing new at play and further progress unlikely, the mediator signaled the end – two hours after the scheduled conclusion and following hours and hours of talks. We left disappointed but committed to returning for another round as soon as a new session was scheduled.
To our surprise, the APFA had other plans. In a hotline and media statements that followed, the union’s leadership issued a patently false characterization of the events and a scathing attack on the company’s intentions.
Perhaps the APFA leadership planned all along to accuse us of “turning our backs” on negotiations as a way to rile flight attendants, and when they couldn’t get us to walk out, they concocted the story that we did.
Perhaps the APFA’s goal was to gain leverage by trying to paint the company’s negotiators in a negative light.
Perhaps the APFA opted for the drama of a good tale rather than take on the important task of communicating the details of the proposals on the table, including the company’s offer of a wage increase on top of current industry-leading compensation.
But whatever the intent, the union responded in a way that was not fair, not accurate, and definitely not in good faith.
I said it when we began these talks, and I’ll repeat it here: Negotiations require hard work and honest dealing. We are committed to that process and will return to the bargaining table resolved to make progress. We hope and expect the APFA to make the same commitment.
