American Airlines’ Pilots and Mechanics are Frustrated that Contract Negotiations are Dragging Into the New Year
Both pilots and mechanics are lashing out at American Airlines as contract negotiations moved into 2020 without significant progress toward new deals.
The Fort Worth-based airline is in contract negotiations with its three biggest employee groups — pilots, mechanics and flight attendants — putting pressure on the company to get deals done or face a year of labor turmoil. American entered negotiations with the pilots and flight attendants at the beginning of 2019, hoping to get a deal before old deals ran out.
The union representing 15,000 American Airlines pilots sent a letter to members last week expressing frustration as a key deadline passed for a new contract.
“While there’s still time remaining, it’s far from infinite — and neither is our patience,” Allied Pilots Association president Eric Ferguson wrote in the letter to members.
Pilots had been patient as the two sides reached the pivotal amendable date for a contract, or the date the old contract terms ran out on Jan. 2. Airline union contracts never expire, but for the first time since their previous deal was signed in 2015, pilots won’t get raises.
American Airlines spokesman Josh Freed said the company is working toward a new contract.
“We have been working with the Allied Pilots Association throughout 2019 on our shared goal of reaching a new contract soon,” Freed said. “The company and the APA have both made important proposals, and it’s clear that any new contract will include significant improvements for pilots.”
But patience is running out for pilots, Ferguson said, mostly because little has been getting done.
In the letter, Ferguson said that despite starting talks in January 2019, American Airlines’ negotiators didn’t make any counterproposals until early August.
Pilots are not only asking for raises but for scheduling improvements because they say the current system “makes work-life balance almost impossible.”
According to the pilots and flight attendants unions, American has given unions a target fund to start the negotiations and asked that the unions figure out how to split the money between benefits and pay increases. But both unions have said the fund is too low.
According to MIT’s Airline Data Project, the average pay for an American pilot in 2018 was $229,890, compared with $230,669 at Delta and $250,319 at United. The average yearly pay for pilots at Dallas-based Southwest is $234,796, the study says.
Meanwhile, the 30,000 American Airlines mechanics and maintenance workers who are part of the TWU-IAM Association sent a letter to members in mid-December that said they are frustrated with a lack of negotiation meetings.
“We also had requested that the (National Mediation Board) allow us to negotiate the week of Thanksgiving, but the company negotiators passed on that opportunity as well,” the mechanics’ union letter said. “We have yet to see Robert Isom or Doug Parker, who we believe are calling the shots from Texas, engage in any negotiating session since the day negotiations started.”
Mechanics are looking for raises and improved health benefits, as well as guarantees for how much maintenance gets done in-house. The two sides haven’t been able to reach a new deal since American Airlines merged with U.S. Airways. American did give raises to mechanics last year.
But in its letter to members, the mechanics’ association said that American has decreased pay raise targets, offering to match pay at Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.
American negotiators have been meeting with the mechanics’ unions multiple times a week since August trying to get a new deal, Freed said.
“We’ve made considerable progress, including in meetings in December, and we look forward to the next scheduled negotiations on Jan. 13 and 14,” Freed said.
Flight attendants had also hoped to get a deal done by the end of 2019. Association of Professional Flight Attendants president Lori Bassani said the two sides have gotten through about a third of their negotiating points, but addressing money will come last.
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