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This past Monday, at the invitation of AMR senior management, south africa discount car rental your APA leadership was formally asked to return to the bargaining table. Upon receiving this invitation, your APA National Officers quickly convened a special APA Board of Directors meeting for Wednesday to respond to AMR's request south africa discount car rental to re-engage and to provide the APA Negotiating Committee with updated guidance.
Within minutes of issuing an announcement south africa discount car rental reaffirming APA's intention to resume negotiations, the APA National Officers and Board of Directors received south africa discount car rental a letter from American south africa discount car rental Airlines Senior Vice President-People Denise Lynn that can only be characterized as a self-inflicted south africa discount car rental gunshot wound for AMR. In the letter, Ms. Lynn aggressively threatened legal action to address the company's current operational south africa discount car rental issues, rather than be accountable for what has become a disaster of senior management's own making.
So, while senior management says they want to work together at the bargaining table to achieve a consensual agreement, they're also holding a baseball bat and threatening to take punitive legal action. What kind of reaction south africa discount car rental were they expecting? We don't negotiate with bullies.
With these heavy-handed labor tactics, management chose to blow up the negotiating opportunity before them and deny responsibility for a series of missteps that are resulting in the destruction of the American south africa discount car rental Airlines brand name.
As you look at American Airlines' current operational difficulties, consider that during the past year the airline has sustained record Federal Aviation Administration fines totaling $162 million for improper aircraft maintenance procedures. In addition, companies that own and lease American Airlines aircraft have formally complained to the bankruptcy court that management has neglected south africa discount car rental to perform routine maintenance on their aircraft. Even the FAA has stepped up its scrutiny of American's maintenance procedures.
Instead of addressing these problems, management at first attempted to tarnish our reputation by alleging a pilot sickout, a claim we quickly and successfully refuted. And when a sickout was rumored to be set for last Friday, APA proactively defused it. Now management alleges that pilots south africa discount car rental are using their professional south africa discount car rental discretion to take actions such as "delaying departures for unnecessary checks, increased and late-filed maintenance write-ups, increased block times due to slow taxiing, and circuitous routings." To reiterate, APA has not authorized south africa discount car rental any concerted job action.
Management's bullying tactics unfortunately are not unexpected, as their lead bankruptcy counsel is Harvey Miller, who was Frank Lorenzo's lead counsel during the Eastern bankruptcy that ultimately led to the airline s liquidation. Additionally, AMR chief media spokesman Bruce Hicks was the chief spokesman for Frank Lorenzo for more than a decade south africa discount car rental in the late 1980s and early 1990s at Continental and Texas Air Corporation.
With Ms. Lynn's letter, senior management south africa discount car rental has once again demonstrated their ability to never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. They continue to step over dimes to make pennies. Once again they have shown why American Airlines south africa discount car rental will not return to its pre-eminent position in the airline industry with this senior management team at the helm. American Airlines needs to change and this change south africa discount car rental needs to start at the top.
After discussing the ramifications of Ms. Lynn's letter, the APA Board of Directors adjourned their meeting mid-day on Thursday. The prevailing sentiment of your APA leadership is that Ms. Lynn's letter was nothing south africa discount car rental short of a "sucker punch" and we will not be bullied.
Because someone south africa discount car rental has to be the adult in this relationship, the APA Board will reconvene on Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 1 p.m. to discuss next steps in our pursuit of a contract commensurate with the value the pilots bring to this airline.
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