What’s the Delay?

After a long pause in membership updates regarding our contract negotiations, many of you are rightly asking, “What’s the delay?” The simple answer: It’s the implementation schedule!

Our Negotiating Committee has worked tirelessly over the past several weeks to complete the drafting of full contract language in the proposed TA. That process was completed earlier this week. According to our governing documents, however, the Board cannot meet to consider the proposed TA until it is also presented with an agreed-upon implementation schedule. Despite their efforts to secure an implementation schedule that is reasonable and contains appropriate penalties in the event management fails to deliver on the deal it has negotiated, the Negotiating Committee has reported that management is simply unwilling to agree to be held accountable for the commitments it has made in the proposed TA.

We are all too familiar with Robert Isom’s management team not living up to their promises and not being held accountable. They sometimes don’t implement the agreed-upon provisions or simply pick and choose which ones they like.

Fresh in our memories are the 62 unimplemented contractual items they somehow couldn’t get around to implementing MORE THAN A DECADE AFTER the last exit-from-bankruptcy agreement. Many of these unimplemented provisions have caused financial and quality-of-life harm to us. Management simply couldn’t find “the time” or the “programming resources,” or chose not to spend the money required to implement those items. Sometimes, they didn’t even bother to give us a reason for their failure to comply.

Ironically, one of the principles that Robert Isom mentions most often when discussing his vision for his tenure as CEO is “accountability.” That’s right, “accountability.” That isn’t a typo. Well, we plan on holding him accountable this time.

The implementation schedule is a core component of our contract. Non-compliance penalties for management are something that you, the membership, have rightfully demanded.

At this point, management continues to push back against any penalties for not implementing contractual enhancements, causing a delay in the closeout of these negotiations, and leading us to question whether they ever intended to grant those enhancements in the first place. None of us can afford to assume that this time will be any different than the last time.

You know the old saying: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Due to the lack of progress on this issue, we will be making it clear to Robert Isom, his investors, and the traveling public that the blame for American Airlines not removing uncertainty, securing future flying, fully utilizing its current aircraft, unclogging its training pipeline, and thus improving the airline’s revenue stream falls squarely on his shoulders. A special APA Board of Directors meeting will be scheduled soon to chart a path forward.

Thank you for standing by for further updates.

In Unity,

CA Ed Sicher, APA President
CA Chris Torres, APA Vice President
FO Patrick Clark, APA Secretary-Treasurer

CA Paul McFarland, BOS Domicile Chair
CA Gemma Meehan, BOS Domicile Vice Chair

CA Doug Hancock, CLT Domicile Chair
FO Erik DeWinne, CLT Domicile Vice Chair

CA Joe Collins, DCA Domicile Chair
CA Tim Doreen Jr., DCA Domicile Vice Chair

CA Jon Sherrell, DFW Domicile Chair
FO Jason Gustin, DFW Domicile Vice Chair

CA Bill Evans, LAX Domicile Chair
CA Tim Dick, LAX Domicile Vice Chair

CA Lawrence Cutler, LGA Domicile Chair
CA Jim Scanlan, LGA Domicile Vice Chair

CA Thomas Copeland, MIA Domicile Chair
CA Anne Witcher, MIA Domicile Vice Chair

CA Wes Smith, ORD Domicile Chair
FO Paul Meyers, ORD Domicile Vice Chair

FO Paul DiOrio, PHL Domicile Chair
CA Kevin Wilkes, PHL Domicile Vice Chair

CA David Duncan, PHX Domicile Chair
FO Brian Ellis, PHX Domicile Vice Chair