Washington, D.C. – After a months-long contract reconciliation process, the TWU-IAM Association today announced that it will commence joint contract negotiations for approximately 30,000 ground workers including fleet service, mechanic and related/stores employees at American Airlines on December 3, 2015. Association Chairman Sito Pantoja and Vice Chairman Harry Lombardo have called on American Airlines CEO Doug Parker to come to the bargaining table ready to speak fairly and transparently with the men and women whose work helped his company earn a record $4.2 billion in profits last year.
The Joint Association, which faced several procedural hurdles before being certified as the bargaining agent for the merged workforce by the National Mediation Board (NMB), will head into these negotiations with one mission: to secure industry-leading contracts for its members, many of whom faced years of concessionary contracts during the airline’s bankruptcies.
“We look forward to sitting down with American Airlines leadership, because we know that they agree: their workforce is the best and the brightest, and they deserve a set of wages, benefits and working conditions that reflect that. Our members have done more than their fair share to keep this company in the black, and we won’t stand for any corporate executive getting rich off the backs of our people without offering them a fair deal in return,” said Pantoja and Lombardo in a joint statement.
The Association leadership also thanked the negotiating committees for their extensive work in reconciling the contracts and drafting the initial proposals, and applauded the Association members for their continued patience throughout the lengthy process.
“It may have taken us longer to get here than we initially expected, but we wanted to be prepared, and we wanted to do this right,” Pantoja and Lombardo continued. “Now let’s get to work.”
