American Airlines Streamlining

In 2015, it showed in the record that the number of employees American Airline has was 110,300 employees within different departments such as flight attendants, and ground workers and pilots. With this huge number of workers, they need a representative to make their rights will be claimed. That why American Airline has a voice with a different labor unions such as Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), Transport Workers Union-International Association of Machinists alliance (TWU-IAM) and Allied Pilot Association (APA). Therefore, the airline will be forced to consider and listen to the labor unions and their demands to avoid strikes that can damage the reputation of the company.

The issues between the union and the Magic Carpet Airlines are that the airlines do not pay their flight attendants duty rig pay, there is no job security, and they weren’t able to use their sick leave when they were sick. They did not agree with the way they had to give a five day notice to swap routes with other Magic Carpet Airlines flight attendants. Their major concerns were their direct wages, they wanted to be paid more and have duty rig, and have job security. These concerns were all determined by surveys that were mailed out to each of the union members, and flight attendants voicing their concerns.

The airline industry is one of the largest and most innovative industries within the United States. Aside from the innovations for which it is reputable and which changed the world the US airline industry is also notable in terms of the developments registered at the level of collective bargaining. The lines below reveal a brief time line of the events after 1978:

In 1936 congress put all commercial airlines under the Railway Labor Act. Since then, there was a period of 42 years under economic regulation where the government oversaw labor relations. Since deregulation, the goals of collective bargaining have not changed much, nor have the objectives of management and labor unions. (Wensveen, 2011, p. 422)

On August 3, 1981, nearly 13,000 of the 17,500 members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) staged a walk out and strike. There were four main reasons the union members of PATCO decided to go on strike. First, to address the concerns by members who felt that their work was seriously undervalued and under-rewarded. The second reason was that the Federal Aviation Administration had neglected serious deficiencies in staffing and hardware reliability. Thirdly, their work week was unreasonably long, especially when compared to controllers overseas. The fourth reason for the strike was the FAA’s (FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION) approach to management-union relations and the

"Today, we are glad to dispatch the new American Airlines – a head worldwide transporter very much prepared to contend and win against the best on the planet," said Tom Horton, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of American Airlines. "Together, we will be surprisingly better situated to convey for the majority of our partners, including our clients, individuals, speculators, accomplices, and the numerous groups we

As I was thinking about the two companies that I wanted to do for my course project on, I began to research companies on the internet and I ran across the merger between United and Continental airlines. The reason that I choose to do the merger is because I knew that they were going to go through many changes within this merger. Both airline companies have a lot to offer to each other with this merger that they can compete with Delta airlines one of the largest airline in the world. This merger will bring about several changes within both companies. In this paper I will be providing the different changes between both companies with the merger including the culture, systems and unions. Since they were two different companies

Northrup’s 1984 article “The Rise and Demise of PATCO” argues that both PATCO and the Reagan administration were justified in their actions, but both took unnecessary measures in the wake of new president Reagan’s policies. Northrup, an economist, compiled his essay from sources such as interviews with FAA employees, government reports, court cases documents, secondary economics sources. This highly objective essay highlights both the US government’s earlier concessions to PATCO, PATCO’s greediness, PATCO’s failures, and the Reagan administrations harsh reactions. Northrup concludes that PATCO had received generous offers from the Reagan administration but continued to strike out of greed and that if they and congress would have accepted previous agreements it would have changed the face of labor relations in the United States. This article matter because it gives us a glimpse into the reasons behind PATCO’s failure from the labor union’s point of view as opposed to the Reagan centric examination of the 1980s most often

Established airlines faced heavy financial strain from new competition boasting their lower cost structure. When an airline is looking for ways to save money, often, labor expenses is the easiest to control. Therefore, labor expenses are many times the hardest hit. Also, the threat of bankruptcy and liquidation caused airline union groups to take concessions on pay, work rules, retirement and other fringe benefits. In my opinion, pattern bargaining, what once helped unions obtain better contracts, was not being used by management to enforce concessions. When one airline reduces wages and benefits, competing airlines would see this action and justify lowering wages and benefits at their company. While this seemed to work in the short term, many companies continued to fall into bankruptcy. Additionally, airline employees suffered losses in the form of retirement pensions, wages and employment. Essentially, these airlines were participating in a race to the

The airline industry has been divided into labor unions which include several types of unions such as the Flight Attendants' Unions, the Machinists' Unions, and the Pilots' Unions. The majority of the employees are part of such unions which has led to an increase in labor costs for the entire airline industry. TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS Fuel efficiency is increasing. Aircrafts that are more fuel efficient are being developed and the engines are being redesigned to cater to this change.

The domestic US airline industry has been intensely competitive since it was deregulated in 1978. In a regulated environment, most of the cost increases were passed along to consumers under a fixed rate-of-return based pricing scheme. This allowed labor unions to acquire a lot of power and workers at the major incumbent carriers were overpaid. After deregulation, the incumbent carriers felt the most pain, and the floodgates had opened for newer more nimble carriers with lower cost structures to compete head-on with the established airlines. There were several bankruptcies followed by a wave of consolidation with the fittest carriers surviving and the rest being

Give a brief summary of the current state of union relations in the airlines industry in the United States. Then answer the following in a well-organized 4- to 5-page paper: There are several different airlines that operate in the United States and the unions that represent the employees of these airlines seem to always be in the spotlight. There are several articles describing the affects these unions have on the employees, the employers, and the economy overall. I will discuss the current state of union relations in the airline industry. Further, I will discuss why the American Airlines Allied Pilots Association would risk the future of the airlines with their demands. Additionally, I will give an update where we are currently with American’s situation and how the recent updates I’ve found affect American Airlines employees. Finally, I will give my opinion of the changes I believe are needed in labor laws in the United States to help stop unions from hurting business.

Owing to its openness and fairness in their commitments with people, Delta Airline control over transportation network to fly 56% of the total passengers from various airports round the globe. Company has used conservative approach to analyze the customers need since inception to provide them exactly what they are expecting from airline industry. As far as camaraderie among employees are concerned, in the beginning of the twenty first century, the company has faced a number of issues in terms of employee relations but has continued to find the ways to be the leader of the airline industry (Kaufman). Today, in Delta Airlines the employees are being taught that their company is basically a customer service company that aims at satisfying the air travel and hospitality needs of the customers. With huge investments in employee training programs, staff has been trained enough to provide the best customer service and achieve satisfaction and loyalty of their customers. Delta has always been proud of its strong working relationship with its employees and the ability to respond quickly to market problems either with a reduction in wages or a large increase in wages, as required by the market. This allowed Delta to become the largest airline in the world by the number of passengers and

What I have learned from reading all this material, is that a lot of effort was put into play to ensure union and management learn now to be able to ensure the workplace and the workers are treated fairly and safely. In reading it seems to me that in wanting change in your work environment within the FAA does not differ that much from private sector union requests. I think that the aviation industry is off now at a stalemate, Once the government intervened it set a precedence of how aviation will look in the future. Now that the airline's profits are at an all-time low there is a competition in the airline industry to stay strong and alive. Labor unions need to improve greatly, going back to where their roots are and knowing why they were needed in the first place.

In the last decade, Continental Airlines has had a spotty track record. The airline twice filed for bankruptcy, realized diminished performance culminating in a $613 million loss in 1994, and was ranked dead last in industry indicators such as on-time performance among the major carriers. During these years, employees at Continental had undergone several series of layoffs and withstood both wage cuts and delayed wage increases in an effort to slash Continental’s costs. The result of these efforts was a demoralized workforce and a corporate reputation that put Continental near the top of Fortune’s list of “least admired” companies.