In a ruling completely separate from TWU’s ongoing healthcare prefunding case, a bankruptcy court ruled today in favor of TWU and two other unions in a case against American Airlines. The unions took the company to court last year to oppose the way the airline was dividing up additional shares of its stock while bankruptcy claims were still being resolved. TWU and the other unions argued that the company’s plan for distribution favored the old equity shareholders of AA at the expense of the unions, thus reducing each union's share of new AA equity below the agreed upon percentage that American Airlines had agreed to allot to them. Today’s court's order will entitle each union to continue to receive the agreed-upon percentage of equity in the new American Airlines. Because the total number of shares that will finally be distributed is not yet determined, TWU does not know yet how many shares this decision will ultimately add to our members’ overall shares of company stock, but it is indeed a victory for all TWU members at American Airlines.

The ruling does not have any bearing, however, on the prefunding case.

Please see www.TWU.org regarding this posting or any division updates. 

 12825_15463 AMR BK.pdf                                  

Sisters and Brothers,

The TWU-IAM Association today announced that Neutral Joshua Javits issued his Report and Recommendations and initial integrated seniority lists for the Mechanic and Related, Fleet Service and Stores work groups at American Airlines.

In June, the Association retained the services of Neutral Javits, former Chairman of the National Mediation Board and member of the National Academy of Arbitrators, to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the Association’s Seniority Integration Committee’s work and to resolve identified issues and differences that required expert attention to reach a fair and equitable integration of seniority lists. Neutral Javits’ Report and Recommendations and initial integrated seniority lists—created in accordance with earlier seniority integration agreements—reflect this comprehensive analysis and explain how the seniority lists are integrated.

During the fact-finding stage of Neutral Javits’ comprehensive analysis, TWU-IAM Association members submitted 836 detailed comments. Additionally, Neutral Javits met with and received remarks from the TWU-IAM negotiators and the Seniority Integration Committee. All of these comments were carefully deliberated by Neutral Javits and guided how he grappled with the more intricate and highly complex aspects of the seniority integration process.

Integrating seniority lists is the most important issue that affects our membership in an airline merger. The TWU-IAM Association and Neutral Javits have undertaken this seniority integration process with great care and deliberation so that all Association members at American Airlines are treated fairly and equitably.

All Association members will have until February 10, 2017 to protest in writing his or her placement on the initial integrated seniority lists in accordance with the process and requirements set forth in the accompanying communication from Neutral Javits. All protests must be received on or before February 10th. Final integrated seniority lists will be issued after all protests are considered.

Visit www.usaamerger.com to view the Javits Report and Recommendations, the Report Summary and Chart with instructions on how to file a protest and all initial integrated seniority lists.

The Joint Association Mechanic & Related/Stores and Fleet Negotiating Committees met with American Airlines this week in Las Vegas. Updates from both committees are below.

Download Fleet          Download Mechanic & Related Stores

Fleet Service Update

The company presented the following proposals to the union this week:

• Vacations – No tentative agreement was reached as the remaining issues include the number of vacation weeks and accrual formula. 
• Hours of Work – No tentative agreement was reached as the remaining issues include the scheduling of part-timers and adverse weather conditions. 

The union presented the following proposals to the company this week:

• Reduction in Force  
• Recall
• Voluntary Furlough
• One Station Complex Agreement (TWU)

• Recognition of Rights and Compliance
• Holidays 
• Sick Time

Current TAs:

Fraternally,

Mechanic & Related Stores Update

During this week’s session, the Committee exchanged and discussed the following articles:

Limited Duty- M&R, MLS, MTS and MCT – We have reached an agreement in principle on this Article which provides enhanced protections for our members.

Hours of Service – M&R, MLS & MCT – We will meet with the accredited subcommittee in our next session in PHX to try to bring this Article to a close. Reminder; we have reached an agreement in principle on this article.

General and Miscellaneous – We continued to prepare our response on this Article for a pass to the Company. This Article encompasses many facets of the CBA and continues to evolve as we progress through the negotiations process. We are trying to close out as many parts of this Article as practical, leaving it open until the end of the negotiations to ensure complete coverage in the new JCBA.

Overtime – M&R, MLS and MCT – We exchanged dialog on this Article during this session. We remain steadfast in our positions on NO mandatory overtime, limiting job continuation and pay for overtime bypass.

Vacation – M&R, MLS & MCT – We exchanged dialog on this Article during this session on the outstanding issues in an attempt to close out this Article.

Holidays – M&R, MLS, MTS and MCT – We discussed outstanding issues on this Article during this session in an attempt to close out this Article.

We spent time reviewing all the Articles that we have tentatively agreed to with the Company to map out our plan over the next session.

M&R= Mechanic & Related

MLS= Material Logistics Specialists (Stores)

MTS– Maintenance Training Specialists

MCT= Maintenance Control Technicians

The company gave your committee an update on the previous briefing on the process for the True Up payment provided in the Interim Letter of Agreement. An updated communication will be forth coming from the Company

Current TAs:

*HOS = Hours of Service

 Upcoming negotiating sessions:

 The week of Jan. 9-PHX           The week of Jan 23-MCO

Fraternally,

Video of oral arguments from the retiree equity case at the 9th district federal court of appeals on 12-13-16.