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By Mike Mitchell |
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May 20, 2010 - As
Flight Attendants renew bargaining with American Airlines negotiators
for five days at the National Mediation Board, they are challenging the
credibility of management’s continued claims that they are the highest
paid and least productive in the airline industry. To refute the airline’s spurious claims, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), is releasing a series of videos that feature the analysis of veteran airline economist Dan Akins, who told Flight Attendants during membership meetings over the last month that American Airlines is deliberately miscalculating labor costs.
Instead of using
the industry standard – Cost per Available Seat Mile (CASM) -- to
calculate cost and productivity, the company uses paid hours at maximum
schedule to inflate labor costs. Rarely do Flight Attendants at any
airline work maximum schedule. |
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“CASM is used by
every single airline analyst, bankruptcy judge and parties on both sides
in contract talks,” Akins told Flight Attendants. “I’ve been involved in
many negotiations in the airline industry and even American’s past
negotiations with Flight Attendants have been focused on cost per seat
mile.”
Akins shows
American’s claim is further skewed by management’s marketing decision on
international service. With fewer seats, more classes of service and
higher staffing levels for premium service, international flights have
higher labor costs, but, incidentally, bring in more profit.
Domestically, AA Flight Attendants rank only 5th in pay among 11 major
airlines.
The video also
documents the windfall of $335 million in bonuses American executives
have taken form 2006-2009, while Flight Attendants continue to make
concessions -- $2 billion since 2003. Last month, top executives once
again rewarded themselves millions in bonuses one day after reporting a
wider than expected earnings loss for the first quarter of 2010.
Flight Attendants
and American have been mired in contract negotiations for more than two
years. The union has asked the NMB for release from negotiations as the
company continues to ask for more concessions. Among the key outstanding
issues are compensation and benefits. The Transport Workers Union
recently reached tentative agreements with American for three work
groups. |
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