Mechanics Brought Down American Airlines Five Years Ago. They’re Readying For Battle Again.
The American Airlines operation melted down in 2019 as it negotiated a contract with its mechanics. The mechanics union proved that they can take down an airline nearly as well as angry pilots can. They finally got a contract agreement just before the pandemic and ratified it in March 2020.
It’s hard to believe, but it’s almost time for American to start negotiating with its mechanics again. American hasn’t gotten a contract done with flight attendants yet – and the last year of that deal was 2019.
Last time was brutal, and this time could be as well. During negotiations,
- The head of the union warned now-CEO Robert Isom that the situation would “erupt[..] into the bloodiest ugliest battle that the United States labor movement ever saw that’s what’s gonna happen” and suggested that “if we ever get to the point where there’s self-help we are gonna engage in absolutely vicious strike action against American Airlines the likes of which you’ve never seen.”
- They never reached a strike, but mechanics brought down the airline’s operation through illegal job actions. A mechanic was even charged with sabotaging an aircraft about to depart. Passenger bags were being opened to spread union messaging.
The mechanics union is going through training to prepare for the next round of negotiations. The negotiating committee just spent a week in training at their union’s national headquarters.
We’re four years into a five year deal, and the union needs to notify American six months prior to expiration that they want to negotiate a new deal. We’re just six months from the starting gun.
- There’s been significant inflation since the last contract was ratified in March 2020.
- US Airways legacy mechanics got to keep their more generous health plan for the duration of the contract, with the expectation that it would be folded into what’s offered to the rest of the airline after. They may push back on this.
- American will want the ability to outsource maintenance work, while offering job protections to existing mechanics. American does less maintenance outsourcing than other airlines. JetBlue outsources around three quarters of its maintenance. Southwest outsources half. American outsources just one-third.
Ultimately job protections may be the biggest issue. Over time there’s likely to be less maintenance to do in the industry overall.
- Newer aircraft have longer heavy check intervals, meaning less maintenance work. Composite materials in the latest generation of planes mean less work too (no metal airframe corrosion). The same is true resulting from more electronic components replacing mechanical parts. That’s materials replacing labor.
- Engine maintenance, which is materials-heavy, is driven at many airlines by the manufacturer (‘power by the hour’ agreements). Many carriers only do line maintenance at their hubs. On the whole smaller airlines outsource maintenance, and many that lease all their planes lack significant maintenance capabilities entirely.
- Inspections can be increasingly done by computers, replacing error-prone people. People have to supervise machines, but the number of people and type of work changes.
- Maintenance is offshored successfully. After all, planes can literally fly to wherever they need the work done. Lufthansa does work in Eastern Europe and the Philippines.
Delta has a model of providing good jobs for its mechanics over the long term because they’re doing high value maintenance in-house, and growing that portion of the business turning maintenance into a profit center by doing work for other airlines. Meanwhile they outsource lower value work.
Without a vision for higher value work to be insourced from other airlines, there’s just not going to be as much high value work to do and legacy airline mechanics are too expensive for the lower value work. These broad trends almost ensure conflict between American Airlines and its mechanics union once negotiations begin in earnest.
