Response to CNN

Follows is the letter to Ashleigh Banfield regarding a report on maintenance outsourcing and here is a link to the interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAXwor-LGAY&feature=relmfu

Hello Ms. Banfield,

I recently saw your report regarding outsourced maintenance from February 8th which is posted on YouTube. First I would like to thank you for shedding further light on this growing issue. This trend has been continuing to grow and currently airlines in North America outsource over $48 billion dollars worth of maintenance and that figure is expected to blossom to more than $69 billion dollars over the next ten years according to presenters at the annual MRO (Maintenance Repair Organizations) Conference which was held in Dallas TX April 3rd - 5th. Much of this money is sent overseas and Mr. Little was correct when he pointed out that there is close to non-existent oversight at these facilities.

As a twenty five year mechanic I have witnessed the quality of maintenance deteriorate because of this trend. The Teamsters Union, through the Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition has been tracking this decay in the quality of maintenance over the last several years and it encourages members to report items that effect safety. We have shared these concerns on Capitol Hill. As I see it, this problem affects the flying public in a number of different ways. From a national security aspect, during airframe overhaul an aircraft is stripped to its basic form, no interior is left inside at all during the check, and there are many places in every aircraft that could hide any manner of device that could lead to disastrous results. Another key point is that many good paying jobs have been lost affecting the economy in a very negative way. At United Airlines alone the number of aircraft mechanics was reduced from a high of 15,700 ten years ago to 4,700 today. And finally and most importantly there is safety. Of course safety is compromised when a company shifts jobs from a skilled workforce to an inexperienced one. These airplanes are designed to continue flying with multiple systems not working properly and the overall age of the fleets of North America continues to decline. Those two factors more than anything have led to the current safety record. As the price of energy continues to eat away at profit margins airlines will continue to look for ways to reduce costs. Maintenance is currently the target for these cost reductions, but there will most assuredly be other corners cut as the airlines manage their risks to maintain profitability.

I would ask if you do another report on this very serious trend that you please interview someone that knows what they are talking about. All due respect to Mr. Tilmon but I know as much about flying an aircraft as he does about fixing one. Both jobs are highly specialized requiring years of continued training and I wouldn't dream of speculating on air about why a pilot may have made a certain decision and he should have known better than to speak about an area that he had little exposure to over his career.  

In closing, your first instinct was correct, you should be worried. In fact the country should be worried. Thank you for your time.

Take care,

Bob Fisher

Are unions bad?

I listened intently at this weeks outsourcing conference in Dallas to the presenters and there was one theme that struck me. It wasn't the fact that that companies were at a loss as to why they couldn't attract young people into the industry. I think the reason for that should be obvious when they state things like "pay for mechanics in the south eastern United States is in line with emerging economies in Asia". Why would people possessing the skill sets that we have move towards this industry when there are several others including health care and the computer industry that pay better and have better hours? No, the thing that struck me was the industry realized that it needed to work together to protect their thin margins. This message continued through the week and came from airlines, OEM's and MRO providers.

Airlines through their lobbying arm A4A (old ATA) stated that they needed to all work towards a common legislative goal to revamp the industry so they could survive. It was stated that this rarely happened in the past and it had hurt the industry. In every presentation I attended that had a high level airline executive this theme was repeated.

OEM's are working with airlines and MRO providers to provide more and enhanced services whether through cooperative agreements or by combining companies to provide an enhanced product.

MRO's are making agreements between themselves to work together to enhance the product they offer and increase profits.

What is a Union? They are a group of people that form together to achieve what an individual can't achieve on his own in its basic form. Haven't the above three groups all just described doing the same thing? And don't these types of agreements happen in every other industry in the country? And further, haven't these types agreements happened over a very long period of time? Of course the answer to those questions is yes. Yet in doing basically the same thing we are told time and again that unions are inherently bad. Why? Well because we threaten profits these conglomerates would otherwise enjoy. Is it bad that they make money? Obviously not. Anyone that has survived bankruptcy would rather work for a company that makes money. In good times and bad, we need to band together to protect our jobs and wages. In good times we need to share in profits generated by our labor. In bad times we need to protect ourselves as much as possible. In employing similar survival tactics as the above groups, are we really doing anything bad or wrong? I don't even have to answer that. The next time someone tells you it is bad to belong to a union be sure to tell them when companies stop unionizing themselves for protection so will we. Unions are not bad or greedy because they want to protect each member. The very notion is absurd!

MRO Americas wrap up

I had to run to the airport as soon as Jim Keenan finished his presentation. Jim's discussion was on airline finances. Jim, like every presenter, relayed that fuel is now the big driver in costs. Jim stated that fuel used to be around 20% of CASM but that percentage was now somewhere above 35%. In addition the airlines are taxed higher than any other industry. It seemed to be an underlying theme regarding the taxes that airlines paid were higher taxes than the sin industries; tobacco and alcohol. In conclusion Jim also stated that the flying public should get used to things like baggage fees and there would be more coming as fuel continues to rise.

Chris Moore and I will submit a report to Strategic Resources downtown in the next week or so describing what we learned. Also look for a summary in the next Mechanics Dispatch. Very briefly, what I learned was that we as a union need to continue to bargain increasingly protective scope language and continue our lobbying efforts to both keep jobs in the United States and reform industry legislation to enhance those protections that we are able to secure in bargaining. If you would like to help with the lobbying effort please seek out your Business Agent or Chief Steward and volunteer some time, we are all in this fight together.

MRO Americas conference

This week I'm attending the MRO America's conference in Dallas Texas. They are expecting between 8 and 9 thousand participants this year. I'm tweeting live as the conference happens. A couple of interesting facts, MRO workers in the southestern United States make similar wages to third world nations, the airline industry has learned that having competing lobbying interests has been bad for the industry and they are now acting like a union and lobbying with one voice, and growth in North America over the next ten years is expected to be flat.

Look for more reports over the next two days.

Bob

Yesterday was more of the same. There is a continued trend towards outsourcing and the providers are unable to attract mechanics at the wage rates offered.

Today's session is starting with a seminar on SMS