American Airlines Workers To Vote On Joining Teamsters

The union affiliation of American Airlines mechanics and other workers will go up for a vote after a pro-Teamster faction filed for an election Tuesday. US Airways mechanics filed for a similar election earlier this month.

Some AA mechanics and other workers have been campaigning for months to break with the Transport Workers Union, which has represented them since 1946. Teamsters representatives said in February, 2013, that they had a majority of workers ready to commit to the change.

The group cites outsourcing, declining quality assurance and safety concerns as the main reasons for the switch after AA filed for bankruptcy in 2011. A bankruptcy judge recently approved the company's merger deal with US Airways to create the world's largest airline.

5/14/2013 Related Story: Two Unions Agree To Share Workers At 'New' American Airlines

Garry Drummond, the TWU Air Transport director called the movement by the Teamsters a "raid." He called the Teamsters a "rogue union" with an "extensive history of corrupt practices."

"The Teamsters have done a terrible job representing workers in aircraft maintenance. At Teamster-represented United Airlines, maintenance for the entire wide-body fleet is outsourced, with most of those jobs being sent to China," Drummond said in a news release.

Bill Wheeler, a 26-year mechanic who went to Washington, D.C. for a news conference announcing the election, disagreed.

"After enduring 20 years of concessions, outsourced jobs, bankruptcy, frozen pensions and an overall lack of respect, we are coming together to bring in the bargaining power of the Teamsters Union, which has the strongest record representing mechanics in our industry," he said in a released statement.