August 30, 2010

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

JAMES C. LITTLE

International President

HARRY LOMBARDO

International Executive Vice

President

JOSEPH C. GORDON

International Secretary-Treasurer

SUSAN RESCH

Administrative Vice President

JOHN M. CONLEY

Administrative Vice President

JEFFREY L. BROOKS, SR.

Administrative Assistant to the

International President

TRANSPORT WORKERS

UNION OF AMERICA

AFL-CIO

International Headquarters

& Offices of the Railroad

Division & Transit, Utility,

Universities and Service

Division

1700 Broadway, Floor 2

New York, NY 10019

212.259.4900

Regional Headquarters Air

Transport Division

1791 Hurstview Dr.

Hurst, TX 76054

817282.2544

www.TWU org

19

Our contract votes are in, and now we must re-start the contract campaign. We

will continue to push forward to secure an equitable agreement, to be

recognized for our sacrifices, and most importantly to stop the continuing

erosion of the future of all airline professionals.

Our next steps must be initiated immediately. I have asked the ATD to call

for an urgent meeting of the entire team to develop a renewed strategic plan.

While the team will help design our campaign, there are four changes I am

instituting now until we can fully review the current negotiating structure at

AA.

1. There will be two equal co-chairs of the team, one from ATD staff and

another elected by the team. This hopefully avoids much of the

miscommunications we are currently experiencing.

2. The co-chairs will BOTH attend their meetings with the company and

the NMB with no exceptions.

3. We will also make sure that every member of the negotiating team is

fully engaged in the process and demonstrates their ability to get real

time information to our members at the drop of a hat. As an example:

having dedicated team captains in the field to disseminate the

information directly from the negotiating committee.

sent out as the “Contract Connection” after every negotiating session.

Regardless of how you voted, the time is now to be more united than

ever. The company may be counting on us to fight one another and

destroy ourselves from within; I can assure you that will not happen

unless you and I allow it to happen.

Again, now that the membership has spoken, we must put the past behind us

and come together and speak with ONE VOICE with the ultimate goal to get

the best contract we can for our members.

“We Move America”

In solidarity and fraternally,

James C. Little

International President

JCL:rno

opeiu-153

10,251 eligible TWU members cast ballots out of a possible 12,800.

TWU mechanics voted down the agreement by a vote of 6,074 to 3,371. With 64 percent opposed; stock clerks voted to reject the agreement by a vote of 384 to 332, with 54 percent against; while technical specialists voted to approve the agreement 60 to 18, a 77 percent "yes" vote.

"Our members have spoken loud and clear," said TWU International Vice President Garry Drummond, who heads the union’s Air Transport Division. "After four years of negotiations, a majority of TWU members in our Mechanic and Related, and Stock Clerk groups were not convinced that this agreement represented an adequate return for the hundreds of millions of dollars of sacrifices we agreed to in 2003, to keep American planes in the air and prevent our employer from filing for bankruptcy. However, for workers in our Technical Specialist group, salary increases and improvement in benefits were enough for passage."

For the two units that voted "no", this was not only a vote to reject, but also a vote to authorize a strike, if necessary. TWU has requested a release from the National Mediation Board (NMB) in order to pursue self-help remedies,

"We will continue our efforts, on all fronts, to make sure that the full value of our members’ contribution to the success of this airline is recognized by our employer, said Drummond."

_____________________

--30--