AA’s ‘Final’ Union Contract Comes With Fewer Tulsa Job Cuts and Conditions

• Joe Wertz
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  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

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American Airlines and American Eagle employees rally in front of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to protest against American's plans to cut jobs and labor costs while under bankruptcy court protection.

American Airlines’ “final best” contract offer to the Transport Workers Union includes fewer layoffs than the company previously said were necessary.

About 2,100 workers in Tulsa were targeted for layoffs in parent company AMR Corp.’s bankruptcy restructuring plan. The contract offer reduces that number “significantly,” a union rep tells the Tulsa World‘s D.R. Stewart.

There are conditions, of course.

The conditions that will affect the number of job cuts in Tulsa include seniority bumping rights of mechanics working at Alliance and other maintenance bases, changes of job classifications in Tulsa and early retirements of mechanics and related work groups, officials said.

The offer, which TWU members are reviewing, proposes outsourcing less heavy maintenance — like that performed at the Tulsa base where about 6,500 work — than the bankrupt airline said was needed in February, according to the paper.

The offer also reduces vacation days and changes work rules to permit management to establish work cycles and schedules, which include Saturdays and Sundays and eliminating restrictions on holiday work, the World reports.

The airline’s offer is separate from a proposed contract agreement with US Airways, which wants a merger before American emerges from bankruptcy reorganization.

The company’s February proposal included layoffs of 2,100 of the 5,600 mechanics employed at the Tulsa M&E base and layoffs of 8,500 mechanics company-wide.

Under the US Airways scenario, only 450 mechanics jobs would be cut at the M&E base in Tulsa, no maintenance bases would be closed and no aircraft retired, company executives said, the World reports.