American Airlines Will Lay Off 370 Workers at Tulsa Maintenance Base

• 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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Three hundred mechanics and about 70 fleet service workers at the bankrupt airline’s Tulsa maintenance base will be laid off by February.

The carrier and the Transport Workers Union announced the numbers on Friday. Layoff notices to fleet service workers are being mailed this week and to mechanics in November, the Tulsa World‘s D.R. Stewart reports:

The layoffs will be effective in November and December for the fleet service workers and in December and February for mechanics, officials said.

The layoffs will be hard, but the losses are significantly less than the 2,700 Tulsa workers the company originally planned to cut, TWU Local 514 President Sam Cirri tells the World:

Cirri said the union local will help anybody who’s being laid off find other work at the base. A licensed aircraft maintenance technician, for example, could move into a lower AMT/Overhaul support mechanic position, which would mean taking a $5 per hour wage cut, he said.

For workers without seniority or other options, the union proposes to hold classes on writing resumes or help them find other jobs, Cirri said.