Several thousand American Airlines mechanics are expected to attend what could be a raucous meeting Saturday on the bankrupt company’s “final best” contract offer to the Transport Workers Union.
The informational meeting, from 9 a.m. to noon at the SpiritBank Event Center in Bixby, is being held to answer questions by members of TWU Local 514. The local represents 6,000 aircraft mechanics and related work groups at the Tulsa Maintenance & Engineering Center.
The meeting is closed to the public, Local 514 executives said. John Hewitt, chairman of maintenance at Local 514, said the union leadership has distributed information on American’s final offer through its website, hand-outs and one-on-one briefings.
“We’re trying to educate our membership so they can make a sound choice on this,” he said. “What the company has put out is the company’s last best offer — this is not a tentative (contract) agreement — it’s the company’s last best offer.
“This is very emotional for all our members, and I’m sure they will get to vent those emotions at this meeting." The meeting is being held in advance of a vote Thursday through Monday on whether to accept or reject the final offer by more than 24,000 TWU members companywide.
Both the meeting and the vote are taking place in the center of a cyclone.
On one front, American’s parent, AMR Corp., proposes in bankruptcy court to abrogate the contracts of its unionized mechanics, pilots and flight attendants and impose much harsher wage, layoff and working conditions.
From the other direction, US Airways has roiled the storm further with an offer to merge with American before it completes its bankruptcy restructuring.
Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways has reached agreements with American’s unions that would be more favorable in a merger scenario than American’s offer, US Airways and union executives said.
Under US Airways’ merger proposal, about 4,900 mechanics, baggage handlers and ground workers companywide would lose their jobs.
Only 450 mechanics in Tulsa would be laid off, and 4,500 workers at the M&E base would be granted two-year furlough protection, airline and union executives said.
The carrier’s proposal is a stark contrast to American’s initial restructuring plan, presented Feb. 1, that calls for 13,000 jobs cuts companywide, layoffs of 2,100 mechanics in Tulsa and labor cost reductions of $1.25 billion a year.
American’s final offer is a significant improvement over the company’s initial proposal, TWU leaders said.
“We are mitigating the layoffs by 50 percent in Tulsa under (American’s) last best offer,” Hewitt said. “That’s approximately (layoffs of ) 1,000. … There is (aircraft maintenance) work that will be brought into Tulsa from AFW (American’s Alliance Fort Worth maintenance base)."
In its restructuring plan, American proposes to close the Alliance base at a loss of 1,200 jobs. American’s final offer also includes pay increases of 7.5 percent over six years, work rule changes, and job outsourcing, elimination and reclassification — all designed to save the company $390 million a year in TWU costs, company officials said.
For many TWU members, it’s a bitter choice between American’s “final best” offer and company-imposed austerity after a court rejection of their collective bargaining agreement. “This is a bad deal no matter how you look at it, but I think a lot of people would be better off if the judge accepts the last best offer,” said Local 514 spokesman Rick Mullings.
“There would be a lot less people unemployed." Hewitt, Local 514’s maintenance chairman, said the TWU leadership has remained neutral on the questions before its membership.
“We have supplied the membership with as much information as we can,” Hewitt said. “The membership has a chance to vote on the last best offer before the judge has a chance to rule on our collective bargaining agreement."
Testimony in the hearing in which American seeks to reject the three union collective bargaining agreements is expected to resume in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York on May 14 — the last day of TWU voting on American’s final offer, officials said.