American Airlines mechanics: Many buyouts, few layoffs

American Airlines will not have to resort to mass layoffs during its bankruptcy, because so many mechanics accepted American Airlines' buyout offer.

|
Mary Altaffer/AP/File
In this August file photo, American Airlines airplanes are parked at their gates at JFK International airport in New York. American Airlines said Friday it may need to lay off as few as 290 mechanics as it struggles to get out of bankruptcy.

So many mechanics at American Airlines are taking buyouts that the company expects it will need to lay off only a small fraction of the number it had originally planned.

American officials said Friday that the airline will furlough as few as 290 mechanics and parts clerks. It will eliminate the jobs of nearly 1,000 mechanics but has more than 700 vacancies that the affected workers can fill.

American said in February that it would eliminate 4,600 jobs among mechanics and clerks as it restructured under bankruptcy protection.

"From the beginning, we tried to save as many jobs as possible, especially on the aircraft maintenance side," said James C. Little, president of the Transport Workers Union, which represents the employees. "I think we managed to do well compared with other airlines that went through bankruptcy."

Company spokesman Bruce Hicks said contract changes negotiated with the Transport Workers Union, including the buyouts, reduced the need for furloughs, or layoffs with rehiring rights. More than 1,500 mechanics and clerks applied for buyouts that offered from $12,500 to $22,500 to workers who agreed to leave voluntarily over the next year.

"Despite the significantly reduced numbers of furloughs, involuntary separations are an unfortunate but necessary part of the restructuring process," Hicks said.

The fate of several thousand bag handlers and other ground workers is still unclear. Last month, Americansent layoff notices to more than 11,000 workers, more than half of whom were so-called fleet-service workers including bag handlers. About 1,200 bag handlers signed up for early-out payments.

American and parent company AMR Corp., both based in Fort Worth, filed for bankruptcy protection in November. American is trying to cut annual labor costs by about $1 billion through layoffs, reduced benefits and other changes.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to American Airlines mechanics: Many buyouts, few layoffs
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2012/1028/American-Airlines-mechanics-Many-buyouts-few-layoffs
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe