DALLAS (AP)--One of American Airlines' big unions says the carrier has broken a promise that management would share the pain of job and salary cuts equally with rank-and-file workers.
A consultant hired by the Transport Workers Union found that union jobs were cut by 18.1% from December 2002 to April of this year, compared with 12.7% for managers who work with mechanics and other TWU members.
The consultant also said American Airlines data showed that mechanics had their pay cut 15% while managers who supervised them suffered an average pay cut of 5.5% in a restructuring last year. Company executives credited the restructuring with saving the airline from bankruptcy.
However, Eclat Consulting also reached some conclusions that the union didn't like. It said TWU workers started out with higher wages -compared to other airlines -than management salaries. As a result, it took smaller cuts to bring American's managers in line with prevailing salaries, the consultant said.
American's senior executives "are now among the lower paid airline management teams in the industry," the consultant concluded.
The consultant also said American had achieved its target of cutting $100 million in management costs.
Still, the director of the union's Air Transport Division, which represents about 30,000 of American's 89,600 employees, said Friday that American had reneged on a promise that management would share sacrifices with ordinary workers.
"Management takes holidays while our members are working," union leader James C. Little said in a letter to Jeff Brundage, the company's senior vice president of human resources. "Our members took deeper wage and benefit cuts than management. In many work areas, the ratio of supervisors to union members seems to have increased since 2003."
American said it doubted some of the numbers cited by the union, but it didn't offer details to dispute the union's claims.
"We've had a good, ongoing dialogue with our unions and independent employee groups on any number of issues, including management reductions," said an airline spokeswoman, Jacquie Young. "Some of the numbers in this release don't seem to match up with what we know, and so we'll go back and compare notes with Jim and the TWU team."
A consultant hired by the Transport Workers Union found that union jobs were cut by 18.1% from December 2002 to April of this year, compared with 12.7% for managers who work with mechanics and other TWU members.
The consultant also said American Airlines data showed that mechanics had their pay cut 15% while managers who supervised them suffered an average pay cut of 5.5% in a restructuring last year. Company executives credited the restructuring with saving the airline from bankruptcy.
However, Eclat Consulting also reached some conclusions that the union didn't like. It said TWU workers started out with higher wages -compared to other airlines -than management salaries. As a result, it took smaller cuts to bring American's managers in line with prevailing salaries, the consultant said.
American's senior executives "are now among the lower paid airline management teams in the industry," the consultant concluded.
The consultant also said American had achieved its target of cutting $100 million in management costs.
Still, the director of the union's Air Transport Division, which represents about 30,000 of American's 89,600 employees, said Friday that American had reneged on a promise that management would share sacrifices with ordinary workers.
"Management takes holidays while our members are working," union leader James C. Little said in a letter to Jeff Brundage, the company's senior vice president of human resources. "Our members took deeper wage and benefit cuts than management. In many work areas, the ratio of supervisors to union members seems to have increased since 2003."
American said it doubted some of the numbers cited by the union, but it didn't offer details to dispute the union's claims.
"We've had a good, ongoing dialogue with our unions and independent employee groups on any number of issues, including management reductions," said an airline spokeswoman, Jacquie Young. "Some of the numbers in this release don't seem to match up with what we know, and so we'll go back and compare notes with Jim and the TWU team."
