Posted by Charlotte Observer on 04/09/2004 at 08:22 AM
TED REED
Staff Writer Charlotte Observer
After nine years of earning $50,000 to $62,000 annually as a US Airways mechanic, Hans Brune had grown used to it.
That's what made it so hard to give up.
Today, Brune and his wife try to get by on the $37,000 he earns as an airplane cleaner, a job he claimed after hundreds of mechanics' jobs were eliminated in 2001, plus her $15,000 salary. They fear they may lose the east Charlotte home they had custom built in 1990.
To be sure, the Brunes have made mistakes in their money management -- racking up more than $45,000 in consumer debt before they eventually declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy wiped out most of the debt, but with the cuts in Hans Brune's salary, cash flow problems remain.
On the one hand, Brune, 39, says: "Thank God I'm still working. I almost feel guilty that I'm still working. I feel bad for all the folks with nothing."
On the other hand, he almost can't believe what has happened to him and thousands of other US Airways employees.
Because the Sept. 11 attacks, a slowing economy and rapid growth by low-fare carriers combined to threaten US Airways' existence, nearly 18,500 of the airline's workers -- including about 3,000 in Charlotte -- have lost their jobs.
The remaining 28,278 have taken pay cuts. And for many, the cuts went far beyond negotiated salary cuts because downsizing forced many workers with limited seniority to give up the best jobs for lesser ones.
For instance, hundreds of pilots, who were making about $180,000 annually as captains, have become first officers making about $100,000 annually.
Brune is among a few dozen former Charlotte mechanics who were pushed back to lower-wage "utility" jobs, an alternative available to workers with previous utility experience, said Bill Wise, president of Charlotte Local 1725 of the International Association of Machinists.
Wise said dozens of former Charlotte mechanics were laid off and could not claim utility jobs. Hundreds more commute to Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, where less seniority is required to work as a mechanic.
The Brunes used to go on weeklong Caribbean cruises, three in six years. They bought new cars in 1996 and 1999. They had savings including about $20,000 in a 401(k) retirement plan, and they made regular payments to a credit union Christmas club. "Every October we got $1,000 to go Christmas shopping," said Shirley Brune. "All that is gone."
Shirley Brune also gave up her weekly bingo night, where she had begun to lose $50 a little too regularly. "I used to be lucky at bingo," she says.
They live on a quiet street in a modest but immaculate home. China fills a cabinet and family portraits line a wall. Brune built the deck out back. Neighbors are among their closest friends.
An aircraft mechanic in the army, Brune started at the bottom in the airline business, going to work for Piedmont Airlines in 1986 as a combined ticket agent and baggage handler in Fayetteville. In 1990, USAir opened a new maintenance base in Charlotte, and Brune moved here to be a mechanic. (USAir acquired Piedmont in 1989 and changed its name to US Airways in 1997.)
That dream lasted a year. Then USAir shut down most of its California operations, pushing senior mechanics from California to Charlotte and pushing Brune into a utility job. It was 1993 before he returned to work as a mechanic.
When he became a utility worker again, Brune cleaned bathrooms in the maintenance base, then moved to cleaning jets that came in for maintenance. Because he joined Piedmont as a part-time worker, his seniority accrues from 1989.
For the Brunes, the impact of US Airways' financial woes has been compounded by money management mistakes.
Payments on a refinanced home loan they took out in 2002 rose to $938 from $841 thanks to a scheduled 24-month readjustment. Although their home cost about $85,000 in 1990, the Brunes consolidated home improvement expenses and consumer debt into a new $112,000 loan.
Such loans can be "risky business," said Barbara Robinson, service director at United Family Services, a Charlotte credit counselor. Using a home to secure unsecured debt "is not a step you want to take," she said. "It puts your house on the line."
In general, people who take out such loans expect their income to increase, Robinson said, adding: "In today's economy, (that's) not necessarily a safe bet."
The Brunes' fortunes continued to deteriorate.
In 2003, the Brunes filed for bankruptcy after accumulating about $45,000 in consumer debt. Shirley Brune said much of the spending was for her daughter's wedding, replacement appliances and a dozen trips to visit ailing parents. (Despite free air fare, the weeklong trips cost more than $1,000 each for hotel, food and car rental expenses.) That debt was eliminated during bankruptcy.
Now the Brunes have about $2,575 in monthly take-home income and $2,723 in monthly expenses, according to their bankruptcy filing.
The outlook is not promising. The couple doesn't expect to make their April house payment. Shirley Brune will lose her job as office manager for a small textile industry advertising agency, which intends to shut down at year's end. And US Airways, after chopping annual costs by $1.3 billion during its bankruptcy, wants to cut $1.5 billion more, much of it through labor concessions.
Like most of US Airways' Charlotte workers, Brune looks back on the days he spent at Piedmont Airlines as a better time in his life. He was younger and the world seemed promising. Now, he has Piedmont Airlines plates mounted on the front of both his cars, and says Piedmont founder Tom Davis would likely have handled the airline's financial crisis with more regard for employees.
"My job is not bad, but it's all the game they play, always cutting pay and benefits," he said. "They keep taking away stuff you've been used to having."
TED REED
Staff Writer Charlotte Observer
After nine years of earning $50,000 to $62,000 annually as a US Airways mechanic, Hans Brune had grown used to it.
That's what made it so hard to give up.
Today, Brune and his wife try to get by on the $37,000 he earns as an airplane cleaner, a job he claimed after hundreds of mechanics' jobs were eliminated in 2001, plus her $15,000 salary. They fear they may lose the east Charlotte home they had custom built in 1990.
To be sure, the Brunes have made mistakes in their money management -- racking up more than $45,000 in consumer debt before they eventually declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy wiped out most of the debt, but with the cuts in Hans Brune's salary, cash flow problems remain.
On the one hand, Brune, 39, says: "Thank God I'm still working. I almost feel guilty that I'm still working. I feel bad for all the folks with nothing."
On the other hand, he almost can't believe what has happened to him and thousands of other US Airways employees.
Because the Sept. 11 attacks, a slowing economy and rapid growth by low-fare carriers combined to threaten US Airways' existence, nearly 18,500 of the airline's workers -- including about 3,000 in Charlotte -- have lost their jobs.
The remaining 28,278 have taken pay cuts. And for many, the cuts went far beyond negotiated salary cuts because downsizing forced many workers with limited seniority to give up the best jobs for lesser ones.
For instance, hundreds of pilots, who were making about $180,000 annually as captains, have become first officers making about $100,000 annually.
Brune is among a few dozen former Charlotte mechanics who were pushed back to lower-wage "utility" jobs, an alternative available to workers with previous utility experience, said Bill Wise, president of Charlotte Local 1725 of the International Association of Machinists.
Wise said dozens of former Charlotte mechanics were laid off and could not claim utility jobs. Hundreds more commute to Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, where less seniority is required to work as a mechanic.
The Brunes used to go on weeklong Caribbean cruises, three in six years. They bought new cars in 1996 and 1999. They had savings including about $20,000 in a 401(k) retirement plan, and they made regular payments to a credit union Christmas club. "Every October we got $1,000 to go Christmas shopping," said Shirley Brune. "All that is gone."
Shirley Brune also gave up her weekly bingo night, where she had begun to lose $50 a little too regularly. "I used to be lucky at bingo," she says.
They live on a quiet street in a modest but immaculate home. China fills a cabinet and family portraits line a wall. Brune built the deck out back. Neighbors are among their closest friends.
An aircraft mechanic in the army, Brune started at the bottom in the airline business, going to work for Piedmont Airlines in 1986 as a combined ticket agent and baggage handler in Fayetteville. In 1990, USAir opened a new maintenance base in Charlotte, and Brune moved here to be a mechanic. (USAir acquired Piedmont in 1989 and changed its name to US Airways in 1997.)
That dream lasted a year. Then USAir shut down most of its California operations, pushing senior mechanics from California to Charlotte and pushing Brune into a utility job. It was 1993 before he returned to work as a mechanic.
When he became a utility worker again, Brune cleaned bathrooms in the maintenance base, then moved to cleaning jets that came in for maintenance. Because he joined Piedmont as a part-time worker, his seniority accrues from 1989.
For the Brunes, the impact of US Airways' financial woes has been compounded by money management mistakes.
Payments on a refinanced home loan they took out in 2002 rose to $938 from $841 thanks to a scheduled 24-month readjustment. Although their home cost about $85,000 in 1990, the Brunes consolidated home improvement expenses and consumer debt into a new $112,000 loan.
Such loans can be "risky business," said Barbara Robinson, service director at United Family Services, a Charlotte credit counselor. Using a home to secure unsecured debt "is not a step you want to take," she said. "It puts your house on the line."
In general, people who take out such loans expect their income to increase, Robinson said, adding: "In today's economy, (that's) not necessarily a safe bet."
The Brunes' fortunes continued to deteriorate.
In 2003, the Brunes filed for bankruptcy after accumulating about $45,000 in consumer debt. Shirley Brune said much of the spending was for her daughter's wedding, replacement appliances and a dozen trips to visit ailing parents. (Despite free air fare, the weeklong trips cost more than $1,000 each for hotel, food and car rental expenses.) That debt was eliminated during bankruptcy.
Now the Brunes have about $2,575 in monthly take-home income and $2,723 in monthly expenses, according to their bankruptcy filing.
The outlook is not promising. The couple doesn't expect to make their April house payment. Shirley Brune will lose her job as office manager for a small textile industry advertising agency, which intends to shut down at year's end. And US Airways, after chopping annual costs by $1.3 billion during its bankruptcy, wants to cut $1.5 billion more, much of it through labor concessions.
Like most of US Airways' Charlotte workers, Brune looks back on the days he spent at Piedmont Airlines as a better time in his life. He was younger and the world seemed promising. Now, he has Piedmont Airlines plates mounted on the front of both his cars, and says Piedmont founder Tom Davis would likely have handled the airline's financial crisis with more regard for employees.
"My job is not bad, but it's all the game they play, always cutting pay and benefits," he said. "They keep taking away stuff you've been used to having."