But Two Unions Have Now Scheduled Concession Re-Votes
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) Monday joined the Association
of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) in threatening a re-vote
on their agreement to huge concessions aimed at keeping the world's
largest carrier out of bankruptcy. The company's stock slid as
investors, who had been buying on the belief that American had
sidestepped bankruptcy, faced their fears all over again. And The
Donald Monday said he was sorry.
"Our union leaders stepped up to the plate quickly by hammering
out consensual agreements.
Our unionized employees stepped up to the plate by ratifying them.
Indeed, all of our employees, union and non-union alike, did what
was necessary to help avoid bankruptcy," said Carty at a Fort Worth
news conference. "And then I stumbled. You know, the world's
largest airline doesn't do anything halfway. When we do something,
we do it bigger and we do it better than anyone else. Together, we
had done what no one has ever done before, that many thought
couldn't be done. We delivered the largest consensual savings in US
history. And then I made a mistake. And of course, it was a big
one."
Carty's Apology
Carty said he failed to communicate fully with union leaders
about double-your-salary retention bonuses for the company's top
seven executives - himself included. But he stopped short of
canceling $41 million in supplemental bonuses for the company's top
45 managers. He also stopped short of resigning.
"I hope my apologies, my cancellation of all retention payments
and my commitment to be completely open about these matters now
and, I might add, in the future, can begin to build a bridge back
to the path that allowed us to forge these historic agreements in
the first place - a path that promised a new culture of
collaberation, cooperation and trust," said Carty at Monday's news
conference.
"Now,
it is obvious to me, as I'm sure it is to all of you, that that
won't happen overnight. But I am committed and the management team
at American and the board at American are committed to gaining our
employees' confidence - a valuable commodity that has to be earned,
and then re-earned every single day. Now, an important building
block back to that bridge of trust and confidence is for our union
leaders and our employees to have full confidence in the fact the
sacrifices they were asked for and agreed to make were indeed
shared, and that we are, in fact, all in this together. So I hope
my record in this regard speaks a lot more clearly than I obviously
have, about the full details."
The Unions' Response
"We intend to revote despite the apology," said
George Price, a spokesman for the APFA. The TWU said Monday
American is in material breach of the company's obligation to
provide all relevant facts during a negotiation. The board of the
Allied Pilots Association met Monday to discuss "options," but
there was no word on the results of that conference.
But Carty told Monday's news conference that any further delay
in enacting the already-approved union concessions would cause
American Airlines to go bankrupt. Can the unions just say no to
Carty, in light of Friday's financial revelations?
"I think if you want to get technical, legally we're up in the
air. We're trying to stay away from that . . . and we're trying to
get back with our unions," Carty said. "We can't lose sight of the
important objective here: How do we save our company from
bankruptcy?"
In
other words, The Donald, as he's known among employees, is in
trouble. His apology may have been heartfelt, but it appeared late
Monday to be less than enough to stave off a union-driven cave in
on concessions. American's lawyers are in the bullpen just in case,
warming up for a date in federal bankruptcy court they thought they
had dodged.
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.16.24)
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