AMR Spokesman: 2,100 American Airlines Jobs To Be Cut At Tulsa Base

AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, has released specific numbers of job cuts it wants to make as it moves through bankruptcy.

The company announced early Wednesday it wants to cut about 13,000 jobs overall.  At a news conference at the Tulsa maintenance base Wednesday afternoon, AMR spokesman Tim Smith said the company proposes cutting 2,100 jobs in Tulsa.

Read American Airline's proposal to TWU

Senator Jim Inhofe's office says the company told Oklahoma's congressional delegation that the number would actually be 2,850.

Here's how the company expects the job cuts to be distributed across all locations: 

• Agents, Reps, Planners: TBD, the ARP restructuring plan is still under development as the company collects and analyzes employee feedback 
• Fleet Service & Other TWU: Approximately 4,200
• Flight Attendants:  Approximately 2,300
• Management/Support Staff: Approximately 1,400
• Mechanics and Related: Approximately 4,600
• Pilots: Approximately 400

News On 6 received a copy of an internal company memo that contained more specifics:

• Outsourcing a portion of our aircraft maintenance work and seek the closure of Alliance Fort Worth (AFW)
• Outsourcing some airport fleet service clerk work
• Removing major structural barriers to operational flexibility, including restrictions on codesharing and regional flying
• Introducing work rule changes to increase productivity

The memo goes on to state how the company wants to change some of its benefit programs:

• Seek court approval to terminate our defined benefit pension plans.  If terminated, the plans would be replaced with a 401(k) plan with a company match.
• Seek to discontinue company-subsidized retiree medical coverage for current employees, but will offer access to these plans if employees choose to pay for them.
• Move to implement common active medical plans and contribution structures across all employee groups.

Dave Woodruff is one of the 6,800 employees at Tulsa's American Airlines maintenance base. He's worked there since 1997.

"I know of a lot of people that have worked hard trying to save our jobs because it's so important to our families and I feel like they are really let down, including myself," Woodruff said.

According to the company, here's how the company will proceed:

• We will meet with representatives from the APA, APFA and TWU to negotiate the necessary changes through a formal process controlled by the court, and hope to reach consensual agreements in the next few weeks.

• Changes affecting independent employees – Agents, Representatives, Planners, Management and Support Staff – will be influenced by employee feedback offered in conjunction with restructuring forums held throughout the system in recent weeks.

• We will also launch a redesign of our management and support staff structure that will result, in part, in a 15 percent reduction of management positions, in an effort to reach our targeted 20 percent cost savings and create a leadership culture of accountability and high performance.

AMR's executive team shared these numbers with the unions representing these workgroups Wednesday morning.

The unions' leadership is now in the process of sharing the numbers with the unions' members, which will take much of the day.  

The company wants to improve revenues by a billion dollars a year and cut costs by $2 billion. 

"It's a difficult day to be saying that kind of information, but at the same token, we believe it is something we have to do at this point. There really is no choice," said company spokesperson Tim Smith.

These numbers are just a proposal, the company is seeking the unions' agreement but ultimately the restructuring will be approved by the federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy.

The company believes this is the best way to survive.

"Emerge as a successful, profitable business and at the same time, save tens of thousands of jobs for our employees so that we can grow when we complete this process," Smith said. 

2/1/2012 Related Story: American Airlines CEO Calls For 20% Cost Cuts In All Workgroups