Wednesday Meetings Could Spell Out Future For Tulsa American Airlines Workers

AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, has scheduled meetings Wednesday with the unions that represent thousands of the airline's workers, including almost all of the workers based in Tulsa.

The meetings are scheduled for Wednesday morning at American's headquarters in Dallas.  A corporate representative is then expected to fly to Tulsa to share the details of the meetings with representatives of the local unions here.

AMR filed for bankruptcy last year.  Industry experts believe the company called Wednesday's meetings in order to lay out the direction the management team wants to take.

Laura Glading, President of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, issued a statement Tuesday about what she expects to come out of the meetings:

"Our experts and I expect this initial proposal to include drastic cuts across the board.  Further, I expect dismay and outrage from our membership as details of the proposal are made public.  I urge you to remain calm.  Our strategy for negotiations will remain unchanged."

1/30/2012 Related Story: Union Announces Effort To Support American Airlines Jobs In Tulsa

The specifics of what American will be asking of its employees are still up in the air. One thing is for certain, the unions will have to make big decisions to help get American back on its feet.

American Airlines is billions of dollars in debt and filed for bankruptcy protection in November. The company is the Tulsa area's largest private employer with more than 7,000 people working at the maintenance facility. Around 5,600 of them are members of the Transport Workers Union.

Wednesday, union leaders and American Airlines executives will meet to go over new contract proposals. There are a number of items on the table that could have a direct impact on Tulsa.

According to reports, American will close one of its three maintenance bases, but it's speculated that the Alliance Airport base in Fort Worth is the that will close. 

There's also talk that American will propose big changes to its pension and benefits plans for employees. According to William Swelbar, a research engineer for the MIT International Center for Air Transportation, American's employees pay considerably less for the health plans than most other airlines.

"Yes, it's going to be a difficult road, but it is an area where American has a competitive disadvantage relative to the industry. I certainly expect them to seek some savings in that area," Swelbar said.

Swelbar also expects American to either terminate or freeze existing pensions and renegotiate a new plan with the union. 

He says it's important for Tulsans that this will be a tough road ahead but that it's important for American to get financially healthy.

"The best job protector in the business is to have a healthy company. American is anything but a healthy company relative to the rest of the industry today," Swelbar said.

The proposals heard Wednesday are just that, proposals. The union and AMR will continue to negotiate and try to reach an agreement.

If that doesn't happen, American can ask a federal bankruptcy judge to step in and force concessions on employees.