Labor & Employment Law

At American, Passengers Pay for Bags, Execs Get Bonuses, Workers Get Shaft

By Mike Hall

Passengers are paying fees for bags, blankets and maybe someday for those tiny restrooms at the back of the plane, but top executives at AMR, parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle, are set to rake in millions in bonuses next week. The Transport Workers (TWU) says those bonuses are “Excess Baggage.”

TWU, which represents 28,000 ground workers at the two airlines, yesterday kicked off a new advertising and text campaign protesting the bonuses. Several hundred TWU members marched outside American’s terminal at the Dallas International Airport to let passengers know those bag fees are being turned to executive bonuses.

The ads feature suitcases full of cash under the heading “Excess Baggage,” and invite readers to join a campaign to curb sky-high executive pay by texting “Excess” to 30644.

For more on excessive executive pay, visit the 2010 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch website here.

Members from several TWU Locals attended the airport rally, holding signs that read “Employee Concessions + Passenger Fees = Executive Bonuses.”

John Conley, director of TWU’s Air Transport Division asks:

How much is too much? In the past five years, the top executives at AMR have enriched themselves with more than $300 million in bonuses, and their proxy statement shows that they’ll be back at the trough again this year.

The union is planning more airport demonstrations that will feature bags of cash and signs inviting the public to register for the protest by texting EXCESS to 30644. Airport protests will be scheduled prior to AMR’s May 19 shareholders meeting.

Conely says not only is AMR shaking down its customers with the new fees,

they’ve stiffed our members at the bargaining table for the past four years-even though we were the ones who stepped up to take a 30 percent pay cut in 2003 to save the airline from bankruptcy.

On March 11, TWU petitioned the National Mediation Board (NMB), which has oversight over labor relations in the transport sector, for release from mediation. If granted, it would include a 30-day “cooling off period” before workers would be allowed to strike. Says Conely:

Our goal, as always, is a fair settlement, because that’s the best result for our members, the traveling public and for the company. But our job at the bargaining table does not get any easier when AMR executives take care of themselves at the expense of our members and our passengers.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on April 16, 2010 (boomark / email).