Allied Pilots Association Reaches Out to AMR Board of Directors: ''American Airlines Management is Failing Its Customers, Its Shareholders and Its Employees''
Posted on: Wednesday, 21 May 2008, 09:00 CDT
The Allied Pilots Association (APA), collective bargaining agent for the 12,000 pilots of American Airlines (NYSE: AMR), appealed to the AMR Board of Directors to address what the pilots union termed "systemic failings" by airline management. American Airlines is a subsidiary of AMR Corp.
Hundreds of pilots, flight attendants and other employees gathered outside the AMR annual shareholders meeting this morning in Fort Worth to highlight their concerns over the airline's current course.
"American Airlines management is failing its customers, its shareholders and its employees," said Captain Lloyd Hill. "This dismal performance is not sustainable."
American Airlines placed last in on-time performance in March among 19 U.S. carriers, while parent company AMR's share price is near its four-year low. APA and American Airlines have been in contract negotiations for more than 18 months, yet both parties acknowledge that very little progress has been made toward a new agreement. Hill cited "management intransigence" as the reason for the lack of progress at the bargaining table.
"Management has chosen to treat its employees as adversaries, rather than valuable allies," he said. "In contrast, at our cross-town competitor Southwest Airlines, management there has always believed in taking care of its employees first, who in turn take care of the customers. And we all know which employee-relations approach has proven more effective in producing a consistently successful company."
APA has been asking the airline's customers to visit www.TellYourAAStory.com to share their ideas for improving American Airlines. The union then assembled a broad sampling of customer e-mails and has forwarded them in a bound book to each member of the AMR Board of Directors.
"As these many e-mail messages indicate, our customers are just as concerned as we are about our airline's performance," Hill said. "Accordingly, we have appealed to the AMR Board of Directors to address what can only be described as systemic failings by our airline's managers.
"We hope that the individual board members find our customers' suggestions and accounts of their experiences with American Airlines to be useful in addressing our airline's problems."
Founded in 1963, the Allied Pilots Association--the largest independent pilot union in the U.S.--is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. APA represents the 12,000 pilots of American Airlines, including 2,043 pilots on furlough. The furloughs began shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Also, several hundred American Airlines pilots are on full-time military leave of absence serving in the armed forces. The union's Web site address is www.alliedpilots.org.
American Airlines is the nation's largest passenger carrier and fifth-largest cargo carrier.
Source: Business Wire
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