The Process

After an airline files for restructuring, it makes proposals to each union to achieve a level of savings necessary to be a successful company. That’s where we are today.

 

The proposals must be fair and equitable to all of the company's stakeholders, including all employee groups – unionized, management, support staff and independent – and must take into consideration all the actions it has taken to improve its competitive position. This includes things such as changes to vendor and supplier contracts and debt restructuring. Simply put, one group cannot bear a disproportionate share of the sacrifices.

 

Now that proposals have been made, each union will bargain separately with the company on the best way to achieve the necessary cost savings for the airline to be successful. We all have an obligation to bargain in good faith, and the company must share information about its finances, business plans, economic forecasts and any other relevant business data with the unions.  

 

A large part of the restructuring plans for management, support staff and independent employees is still under development. As with the restructuring plans for other employee groups, these plans were created to fairly and equitably allocate the cost reduction in proportion to the group’s labor costs to ensure the company is on a path for success.

 

It’s our hope that consensual agreements can be reached with all of our unionized workgroups. These agreements, along with our plans for our non-unionized workgroups, will mean that in the end, we’ll be a more efficient airline, with the opportunity to position American to regain its market leading position.