Managers Protect Themselves

April 9, 2013

American Airlines management continues to take care of its own while agents twist slowly in the wind as we wait for the merger with US Airways to pan out.

After asking the bankruptcy court to approve millions of dollars in “incentive” raises and bonuses for top executives and mid-level managers, the company now says that lower-level managers will be eligible to six-months severance pay, regardless of seniority, if they are laid off at any point over the next two years.

As part of its restructuring plan, AMR is also seeking a $20 million bonus for outgoing CEO Tom Horton, as well as bonuses of between 50 percent and 100 percent of base pay for the 15 managing directors.

The new incentives, announced last week by Denise Lynn, vice president of people, would cover passenger service airport managers, maintenance shift managers and managers at the corporate headquarters. This group of managers received a 3 percent raise in January, compared with the 2 percent that agents received. See more in the Star-Telegramblog.

The severance package proposed for agents is far less generous than that approved for the low-level managers, and is guided by seniority, unlike the package announced for the managers. Agents with less than 13 years’ seniority would receive significantly less.