Management vs. Labor

Ft. Worth Star Telegram

Op-Ed

Paul Stouffer
AA 777 Captain

The various unions at American Airlines seem to have difficulty getting their message out. (See March 14 news story "Unions planning protests.")

My fellow employees are outraged by the more than $200 million in bonuses that are to be paid to about 1,000 managers in April. The bonuses aren't based on executive performance, education or ability. Instead, they're based only upon AMR's stock price vs. that of other airlines, which are currently in bankruptcy.

The money doesn't come from profits, either. AMR, American Airlines' parent company, could have lost money, but if the stock price remained high, the same bonuses would have been triggered.

Senior management has shown a callous disregard for the 80,000 employees who made significant financial sacrifices to save our company, choosing to enrich instead 1,000 managers, whose hardest decision each day might be where to eat lunch.

The motto "Work together, win together" is most accurate — except that 80,000 employees worked, and 1,000 managers won.

Paul M. Stouffer
Fort Worth