By Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter
Dallas, TX – Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter: A dark history of labor-management relations at the world's largest airline dates back to the days of CEO Don Carty's predecessor Robert Crandall, the often brilliant industry visionary who ran a top-down, military-style organization. The memories still pain many union members, especially pilot Sam Mayer, who sees little change under Don.
Sam Mayer, Allied Pilots Association board member: We suffered through the pilots' strike, a flight attendants' strike just in the last ten years. We had over one hundred grievances claiming violations of our contract, with more coming in every day.
Zeeble: Sam Mayer chairs the Allied Pilots Association labor group in New York, and sits on the APA's board. He was one of six pilots' union leaders who rejected the group's tentative, $660 million concession agreement approved this week.
Mayer: What Mr. Carty did to his employees is nothing less than pure unmitigated extortion. Under the threat of a gun, I think I described it to someone as having his employees lying mercilessly on the ground. Don Carty holding a gun and firing away 'til he extracted the appropriate amount of revenge for what he perceived as past transgressions.
Bruce Hicks, American Airlines spokesperson: We don't have time to beat each other's brains out at the table. You know, sorta the last one standing.
Zeeble: Bruce Hicks, a spokesperson with American Airlines, understands Mayer's anger, but says CEO Don Carty is committed to ending the pugnacious habits.
Hicks: In the old days, we took this baked pie and said here's your split; no, I want a bigger piece, and we fought over the size of the pieces. We're not doing that anymore. We can't do that anymore and survive. We don't have a pie to slice up. We're trying to build a pie. And to bake a pie, we have to do it together.
Zeeble: And so Carty laid out a for employees of a new culture at American Airlines.
Don Carty, American Airlines CEO [from phone message]: A culture centered on cooperation and collaboration, where all have input and all have a stake in our company's future. It's the spirit that got us to the historic moment we announced. And you have my pledge to work hard to keep that culture intact. Not just till we get out of this crisis, but as part of the fabric of the company.
Zeeble: To that end, current concession agreements - which are essentially new, lower-pay six-year contracts - also include stock options and profit sharing, assuming there are profits to share. Carty has also promised similar benefits to non-union employees. Labor Professor Harley Shaiken, at UC Berkeley, says the success of this approach is vital to the future of American Airlines.
Harley Shaiken, University of California Berkeley Labor professor: What's critical is walking the walk. There has to be a sense it's not business as usual.
Zeeble: That's why, says American's Bruce Hicks, the company spent a year cutting $2 billion before it asked labor for cuts. That's why Carty took a 33% pay cut and turned down another bonus, while laying off or cutting pay of non-union workers. University of Illinois Labor Relations expert Peter Feuille says that's why Carty also showed the books to union leaders.
Peter Feuille, University of Illinois' Institute for Labor and Industrial Relations director: That needs to continue. As soon as they stop doing that, the unions will immediately get suspicious.
Zeeble: While some already are, the majority of union leaders say only time will prove Carty's sincerity. For example, there's word that labor management teams are now being organized to maintain an ongoing dialogue between the two groups that have historically been more like adversaries than collaborators. Meanwhile, union members around the country are learning details of the tough concession package. They'll vote it up or down over the next week or so. For KERA 90.1, I'm Bill Zeeble.
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