The falling oil prices have a silver lining, at least for the workers associated with the Airline sector. America Airlines on Tuesday stated that it plans to pay flight attendants an additional 4% points above raises averaging 10%. This has been made possible due to falling oil prices.
Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker In a letter to employees, said “very strong” results for 2014 has made it possible for substantial wage rise for Flight Attendants. Other working groups will not remain untouched and will be receiving hikes in their remuneration once their contracts are ratified.
Falling oil prices has chiseled off costs at the world’s largest airline by passenger traffic and therefore it is poised to save more as compared to its competitors because it did not hedge against prices rising.
Unions for their part had asked Parker to link employee compensation with the company’s performance. However Parker has declined profit sharing which has been practiced Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
Parker wrote in the letter, obtained by Reuters, “There are many ways to share success, but when it comes to compensation, we believe it is best to reward (workers) with industry leading wage rates not lower wages supplemented by compensation that varies with airline profitability.”
Point to be noted, the particular case has proved that American take their labor relations quite seriously. In the letter Parker underlines the hourly rates of flight attendants will be 7% higher than the ones at Delta or United. First Year Flight attendants will be remunerated at $24.18 per hour.
Still the announcement put other American workers under pressure to conclude contracts which will be mandatory for any raises. The company hopes to avoid the situation faced by other merged airlines which struggled for years to reach a amicable deal with all workers.
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