July 10, 2020

To All TWU/IAM Association Members at American Airlines:

American Airlines has informed the Association that it will be sending Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications (WARN Act notifications) to Association covered employees. This notice, which is required by law, will contain information indicating that American Airlines may furlough employees.

All of the TWU/IAM Association Collective Bargaining Agreements ratified on March 26, 2020, contain industry-leading System and Station protections for our members. It took several years to achieve the Industry-Leading Contract that you are covered by and the Association Leadership is willing to participate in any discussions that may help the situation we are faced with, but by no means does this mean we are willing to concede any of the contractual protection or language we fought so hard to get. Should American attempt to violate any provision(s) of our Agreements, the Association is prepared to defend the membership.

The reality is that we are in very unstable and worrisome times. While there are certainly more passengers flying today than in late March, this industry is still operating at only a fraction of 2019 passenger levels. And due to a lack of a coordinated national response to the coronavirus pandemic, rising infection rates in the US and several state-mandated quarantines, there is great risk that a significant rebound in air travel demand will not occur soon enough to return American Airlines to the record profits they achieved not too long ago. The TWU/IAM Association is committed to make all efforts to mitigate the effects this instability may have on those we represent.

Association leadership has had dialogue with American’s senior leadership expressing ideas that could lead to more members opting for a Short Term leave or Voluntary Separation (including offering the Early-Out American presented to members on JetNet during negotiations), fully implementing the work provisions of the negotiated JCBAs and bringing in work currently performed by vendors.

The TWU/IAM Association is also working very hard with legislators to extend the Payroll Support Program (PSP) component of the CARES Act through March 31, 2021. If we are successful, this would mitigate any involuntary furloughs and protect our members for an additional six months. We ask every member to reach out to their elected officials to support the PSP extension. Please CLICK HERE to send a message to lawmakers now, asking them to send help as soon as possible and delay furloughs at our airline.

In closing, we have faced tough times in the past as an Association and each time we have been tested, our common bonds and solidarity have been the driving principles that have led us forward and made us stronger. We must not allow fear, differences of opinion, unsubstantiated rumors, or inflammatory rhetoric to divide us.

Now is the time for unity, not division.

The Association Leadership Team

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