AMR Cuts Managers

For those of you who still don’t know who AMR Corp is they are the parent company of American Airlines as well as a few other companies. For those of you want more details here is a look at how the company describes itself,”…AMR Corporation, was formed and became the parent company of American Airlines. The reorganization took effect on Oct. 1, 1982. The formation of AMR had no effect on day-to-day operations of American, but it did – and still does – provide the company with access to sources of financing that otherwise might not be available. The holding company structure also allows the company to take advantage of appropriate new opportunities. The name “AMR” was taken from the airline’s three-letter New York Stock Exchange trading symbol. It simply stands for “American.”

The company is making yet another round of layoffs. If this seems like old news to you don’t worry. I’m not talking about this week’s layoff of staffers. I’m talking about the layoffs being made to senior management. That’s right the folks over at American Airlines have finally gotten around to cutting a few people with the really big salaries, instead of cutting thousands of people with much smaller salaries.

The company is getting ready to cut back on five members of its senior team according to the information released by the company on Tuesday. For the time being the company is not, in the official release not saying much about exactly which of the managers are going to take the plunge. For now all that the company is saying is, “American Airlines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AMR Corporation, today announced the third phase of its organization redesign. This multi-phased reorganization is part of the company’s commitment to reduce total costs and put the customers’ experience at the heart of American’s operation, with all departments supporting that goal. This phase included the elimination of five officer positions. Combined with the previous organizational changes, today’s announcement represents a 20 percent reduction in the company’s most senior leadership positions.”

The reduction of 20 percent in jobs has been a bit of a moving target for the company as they have been stripping themselves of workers left and right, and making as many deal with their unions as they can, in a bid to stay in business. The company cut back on 1,200 workers in the middle of April. Just a month before that in March the company cut back on more workers, this time to the tune of about 600 jobs lost.

Before that however was the big cut. The company made an announcement, back in February, that they were slated to layoff about 20,000 workers.  For those of you who missed out on our earlier coverage here is a brief excerpt that will get you up to speed in no time. “How many workers are getting the boot? Well, that is the worst of the news. The layoffs are expected to affect up to 20,000 workers.  While that number is massive, it is by no means the entirety of the company’s workforce. AMR actually employs about 87,000 workers between the two airlines, so the cuts will end up being about one quarter of the total staff.  That is, if the numbers are as high as is expected. At the current moment there is no official statement with a solid number on the layoffs that are coming.”