Pays Out $67 Million Throughout Ranks

In the words of one union representative, it was "an acknowledgement of a debt owed." This week, American Airlines handed out some $67 million in bonuses to employees at the Fort Worth, TX-based carrier, as well as its American Eagle subsidiary.

Gerard Arpey, President and CEO for American parent company AMR Corp., said the awards were "in recognition of the collective effort of our employees and the special circumstances that existed in 2007... This is a tangible way of saying 'thank you' for all that our employees did for our company in a challenging year."

Despite an overall strong performance in 2007, AMR actually lost $69 million in the fourth quarter of the year, reports The Dallas Morning News. The loss came as high fuel prices took their collective toll on the airline's bottom line.

American Airlines employees received $800 bonuses, while American Eagle workers collected $500. It's worth noting the total amount of the bonuses is greater than the approximately $59 million slated to be awarded to AMR executives and other key employees in April.

The past amounts of such executive bonuses remain a bone of contention between employees and management at the airline, many of which took substantial pay hits as the carrier fought to avoid bankruptcy, only to see executives collect lucrative bonuses. Unions for those workers say this week's employee bonuses, while nice, should only be considered a start towards making amends.

"Do not think of it as an insult. It is, in and of itself, an acknowledgement of a debt owed," said Keith Stewart, president of a Transport Workers Union local at American's Alliance Airport maintenance base. "It is our strong position that it is only a down payment of that debt."

The unions representing American's pilots and flight attendants, however, weren't so measured in their commentary. Association of Professional Flight Attendants president Tommie Hutto-Blake called the bonuses "too little, too late.

"A one percent return on our sacrifice of $1.7 billion over the past five years, while executives continuously reward themselves with millions, is a slap in the face to the workers who literally saved this company from bankruptcy five years ago," she added.

The Allied Pilots Association called the bonuses "token payments [which] are primarily intended to divert attention away from the huge payouts management has been receiving for the past few years."

FMI: www.aa.com, www.alliedpilots.org, www.afanet.org