As American Airlines prepares to buy back billions in stock, Schakowsky and colleagues demand they pay living wages

Today, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky led 31 of her House Democratic colleagues in sending a letter to American Airlines Group CEO Doug Parker regarding American Airlines’ contract negotiations with passenger service agents at Envoy and Piedmont. The members wrote to express their hope that the negotiations will result in contracts that support fair, living wages for the passenger service agents. Recently, American Airlines announced plans to buy back $2 billion worth of company stock. The members highlighted this as evidence of the company’s continued success, which they believe passenger service agents should share in.

Today’s communications comes as a follow-up to a letter sent by Rep. Schakowsky and 81 of her colleagues in February of this year.

The full text of today’s letter is below, and a signed copy of the letter can be found here.

Doug Parker, CEO

American Airlines Group

4333 Amon Carter Boulevard

Fort Worth, TX 76155

Dear Mr. Parker:

Last February, we wrote to you and Communications Workers of America President Chris Shelton to express our hope that negotiations between American Airlines and passenger service agents at Envoy and Piedmont would result in contracts that support living wages. We continue to monitor this situation and, as you return to the negotiations table next week, we want to repeat our support for fair, living wages.

That goal seems more achievable than ever in light of American Airlines recently announced plans to use $2 billion in company profits to buy back stock through 2020.[1] This is evidence that you have a high level of confidence in your future profitability, and we believe that Envoy and Piedmont passenger service agents deserve to share in that profitability since they are such a key part of American’s success.

During the debate over the recently-enacted tax law, proponents promised that lowering the overall corporate tax rate would result in raises for employees – not just one-time bonuses. Now, instead of seeing increases in take-home pay, we have seen a wave of announcements by corporations that they intend to use their projected profits for stock buybacks.

Despite the lack of progress to date, we urge you to make substantial progress in the next round of bargaining over the Envoy and Piedmont contracts so that passenger service agents – not just shareholders and corporate executives – benefit from increased profitability levels. Passenger service agents deserve salaries that allow them to support themselves and their families.

As we consider future taxing and spending priorities for the United States in our capacity as Members of Congress, we would also ask that you update us on the impacts that the tax law has had on your business plans, including the level of investments you plan to make in your workforce.

We look forward to hearing from you.