The "American" Way Pays Off
With well-paying U.S. industrial jobs flying overseas these days, American Airlines is keeping 7,000 workers at its mammoth Tulsa maintenance facility busier than ever by turning old business ways upside down, CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports.
"It's amazing when you're in a survival mode, how you can change," says Dennis Burchette, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 514.
After 9/11, American was about to follow other big carriers into bankruptcy. But the airline did the unthinkable in Tulsa: Management and the Transport Workers Union buried the hatchet and decided to work together to manage the plant.
"Sharing those decisions with the union just went against the grain," explains Carmine Romano, an American vice president.
"There still is skepticism," Burchette says. But in a leap of faith, the workers gave major concessions. They took cuts in salaries and benefits. In return, they got equal say in running their facility and a promise to save every job if they saved the company money.
"This is a big ol' boat that's got to turn. It's slow, but at least they're listening," says machinist Jim Messick.
They're listening because money talks. Instead of buying new tail cones, workers now make them, saving $205,000 on each. They used to just throw out the dull tools and drill bits. Now they're resharpened — saving American almost $1 million.
The greatest savings came from the biggest job: completely overhauling big planes.
It used to take 800 American mechanics 23 days. Now half the number of mechanics can finish the job in just 13 days.
American CEO Gerard Arpey recently announced that the Tulsa workers saved the company more than $500 million last year. They're so cost-efficient that foreign and domestic carriers now outsource their maintenance to American's plant in Tulsa.
"It was easier for me to argue with them and blame them and cuss them — and now I'm part of them," Burchette says, laughing.
Romano says there is "absolutely, absolutely" a lesson at American for other U.S. companies. "We should not give up on our people," she says.
In other words, do it the American way.