3,000 Tulsa AA workers notified they may lose job

TULSA - Nearly 3,000 Tulsa American Airline workers are on edge after being notified they may be losing their job at the end of this year.

Cedric Conners says his 16 years with the company have been a roller coaster ride.

"I’d like to keep my job but but I just don’t see it happening," he said. He is seriously considering taking the early 'Buy Out' deadlined for the end of the month.

"It's either take more now or take less later, but more likely we’re going out the door," he said.

TWU representative John Hewitt says many workers are worried over the WARN letter sent by AA, which is the first step in preparing for layoffs.

"The company has to notify someone that could possibly lose their job," he said. "Under our contract and seniority process each employee that gets laid off has several options of bumping people, but he can only select one of those options."

Hewitt says the "bump and roll" the company refers to in the letter is the process of seniority moving into a lower level position, causing a snowball effect until an employee is terminated.

"If I get a layoff notice there would possibly be seven different people I could choose to bump out of a job if my seniority lets me," Hewitt said. "So they have to notify me and all seven of those people even though only one of them is going to get bumped. They don’t know which one so they have to notify all of them of the possibility."

Last week documents by AA showed roughly 900 workers would be laid off by December 15. Hewitt says that number is dependent on how many people take the early buy out.