Non-union Cuts
On July 31, US Airways announced to non-union and management employees the necessary wage, vacation, sick leave and benefit reductions that are part of the restructuring plan to restore the company to financial health.
“While painful for us all, these reductions are a necessary component if we hope to secure the $1 billion loan guarantee and successfully restructure the company,†President and CEO Dave Siegel said in a letter to each employee.
The original non-union and management portion of the $985 million overall labor target savings was $35 million. That amount was reduced to 85 percent of $35 million, to just under $30 million, as a result of the unions meeting 85 percent of their target numbers.
To reach the $30 million savings annually for the next six and one-half years, reductions will be made in salaries, vacation and sick leave. Employee contributions for medical and dental care coverage will, in most cases, increase.
No employee earning $30,000 or less will have a salary reduction, and the maximum reduction for employees below the officer level will be 12 percent. The average base salary reductions by groups range from 2.5 percent for administrative employees to 11.7 percent for directors and managing directors.
In addition, the management group participating in the Incentive Compensation Plan (ICP) will not receive bonuses that might have been payable based on the company’s performance in 2002. Like the members of unions, employees in the non-union/management group will participate in a new profit-sharing plan to provide a return to employees on the investment they have made in the company.
Officers, meanwhile, will contribute 100 percent of their targeted savings in both salaries and benefits and this will have the effect of causing the non-union/management group as a whole to exceed their $30 million target.
Also, officers will be taking pay cuts that are a flat percentage of their salaries. Vice presidents will see their salary reduced by 13.5 percent, senior officers and executive officers by 17 percent and Dave Siegel by 20 percent. Further, officers will not receive payments from either the ICP or long-term incentive plan for both 2002 and 2003.
When all reductions for officers are taken into account, their compensation will be reduced, on average, by almost 45 percent.
Last updated: July 31, 2002