Thursday, October 25, 2018

Honorable Mayor Betsy Price

Mayor's Office

200 Texas St.

Fort Worth, Texas 76102

Telephone: (817) 392-6118

Dear Mayor Price,

I wanted to express my concern that the citizens of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and North Texas are not benefiting from the investment in tax abatements gifted to American Airlines to build its new headquarters in Fort Worth.

In 2015 American Airlines asked the Fort Worth City Council for a 15-year, $21.25 million tax incentive for the over $350 million new corporate headquarters in Fort Worth. American also asked for its existing facilities, including its current headquarters east of Hwy 360, for another potential $3.75 million more in state sales and use tax refunds. So far this adds up to about $25 million in taxes that American Airlines will NOT be contributing to the citizens and community of Fort Worth and Tarrant County where it calls its corporate headquarters.

According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, after the tax incentives gifted to American for its new headquarters the company will pay just $7 million in taxes returned to the public and commons where American conducts its business. In 2017 American reported a pre-tax profit of $3.1 billion. That’s less than a .02% tax rate paid by this corporate giant that benefits from being headquartered in this community. In the first six months of 2018 American flew 34,190,475 passengers to, from, and through DFW. American Airlines is an extremely profitable business and employer in this community but it needs to be a better corporate citizen.   

As a corporate citizen of our community, American Airlines has historically provided good paying, middle-class jobs with healthcare and employee benefits that provided a socio-economic status of a middle-class living so that their workers could participate in the mainstream economic life of our community. However, the bargain of good jobs for tax abatements between our community and American Airlines is now in question. American Airlines is intent on shifting DFW ground worker jobs to contractors that pay poverty wages and outsourcing aircraft maintenance work overseas.

For the past three years, American Airlines has been in collective bargaining negotiations with its aircraft mechanics and ground workers represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU). The ground workers and mechanics are still working under rules and cuts implemented by American Airlines during its bankruptcy in 2011 even after a $3.1 billion profit last year. As of today the collective bargain contract talks are now under Federal Mediation. The collective bargaining contract talks between American Airlines and the Transport Workers Union have stalled on the outsourcing of those middle class jobs to contract service companies that pay workers poverty wages and the outsourcing of aircraft maintenance work to overseas contractors with little to no oversight for compliance, safety or security.

These workers, represented by the Transport Workers Union, are an example of the good middle class jobs that the citizens of Fort Worth and Tarrant County expect for their return on investment of tax abatements for businesses. If American outsources these jobs, as it intends, the unspoken agreement of tax abatements for good jobs is a LIE and the citizens of our community have been scammed and cheated by a multi-billion dollar corporation reaping obscene profits on the backs of working families and the tax payers of our community.

I call on you as Mayor to remind the leadership and management at American Airlines of the understanding – that with the public investment of tax abatements there are unconditional expectations that the return on investment WILL be good middle class jobs.

Tax cuts for businesses that pay poverty wages and ship good jobs out of our community are NOT acceptable and that Fort Worth demands American Airlines hold their part of the bargain of tax breaks for good jobs not poverty wages.

Sincerely,

Brian Golden

President

Tarrant County Central Labor Council

4025 Rufe Snow Dr.

North Richland Hills, TX 76180