| Updated: 2/02 10:09 pm |
Published: 2/02 9:20 pm
|
Tulsa civic and city leaders say they have a plan to try recover from the more than 2,000 possible job cuts that American Airlines has proposed at its Tulsa maintenance facility.
Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett says he is focused on one thing right now, “(That) the jobs that are lost, that they stay here in Tulsa, the families stay here in Tulsa and that person that lost a job once again becomes the breadwinner of the family.
To make that happen, the city and the Tulsa Metro Chamber, have been working behind the scenes since well before the announcement was made identifying possible aviation and aerospace companies who may want to set up shops in Tulsa.
“We have been identifying for a month or so who those potential companies could be and have begun the early process of reaching out,” Chamber CEO and President Mike Neal told FOX23 Thursday.
When American announced it would outsource, it didn't specify if those outsourced jobs would go overseas.
“It gives us an opportunity that we need to be attracting the companies that will be providing the services that American Airlines, for whatever reason, is willing to provide to someone else,” Mayor Bartlett said.
Neal says that's what the Chamber will do in the months to come.
“We could very aggressively go out and recruit some third party maintenance and repair company, some company that does outsource maintenance.”
Their pitch to attract those possible companies will be straight forward, “We have 2,100 talented, very experienced workers that will sometime in the near future become available.”
Neal is so confident that those who lose their jobs with American will easily find new employment that he made this prediction.
“I think there will be a significant number of people who almost be able to one day walk across the street or walk across town to a new job the day they leave American Airlines.”
Neal also said that American has promised to keep the city and business leaders updated on what possible companies it decides to contract maintenance work with in the months to come. That gives the city a shot at luring them to Tulsa before their contract begins.
As he ponders how to soften the blow Mayor Bartlett knows where he'd fly for guidance.
“(I would go to) Kansas City, because American did shut down a facility there, and Indianapolis. United had been there a long time, as you know, and then closed down,” he said.
Both cities weathered the storm, and in Indy, new businesses took up old maintenance space.
“We also visited Indianapolis this past year, and we have a good relationship with many of those individuals.”
Neal is all for a trip to the Indiana capital, but he also wants to capitalize on what he calls a golden opportunity for Tulsa.
“We're going to look for every opportunity we can to learn from other communities, but more importantly, we want to be aggressive and we want to blaze a new trail.”
Ironically, when American closed its base in Kansas City in 2010, many of those workers came to Tulsa to continue their careers with the company.
