I’m fascinated by how airlines have become involved in political issues and the reasons they provide for doing so. The latest example: how American Airlines CEO Doug Parker justifies his carrier’s vocal role in opposing Republican-led efforts to change voting laws in a handful of U.S. states. Is there a sincere moral belief at play? Likely. But is there also a business case? Of course. Parker even explains it.
American Airlines Makes A Business Case For Activism In Divisive Political Issues
Perhaps I am too young to remember an earlier era in which airlines were heavily involved in divisive social issues or laws impacting voting rights, but in the 17 years I have been following the industry I have not seen the level of involvement that we have recently witnessed.
The involvement seems limited to the “Big 3” legacy airlines and includes traditional left-of-center issues including:
- Support of gun control at Delta Air Lines
- Support of Affirmative action at United Airlines
- Opposition to transgender bathroom bills at American Airlines
Which brings us to today’s issue.
View From The Wing obtained a recording of CEO Parker speaking to employees. He addressed why American Airlines so unequivocally condemned efforts in Texas to amend voting procedures:
To us this isn’t a partisan issue. We don’t get involved in partisan politics, we don’t want to. It’s an equity issue. The statement we’ve made is in support of our team.
Let me back up and tell you how we came to that conclusion. Anyone I think would agree that it’s important there be integrity in the voting results so no one’s going to dispute that.
The issue that’s arisen in these efforts and these bills is they’ve become very divisive. They tend to be on political lines but they also tend to be on lines of people of color versus others, and that’s what we saw.
So as soon as Delta was being asked and making statements in Georgia, I started getting questions from a lot of team members about where’s American on this? People of color primarily feeling as though these laws are making it much harder for people like them to vote. And given the history of this country, that’s something that’s happened in the past, and they’re very much concerned that’s what’s happening again.
So you have that concern coming from team members. About the same time there’s a letter from 70-odd black executives, CEOs and others, saying hey business we have to get involved in this. This is an effort to restrain the right for people like us to vote. And then on top of that the NAACP the legal defense fund has filed a opposition to the Texas law. And that’s when we made a statement was when the Texas Senate passed something, and we were being asked by a lot of our team to get involved and by the way the Delta issue was already going on.
We looked at all that, and again not by any means trying to make one side happy or the other but doing what we do which is trying to bring people together on a very divisive issue that’s divided along cultural lines to say we’re opposed to this.
And without getting into great detail, I’m happy to if anyone who wants to, but when you look at as we did the provisions that are in that Texas law – things like not allowing polling centers to be open except 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. that makes it harder for working people to get there, certainly people who work off-shift. Only having a certain number of polling positions per polling office, so if you’re in an urban area you’re probably going to have a longer line than someone in a rural area. Things that people of color feel as though as designed to make it harder for them to vote.
So anyone my short answer to all of this is we’re not trying to pick a side with Democrats or Republicans or voting integrity or not, but we are absolutely going to stand with our Black employees and our Latino employees when they feel like – and we can make a difference and what we say is important – and today in this country it is.
…We feel very strongly. We did the same thing by the way on things like bathroom bills in North Carolina and Texas, which I’m proud of irrespective of anybody’s politics. It’s about pulling people together. It’s about supporting our team.
And by the way there’s a business issue that comes out of this. On those bathroom bills, what happened when North Carolina passed theirs? They lost the NBA All Star Game, they lost Bruce Springsteen concerts, they lost travel. That’s what’s going to happen and it’s happened now in Georgia. They lost the Major League Baseball All Star Game. They’re going to lose travel. That affects us.
I don’t want to say that’s the full reason, we didn’t do it primarily because of business reasons, we did it for what I said, in support of our team. But it does have business reasons.
The more we divide ourselves, and the more divisive we become, the less likely it is that people are going to travel to states that take divisive stances, and that’s not good for us either.
…The short answer is this is not trying to make one side happy or the other. We knew full well the easiest – I was about to say the easiest thing was to stay out of it, that’s not the easiest thing. I think there was virtually no chance we could stay out of it. You have to take a stand on these things. We were asked to take a stand and so we did.
My thoughts, in no particular order:
- There’s a great deal of candor at play here and I have no reason to doubt Parker’s beliefs are not sincerely held
- His notion that this is an “equity” issue rather than a “partisan” issue is odd – of course this is a partisan issue, as partisanship is support of a party, cause, or person
- He fairly eloquently outlines the reason for concern over the Texas voting bill
- Saying that the easiest thing would be to stay out of politics is actually not possible when employees, unions, and other airlines pressure political involvement – not getting involved is itself a statement
- Making a business case for getting involved in divisive political issues is necessary
It’s that last point that was most interesting to me. Parker says that:
- The North Carolina bathroom bill led to lost income at its CLT hub
- A Texas voting bill will lead to lost income at its fortress DFW hub
Parker notes, “I don’t want to say that’s the full reason, we didn’t do it primarily because of business reasons, we did it for what I said, in support of our team. But it does have business reasons.”
Translation: it’s all about business. If Texas passes its voting bill, many will boycott the state. There will be less conventions, less sporting events, and less concerts. That means less people flying American Airlines.
Whatever the actual impact of the Texas voting bill on voting, the passage of that bill will undeniably hurt American Airlines. That’s not debatable: the warnings are already flowing in.
This issue is particularly salient. After all, American Airlines went to war with its labor for years over living wages. Delta used virulent Islamophobic rhetoric in opposing Gulf carriers. It’s not like carriers have always been paragons of progressive virtue. But when it hurts the pocketbook, expect full-scale support.
CONCLUSION
It’s easy to say that less division will come by avoiding divisive issues. The problem with that is the issues are still there and a non-statement is itself a statement. U.S. corporations, for better or worse, have waded into divisive issues, but it is not because they just want to be “woke” for the sake of being woke…or even just to support employees. It is because they see a strong business case for doing so.
When it comes to voting, I have no basis upon which to conclude the Parker is not sincere in wanting to protect the rights of AA employees to vote. But we humans tend to tell on ourselves and Parker made clear the strong business case for opposing this legislation. There’s nothing wrong with that. Quite the contrary, that is a great reason to oppose the Texas legislation and the reason many businesses do absent proof of widespread voter fraud. And it’s also not unreasonable for AA not to want to bite the hand that feeds it, a slim Democratic majority in Congress that just handed American Airlines another huge relief package.
But if you ever wondered why an airline gets involved in divisive political issues, always follow the money.
image: Thank You / Flickr
You can thank Republicans for pushing Citizen United case. They can’t very well decry what they wanted so badly when corporations use their new found powers against the GOP’s narrow interests. It’s laughable.
When you see the word “equity” thrown around, you’re looking at someone taking the political side of the left. And, this used to be the far left. Because ‘equity’ means equality of outcome. That’s different than actual equality, that’s equal outcomes for all. The only way to (sort of) do this is to artificially hold the more successful groups/people/genders/whatever back in order to have the equal outcome in society. It is a concept rooted in Marxism. Roll your eyes at that if you like, but look it up.
As for AA, they can take their Ben & Jerry’s style politics and piss off. Frankly, I quit flying them several years ago thanks to mediocre service, rolling delays and increasingly cramped cabins. I will go out of my way not to do so now.
Exactly, which makes McTurtle’s er…McConnell’s statement telling corporations to stay out of politics that much more laughable.
The guy cannot run an airline and wants to talk about politics. He should focus in doing his job and not finding other things to change the fact that he lacks key leadership skills to run any company.
@stogieguy
Of course, everything progressive looks Marxist…from a fascist point of view.
Spot on @Stogie
@Matthew – I think your “always follow the money” is a bit cynical but sadly only a bit. Nice analysis.
@Pete – The hypocrisy of the teeth gnashing on the political hard right is interesting. They pushed for corporations to be people and now they don’t like the result and are crying foul. Now they’ve decided they want the money from the corporations but not the opinions that come with the money.
“A Texas voting bill will lead to lost income at its fortress DFW hub.”
Parker creates a self-fulfilling prophesy with his activism. And he needs to tread lightly – airlines are a heavily regulated industry and ones that routinely seek goodies from state and local governments. Were I a stockholder, I’d be concerned that Parker is upsetting people who he may need to befriend over a simple requirement that one have an id when one goes to vote.
To paraphrase Laura Ingraham, “shut up and fly planes”.
Spot on @Pete.
When airlines try to fly planes using just a left wing, science says their will probably spin out of controls and crash and burn. C’mon man, follow the science as The New Messiah preaches. Consumer Lives Matter when the boot meets the booty and your business gets kicked to the curb by those not enamored with your activism (which may be as much as half this country).
@stogieguy7 – spot on. Born and raised in an “equity-driven” society (ex-USSR).
When universities had to accept x% of working class people, y% of ethnic minorities (excluding Jews, of course), etc, etc, etc. Thanks, but no thanks….
@Ex-Soviet – if you believe all people are equal, and some shouldn’t be held down at the expense of others…I would expect you to clearly be against the Republican-driven voting rights bills that systemically target people of color and will have the end effect of reducing their voting turnout.
@Matthew – corporations want to be on the right side of history; ergo, they are coming out against these restrictive voting bills (and rightly so). They don’t want to be on the Anglo-Saxon American First Party side (aka the core of the Republican Party at this point).
“Follow the money”…indeed. Although I’m sympathetic to this particular stance, these corporate shysters would sell their grandmothers for sixpence, depending on the prevailing wind…
Many decades ago, when there was the CAA granting domestic routes to airlines, airlines were clearly Democrat or Republican. Continental and American were opposites. I don’t remember which but I think American was Democrat and Continental Republican but it could have been the reverse.
@jfhscott So I suppose you also think Mike Lindell should just “shut up and sell pillows.”
When the rights of citizens are so clearly being taken away for the political gain of one party, I think it is morally right to stand up for those being disenfranchised. While voting rights are being restricted though the political system, it isn’t just merely politics at play. Legislators are acting immorally, they know it, and Parker is service as the voice for his employees who don’t really have one.
I don’t care what side of the aisle you are on. When Big Business, Big Media, and the Ultra-Rich are all in lockstep support of the same political party, history has shown us that the result is never good for ordinary people.
Indeed, follow the noney! Parker is simply lining up for his photo op kneeling at the BLM alter. Where has all that BLM money gone to anyway??!
When another administration is in power in 2024 or even the legislatures in 2022, AA better not be showing up with their hat out looking for more relief or assistance with anything.
@Pete and @Aaron
Fascism has far more in common with ‘progressivism” than classical liberalism/conservatism. The term itself is so self-congratulatory. Presentism is, unfortunately, an all too common trait of progressives who think they are so much more enlightened than their forbears and that anyone who opposes them is a reprobate troglodyte who must be defeated at all costs “because progress.”
@UA-TDS
People are patently unequal. This does not mean that people should not be treated equally by the law. What people like you want are laws that discriminate according to protected classes. Failure to enforce laws effectively does not mean we should have laws that enforce inequality. What we really should have are fewer laws as each law is an opportunity to harm different groups of people. If you think you can legislate away aspects of human nature that offend you, you are sadly mistaken.