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Pa. Official Sounds off on US Airways Outsourcing Plan
PITTSBURGH -- US Airways' reported plans to outsource jobs to Central America doesn't sit well with Pennsylvania's Auditor General Jack Wagner -- and he made his feelings known Saturday in a letter to Bruce Lakefield, chief executive officer of US Airways.Following is the full text of Wagner's letter:Mr. Lakefield,As a customer, taxpayer and elected officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, charged with monitoring the spending of state money, I am deeply disturbed by newspaper accounts of your airline's plan to outsource to Central America hundreds of good-paying jobs -- including those from a reservations center in Green Tree.When your company announced the closing of the Green Tree operation, your spokesmen promised that all 850 dislocated workers would be offered transfers to North Carolina. Now, it appears those jobs will be migrating much farther south.If that is the case, your action is a corporate betrayal and a harsh slap in the face to Allegheny County taxpayers, customers, and loyal US Airways employees who have supported your airline for many decades.To promise Green Tree workers an opportunity to transfer to North Carolina, and then to ship these jobs out of the United States, is the ultimate bait and switch.Allegheny County and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have bent over backwards to be a good neighbor to US Airways. Pittsburgh International Airport, recognized as one of the most customer-friendly airports in the nation, was built to accommodate US Airways' need for a modern hub.The state and county pledged $115 million to help US Airways build a jet maintenance facility at Pittsburgh International Airport. The state and county also offered $264 million in lease concessions and capital improvements at Pittsburgh International in 2003 to help US Airways emerge from its first bankruptcy reorganization. And when US Airways revealed in January that it might close the Green Tree reservations center, Allegheny County and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania offered US Airways more than $1 million in cash and incentives to save those 850 jobs.Instead of working with the county and state to find a mutually beneficial resolution, your airline chose instead to give a cold shoulder to Western Pennsylvania and the thousands of loyal US Airways employees who live here.As a state senator, I joined with my Democratic colleagues from Allegheny County to deliver $404 million in financial aid to Allegheny County to be provided from gaming slots revenue. About $150 million is dedicated to retiring Pittsburgh International Airport debt, which will benefit your airline through lower lease payments.I have written to you in the past, seeking information on US Airways' plans for Pennsylvania and its employees. That request was given short shrift. I now request that US Airways reconsider its decision to outsource good-paying middle-class jobs to other nations. I stand ready to assist you in keeping US Airways jobs in the U.S.Visit the Pennsylvania auditor's office: www.auditorgen.state.pa.us"