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We Can't Afford Anymore Givebacks
What was APFA leadership thinking when they hired the Jefferies Group? Flyer
When we take a closer look at the company that APFA hired to help APFA through the bankruptcy process — the Jefferies Group (http://jefferies.com) — what we see is an organization with ties close to AMR's interests, not with APFA's or organized labor.
One quick glance at Jefferies reveals some unsettling connections. Michael Sharp, for instance, Jefferies' general council, secretary and executive vice president, previously served as general counsel at Citigroup for 12 years, and Jefferies board member, Peregrine Broadbent, was a high-rolling executive at Morgan Stanley for 16 years. Both Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are represented on AMR's board, and as previously mentioned were able to manipulate the bankruptcy court so as to give themselves priority creditor status.
Most fascinating is the fact that Richard Handler, the CEO of the Jefferies Group, made $47,349,121 last year, landing him at #8 on the AFL-CIO's Top 100 Executive Paywatch List. Isn't that what American's employees are trying to fight, corporate greed?
It could be my imagination, but it appears on the surface that the Jefferies Group was referred by AMR to assist APFA in dealing with bankruptcy. How APFA can afford an outside counsel where the CEO makes $47 million, more than nine times that of AMR's CEO, raises some very startling questions — namely, how much is the Jefferies Group being paid by APFA and what exactly is the firm doing for this money. (Read More...)
What was APFA leadership thinking when they hired the Jefferies Group? (Part II) Flyer
As a follow-up to last week's newsletter criticizing APFA 's hiring of the Jefferies Group to assist our union through the bankruptcy process, the following excerpts and subsequent article supports everything that the Salomon-Baust-Todd-Gillard slate has said thus far as to why we need to really fight back rather than simply accept what's coming.
As previously noted, Jefferies Group director, Peregrine Broadbent, and its general counsel/corporate secretary, Michael Sharp, have close ties to AMR through two of AMR's directors, Judith Rodin (Citigroup) and Phillip Purcell (Morgan Stanley). Now we learn from the following excerpt from "The corporate bankruptcy scam" by Sandy Boyer that Judge Sean Lane is also linked to Morgan Stanley through his former law firm. An excerpt:
"Sean H. Lane, the bankruptcy judge for American Airlines, which filed for Chapter 11 at the end of November, is a good example. He was a partner in the firm of Baker Hostetler, whose clients include companies like ExxonMobil, IBM, Morgan Stanley and ABC. Later, he was a top federal prosecutor, an assistant U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York."
Secondly, we've learned that the firm that AMR retained to assist AMR with their bankruptcy filing, Rothschild, has close ties to the Jefferies Group through one of their bankers. As the Wall Street Journal (July 5, 2011) notes: "Investment bank Rothschild is starting a North America equity-advisory practice and has hired Jefferies & Co. banker Matthew Sperling to run it...." (Read More...)
The Bankruptcy Flyer
As AMR's three labor unions jockey to protect their members' interests, we want flight attendants to know that the We-Want-Our-Money-Back Slate has assembled a team of professionals ready to work with us to decisively move forward. These include a top-notch bankruptcy law firm, a general legal counsel, and a nationally renowned labor strategy firm.
To reiterate, AMR admitted that there was no bankruptcy threat in 2003. The $1.8 billion demanded annually from employees was nothing more than an arbitrary figure taken directly from a 2001 report (pre-9/11) done by AMR comparing American's labor costs with those of U.S. low-cost carriers. This was an effort by AMR to align American's employees with those of low-cost carriers — PERIOD. The 2003 Restructuring was about changing American's business model, not saving the airline from bankruptcy!
Labor Has a Legitimate Lien on Capital Flyer
American Airlines' debt doesn't outweigh its cash and assets. In fact, American Airlines is financing its own bankruptcy. That's not distress, it's brass-knuckle union-busting. The business press makes no bones about American Airlines' plan to profit off the broken backs of labor contracts. In fact, they crow about it.
American Airlines ordered 460 new planes from Boeing and Airbus less than five months ago at a cost of $38 billion. Those contracts will be honored even as American Airlines plans to dump pensions underfunded by about $10 billion for approximately 130,000 workers and retirees.
American Airlines doesn't pretend to offer a business plan that promises better management. The only benefits American Airlines purports to extract from bankruptcy are pension evasion and concessions from unions facing a court-ordered firing squad.
This APFA National Officer Election boils down to one thing: philosophy Flyer
On the Glading/Geiss side you have the "working together" relationship with management. This cannot be denied. It started with John Ward, continued with Tommie Hutto-Blake, and survives today with Laura Glading. It will not change under Liz Geiss.
On the other side of the fence, we have others, including myself, who feel that the "working together" relationship has single-handedly decimated our workgroup and undermined our union from the inside out. This truth cannot be denied.
The Glading/Geiss slates BOTH agree that suing the company was wrong. They BOTH feel that flight attendants should have just tucked their shirts back in and walked away. This is exactly why they BOTH supported spending millions in membership dues defending the company. To BOTH of these candidates, it didn't matter that the executives were grossly enriching themselves with OUR money. When asked how flight attendants benefited by having their dues money spent defending the company, neither Glading nor Geiss can answer the question. (Read More...)
The Insider Trading Flyer
"A former Goldman Sachs director accused by the government of insider trading remained on the board of American Airlines parent AMR Corp. on Tuesday.
"The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Rajat K. Gupta of tipping off a hedge fund manager that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway planned to invest $5 billion in Goldman and providing information about the bank's 2008 financial results before they were made public....
"AMR's code of conduct warns against insider trading, saying it is 'unethical and illegal, and will be dealt with decisively.'"
This should be placed in EVERY APFA bulletin board.
