Noteworthy Reading
What Skyword Fails to Tell Flight Attendants
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 — what we see is an organization with ties close to AMR's interests, not with APFA's or organized labor. (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. (Read More...)
The Corporate Bankruptcy Scam
Imagine, for a moment, that you're a corporate CEO, and you want to get rid of your union contract. Maybe you signed it at the height of the boom, and now it's beginning to pinch. While you're at it, maybe you'd like to stop the payments you agreed to make to that employee pension fund.
It's very simple — all you have to do is to file for corporate bankruptcy. (Read More...)
The Dangers of Outsourcing Maintenance
American to Outsource Maintenance to TIMCO; TIMCO involved in an Immigration Roundup in 2005 Undocumented Workers Caught Doing Aircraft Maintenance. (Read more...)
INVESTIGATION: 'Deferred Maintenance' causing concern in the airline industry; Pilots, Mechanics concerned about delayed repairs
"American has been cited and fined millions of dollars over the last 3-years, more than any other airline, for repeatedly and sometimes inappropriately deferring repairs to its aircraft." Watch Video...
737 Settlment
In October of 2005, APFA forfeited a 737 Grievance that was estimated to be worth $9 million. Rather than demanding that the company cough up the cash, then-President Tommie Hutto-Blake and current Vice President Brett Durkin accepted crew meals on long-haul flight to Delhi and also 8 hours behind the door. The company, for its part, kept the cash and also eliminated manning positions Domestically on the MD80, 737 and 757, and also Internationally on the AFS-757, the AFS-767-300, the Hawaii-757, and Hawaii-767-300. Less than six months later, AMR doled out $90 million to the executives. (Read more...)
Occupy the Boardroom
Of the six banks tergeted by the Occupy the Boardroom movement, five have intimate ties to AMR's board of directors. (Read more...)
Beed Air
MSNBC reports an American Airlines flight attendants won a historic lawsuit against Boeing over allegations that the company knew about toxic air fumes entering the cabin but opted not to do anything about it. (Read more...)
Jane Allen Explains the Sale of American's Fuel Hedge
AMR Sells Fuel Hedge to Southwest for $41 Million. Tells Employees American Can’t Compete. Funds Trust Fund with the Money. (Read more...)
Supplemental Executive Trust Fund (SERP) was Worth $41 Million
Former American Airlines CEO Donald Carty admits that the Supplemental Executive Trust Fund (SERP) was worth $41 million. Why this is of interest is because this is the exact figure accessed the the Fuel Hedge that AMR sold to Southwest for $41 million during the company's restructuring. (Read more...)
American Forgives Pilots' "Sick-Out" Fine
American Airlines forgave $26 million of the $45.5 million fine levied against the Allied Pilots Association after its members conducted a 1999 sickout. This was done as a reward for promoting the &qTurn-Around" Plan to the other employees. (Read more...)
American to Assume Eagle's $2 Billion in Debt to Make it More Attractive to Potential Suitors
While most employees are well aware that AMR is planning a divestiture of its subsidiary carrier, American Eagle, few have heard that AMR is planning on having American Airlines assume $2 billion of Eagle's debt in an effort to make the carrier more enticing to potential investors. As Bloomberg reports: "AMR Corp. (AMR) may give the American Eagle regional unit a better chance of success in a spinoff under a plan to leave the planes and more than $2 billion in associated debt at American Airlines.". (Read more...)
Sabre Spin-Off was Valued at $6 Billion
Split of reservation system from American Airlines parent to exceed $6B American has to Now Rent That Which it Formaly Owned. (Read more...)
The Strategy to Gut American’s Labor Contracts was Outlined in Arpey’s 1982 Thesis
This article from the Dallas Morning News suggests that Gerard Arpey was the architect behind American's 2003 restructuring plan. The article further points out that the key behind this "strategy" was to get the unions to help promote the company's position by incorporating a technique the company refers to as "active engagement." (Read more...)
The Turn-Around Plan — It was About Turning the Employees Around, Not the Airline
The RPA Lawsuit clearly shows that the $340 million demanded from American's flight attendants was nothing more than a plug-and-play figure taken from a low-cost labor comparison AMR did in early 2001 in an effort to align American with low-cost carriers such as Southwest. (Read more...)
APFA President Says American is Hurting Financially
Eight Years Under the Restructuring Agreement, APFA is Still Promoting the Company's Financial Rhetoric. (Read more...)
AMR President Tom Horton Would Like to See an AA/BA Merger
Eight Years Under the Restructuring Agreement, APFA is Still Promoting the Company's Financial Rhetoric. (Read more...)
APFA could have opened negotiations in 2006
APFA could have opened negotiations in 2006 but opted to wait until 2008. Why? (Read more...)
Gerard Arpey's Change in Control Benefits are valued at $30,112,794.
APFA could have opened negotiations in 2006 but opted to wait until 2008. Why? (Read more...)
AA/APFA Demand Bill of Costs
The Sectret Agreement AA/APFA had to Defend the 2003 Restructuring Agreement. (Read more...)
APFA Lost Retiree Medical Benefit Language
The language protecting Retiree Medical Benefits was apparantly lost during the Restructuring. The company appears to have known about it, but it only become public knowledge when a retiree inquired about the drastic changes to the Retiree Plan on a chat board. The company and union have agreed to address the loss of language through the next round of negotiations, but that merely suggests that the comany is willing to give us back that which we already had in exchange for something else. (Read more...)
A5 Travel Valued at $3 Million
The idea that APFA's last union president was rewarded with a $3 million retirement perk is concerning. While the Glading administration has brushed this off by calling it a "loophole in corporate policy," that would be like saying that the company made a $3 million mistake in favor of an employee. That doesn't happen at American. If American makes a financial mistake in favor of an employee, that money is taken back immediately once it's discovered. We believe that A5 retirement was a gift for siding with AMR against flight attendants in defense of the 2003 Restructuring Agreement. (Read more...)
How Do You Impact the Experience?
Reminding AA VP Denise Lynn of Just How Much Flight Attendants Have Contributed. (Read more...)
