Transport Workers Union Local 514 » News http://twu514.org We are the people who maintain American Airlines in: Tulsa Ok., Oklahoma City Ok., El PasoTx., San Antonio Tx., Memphis Tn. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:00:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 AMR and the return of the bare-knuckled bankruptcy Read more: AMR and the return of the bare-knuckled bankruptcy – The Deal Pipeline http://twu514.org/blog/2012/02/04/amr-and-the-return-of-the-bare-knuckled-bankruptcy-read-more-amr-and-the-return-of-the-bare-knuckled-bankruptcy-the-deal-pipeline/ http://twu514.org/blog/2012/02/04/amr-and-the-return-of-the-bare-knuckled-bankruptcy-read-more-amr-and-the-return-of-the-bare-knuckled-bankruptcy-the-deal-pipeline/#comments Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:38:57 +0000 Al Ball http://twu514.org/?p=5195 These are some clippings from the article:

They (Companies) gab with unions that represent their workers and creditors and banks that hold their debt. Some even put out press releases telling the world just how well they’re doing.
It ordered $38 billion worth of planes four months before submitting its Chapter 11 petition — hardly a distress call about what was to come. Nor did it tell its unions that its latest offer to them would be its last before a bankruptcy filing.

The cunning with which AMR carried out its pre-Chapter 11 business and its long resistance to bankruptcy when so many of its rivals filed so readily shows that the Fort Worth-based carrier has no interest in the kind of quick, well-oiled bankruptcy proceeding, where financing and reorganization plans have been vetted, voted on and delivered with a blow in the bankruptcy petition itself. Instead, AMR has girded for a fight.

Read the entire article HERE
]]> http://twu514.org/blog/2012/02/04/amr-and-the-return-of-the-bare-knuckled-bankruptcy-read-more-amr-and-the-return-of-the-bare-knuckled-bankruptcy-the-deal-pipeline/feed/ 0 Recent Bankruptcies Just the Beginning? http://twu514.org/blog/2012/02/03/recent-bankruptcies-just-the-beginning/ http://twu514.org/blog/2012/02/03/recent-bankruptcies-just-the-beginning/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:21:40 +0000 Al Ball http://twu514.org/?p=5178 Peter Kaufman, Gordian Group president and head of Restructuring and Distressed M&A, on the recent bankruptcies from Eastman Kodak and AMR, and why this is just the beginning.

 

View the video here

]]> http://twu514.org/blog/2012/02/03/recent-bankruptcies-just-the-beginning/feed/ 0 Rewriting American Airlines’ bankruptcy http://twu514.org/blog/2012/02/02/rewriting-american-airlines-bankruptcy/ http://twu514.org/blog/2012/02/02/rewriting-american-airlines-bankruptcy/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:19:57 +0000 Al Ball http://twu514.org/?p=5173 MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell explains how the bankruptcy of American Airlines shows us why voting for president is even more important than you think. Watch the video.

This is a Must Watch Video.. Click Here: from The Last Word

]]> http://twu514.org/blog/2012/02/02/rewriting-american-airlines-bankruptcy/feed/ 0 Today’s the day of the bad news at AMR, American Airlines and American Eagle http://twu514.org/blog/2012/02/01/todays-the-day-of-the-bad-news-at-amr-american-airlines-and-american-eagle/ http://twu514.org/blog/2012/02/01/todays-the-day-of-the-bad-news-at-amr-american-airlines-and-american-eagle/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:40:37 +0000 Al Ball http://twu514.org/?p=5145

This from: Dallas News

Here’s what we expect, in general:

Around 10 a.m., chairman, president and CEO Tom Horton will begin describing the company’s business plan for reorganization as he meets with leaders of the Allied Pilots Association, Association of Professional Flight Attendants and Transport Workers Union.

Beverly Goulet, vice president, treasurer and chief restructuring officer, will discuss the plans as well, as will Jeff Brundage, senior vice president of human resources.

When that briefing finishes up around noon or 12:30 p.m., they’ll take a break. Then, American Airlines managers and each union will break off into separate meetings to get further details on what American is proposing for employees represented by those unions.

Separately, American Eagle president and CEO Dan Garton and Goulet will go through the same exercise with the unions that represent American Eagle employees: the Air Line Pilots Association, the Association of Flight Attendants and the TWU.

To repeat our previous predictions, American plans to close the Alliance maintenance base and significantly reduce other maintenance personnel; significantly reduce the number of ground workers; seek more hours each month from pilots and flight attendants; outsource a lot of maintenance and ground work.

We’ve heard a vague number of a 20 percent reduction in headcount. Based on the 80,800 employees as of Sept. 30, that would mean more than 15,000. But don’t rely on that number until the company says something.

We’ve heard from several people that management ranks would be trimmed by 15 percent.

This comes from the Dallas News website.

]]> http://twu514.org/blog/2012/02/01/todays-the-day-of-the-bad-news-at-amr-american-airlines-and-american-eagle/feed/ 0 PBGC files liens on American assets as the carrier didn’t make its full pension payment in Jan. http://twu514.org/blog/2012/01/31/pbgc-files-liens-on-american-assets-as-the-carrier-didnt-make-its-full-pension-payment-in-jan/ http://twu514.org/blog/2012/01/31/pbgc-files-liens-on-american-assets-as-the-carrier-didnt-make-its-full-pension-payment-in-jan/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:41:48 +0000 Al Ball http://twu514.org/?p=5134 The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said it has placed liens on some of American Airlines’ assets in Texas and overseas since the carrier did not make its full $100 million pension payment due in January.

The agency said it filed over 70 liens, totalling $91.7 million, on behalf of the four pension plans that American has.

The carrier made only a $6.5 million payment on January 15 instead of its full pension payment. At the time the Fort Worth-based airline said the partial payment allowed the company to preserve its cash during the bankruptcy process.

“That’s what we can do in order to protect the integrity of the ongoing contributions that companies are required to make,” said PBGC director Josh Gotbaum on Tuesday. “It does nothing to change the fact that American is also getting ready to propose that its pension plans be terminated.”

The PBGC,  which insures pensions based on employer contributions, has been publicly challenging American to keep its pensions ever since the airline filed for bankruptcy Nov. 29.

The agency said that American has made 37 years of premium payments to PBGC totalling $260 million to cover its pensions in the event the plans would be terminated. Gotbaum said that those payments cover the $9 billion in pension benefits that the PBGC will have to fund if the plans are terminated.

The PBGC estimates that American has $8 billion in assets in its pension plans to fund $18 billion in pension obligations, meaning there is a shortfall of $10 billion. Since the PBGC has maximum pension payouts, about $1 billion of the shortfall will not be covered.

Gotbaum pointed out that American and its labor unions lobbied Congress three years ago to get its pension funding requirements reduced, which Congress granted, reducing American’s obligations by about $1 billion. When American filed for bankruptcy, the company stated it had $4 billion in cash on hand to use during the reorganization process.

“The case, if you will, that 130,000 people to have their pensions killed in order for American to survive is not a strong case,” Gotbaum said.

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