- TWU Members to Picket “Job Cremator” Mitt Romney in Florida
Members of the Transport Workers Union (TWU), whose jobs are facing elimination by Bain & Company, will picket outside campaign offices of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney during the days leading up to the Florida primary election on Jan. 31, union officials said today.
“Mitt Romney is a job cremator, not a job creator,” said TWU President James C. Little. “He made a fortune snatching up companies, closing factories and laying off workers. Now, Bain & Company – which still lines Mitt Romney’s pockets with their profits – has been hired to axe workers at AMR Corporation.”
The union filed a formal objection to AMR’s hiring of Bain in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York on Friday. Bain has been engaged specifically for the task of reducing jobs at AMR subsidiary American Eagle. The consulting firm was not hired to renegotiate aircraft leases, advise on financing or alter route structures; their sole function is eliminating employees. American and American Eagle workers are currently employed at 171 U. S. airports including four hubs or “cornerstone cities,” one of which is Miami, Florida.
“It’s outrageous that someone running for president as a ‘job creator’ is going to enrich himself by cutting pensions, cutting wages and destroying American jobs,” said Little. “Like so many on Wall Street, Mitt Romney earns his money by destroying the jobs of airline employees. We’re going to do our best to make sure voters in Florida and elsewhere know exactly where Mitt gets his money.”
According to a report in the New York Times on Jan. 17th, “[a] significant portion” of Romney’s wealth “remains locked up in Bain funds, from which the Romneys draw income on their own investments with the firm, as well as a share of Bain’s profits.”
More than 24,000 TWU members work at American Airlines and American Eagle. AMR Corporation, the parent company of both airlines, filed for bankruptcy reorganization on Nov. 29th.
American Eagle has informed the court that it plans to hire Bain & Company, at a fee of $525,000 a month, for “strategic consulting” services. In their objection to the hiring of Bain and the excessive fees proposed for the firm, TWU attorneys argue:
Debtors in these cases propose the concurrent retention of at least three law-firms and three investment banks and financial advisors. More troubling is that four of the proposed professionals, including Bain, are retained for the singular goal of extracting concessions from the Debtors’ rank and file employees, who have dedicated their careers to the service of the Debtors.
“This company filed for bankruptcy with $4 billion in the bank, and they just stiffed our employee pension plans by more than $95 million,” said Little. “Their excuse was they had to ‘preserve cash.’ “If AMR is trying to preserve cash, there’s no reason to pay more than half a million dollars a month to Bain & Company. Bain’s advice is simply pay rank and file workers less, and give executives more.”
“A sensible, successful bankruptcy reorganization requires real sacrifice from all stakeholders,” said Little. “We don’t need to pay disgracefully high fees to an outfit with a track record of shifting the entire burden on to rank-and-file workers and their families – including many Florida families. It’s a dumb strategy for American Airlines and American Eagle – and a dumb strategy for America.”
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