Last week AMR filed for a six month extension for its exclusive reorganization time limit which expires March 28. If the court agrees to the extension it would give them until September 28, 2012 to fulfill their business plan. Requests for extension of the exclusivity period are fairly common and were expected.
Maintenance and Fleet groups passed alternative proposals to the company on Friday. As of today, the company has not fully responded. Tom Roth, TWUs labor and economic advisor worked over the weekend here in Dallas evaluating AMR’s numbers on their cost outs and variables.
The company has until next Monday, March 19, to answer the TWU’s proffer of binding arbitration. If the company rejects the offer, than there would be no arbitration. If the company were to accept, then three labor arbitrators, with expertise in the airline industry, would decide the terms of our contract, as opposed to the judge. Some industry observers do not think AMR will accept the arbitration offer from the three labor unions.