Flight attendants scrap deal with American

CNN ^ | 041903 | AP

[Archangelsk]

FORT WORTH, Texas (CNN) -- Outraged by news that troubled American Airlines had planned to give its executives bonuses, flight attendants rescinded their approval of wage cuts and plan to vote again, a union official said late Friday.

No date for the new vote was set. Wednesday, the flight attendants agreed to more than $10 billion in wage concessions over six years. The airline had said it would file for bankruptcy protection if the union did not approve the cuts.

[Archangelsk]

The senior execucraps at AA should be removed immediately, stripped of any golden parachutes they may have, and forced to actually work for a living. Most of them are thieves, liars and cheats and their antics disgust me (these are the guys who cheated in school, took advantage of friendships, and are on par with the criminal scumbags festering in our prison system).

A long time ago I heard a saying that goes something like this, the graveyards of the world are filled with indispensible men and women.

Corporate executives disgust me.

[PeterPrinciple]

Let the negotiation begin................

[sinkspur]

Corporate executives disgust me.

So, start your own business.

Most of the senior execs at AA are not thieves or criminals.

Carty bungled this, agreed, but now the flight attendants want to do what?

Scrap the agreement they signed?

So that AA declares bankruptcy?

So that even more stews end up on the street?

That's smart. Get pissed off and shoot yourself in the foot!

[dark_lord]

Oh come now. Capitalism is perfectly efficient. Corporate executives always look out for the shareholders first. Granting large bonuses and pensions merely ensures that high quality, top flight executives are chosen for these demanding positions. After all, who could have forseen that their airline was not competative against Jet Blue and SouthWest? After all, they are not psychics. Besides, they need the money. They need those large executive homes for business entertaining, you know, and so they have to cover those $1M mortgage payments.

[Archangelsk]

You forgot the sarcasm tag. :-)

[Mister Baredog]

Corporate executives disgust me

These guys probably cheat at golf too, like Bubba.

[need_a_screen_name]

Any merit to the argument that says the bonuses (and the pensions funded) were needed in order retain the execs? I mean, if they left now, where would American be able to find better people who know anything about the airline business outside the company?

[banjo joe]

Yap. Been around the multi-national corp. world a while, now. Many of these people have demonstrated compentancy in politics and ruthlessness. Some are genuinely compentent in technical areas, but are usually out-manuevered.

[Archangelsk]

So, start your own business.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Most of the senior execs at AA are not thieves or criminals.

OK, I'll tone that down, they are beholden to the tyranny of the bottom line which forces them to compromise their ethics and thus become liars, cheats and thieves.

So that AA declares bankruptcy?

This is actually a good thing and I hope all the majors declare bankruptch. This would allow the regionals to end their contracts with the majors and start filling the sky with fast, efficient and inexpensive regional jets (thereby creating more jobs).

[airborne]

Lucky me! I bought tickets last month (AAirlines) to Long Beach for the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in July. Guess I'm gonna get hosed.

[Charliehorse]

Some smart executives. They have managed the company to bankrupcy. There are several airlines including Southwest and Jetblue who are making money. Why not fire these incompetent AA managers and hire some competent ones from money making airlines? My guess is that AA is headed for chapter 11 with or without concessions.With their curent attitudes they may go out of existence which might be a good thing.

[John123]

This is actually a good thing and I hope all the majors declare bankruptch. This would allow the regionals to end their contracts with the majors and start filling the sky with fast, efficient and inexpensive regional jets (thereby creating more jobs).

That was an interesting comment you made there. However, does that mean the new regionals will be non-unionized in order to be profitable?

[Charliehorse]

YES!!!

[Nebullis]

The WSJ reported yesterday that the retention bonuses are being scrapped.

If a new vote sends AMR into bankruptcy, the supplemental retirement benefits will be locked in place.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

So, there you are, sinkspur! We've been looking for you on all the other AA/CEO/Carty threads. Hmmm...

Archangelsk...don't even waste a moment getting upset as I did at the put-downs. Check out the other AA threads, and you'll see the same not-nice tone directed at anyone supporting a "no" vote.

We are going into bankruptcy court *no matter* what the vote is. Either way, it will happen. Voting for the TA allows Carty to keep his job and placate the stockholders. Voting for the TA chops thousands of jobs, half of OUR pensions, our salaries, etc. Voting against the TA puts the unions before a judge who will consider chopping from our pre-TA contracts, rather than our newly chopped ones. How many companies going into a Chapter 11 will wind up retaining the "talent" that took us there?

[cynicom]

Greedy unions. They just do not want management to be "adequately" compensated. It takes dedicated experts to run an airline and lose a billion or two a year.

[Voltage]

The airlines appear to be on the same path as taken by interstate motor carriers. Prior to deregulation nearly 100% of the freight traffic was handled by unionized carriers. Today that figure is down to 50% and continues to decline.

The transition is a little slower in the airline business because of the much higher cost of entry.

[Nebullis]

Voting against the TA puts the unions before a judge who will consider chopping from our pre-TA contracts, rather than our newly chopped ones.

Is there a guarantee that a court would favor labor contracts over debt obligations?

[Archangelsk]

There are several airlines including Southwest and Jetblue who are making money.

Don't leave out the regionals such as Comair, Mesa and ASA. These guys are making money hand over fist and have converted their fleets to CRJs. Recently, I took a flight from Daytona Beach (DAB) to Newark (EWR) in a 50-seat CRJ-145, until recently it was unheard of for a regional to fly that distance (743 NM) and now they are building their schedules around this type of thin route.

The direction the industry is taking is to go to the 70 and 90 seat RJs for domestic flight while having specific sets of equipment for Europe, South America and the Asia Pacific rim (757, 767 and 777). When this happens, and with the ability to use shorter runway, Class D towered airports, you'll see a sharp increase in ridership and create many jobs in the process.

[dark_lord]

However, does that mean the new regionals will be non-unionized in order to be profitable?

Actually, no. SouthWest is unionized. Quite unionized. But because there is no "us versus them" attitude, and because the SouthWest executive team is not composed of self-enriching, lying, looters the unions are quite reasonable.