American Airlines shielded executives pensions from bankruptcy FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) =97 One day after American Airlines employees agreed= =20 to annual cuts of $1.8 billion, the cooperative spirit turned acrimonious=20 Thursday as union leaders expressed outrage over newly disclosed perks=20 granted to executives. One angry union leader said if workers had known=20 earlier about a pension trust created last year to protect executives'=20 benefits in the event of a bankruptcy filing, they might have voted against= =20 the steep concessions intended to keep the world's largest carrier out of=20 Chapter 11. The executive perks, which included huge bonuses for a few,=20 were disclosed late Tuesday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange=20 Commission. The filing was made after the scheduled end of voting on the=20 concessions. "We are appalled and just disgusted. It's the equivalent of=20 an obscene gesture from management," John Ward, president of the flight=20 attendants' union, said. Flight attendants initially rejected their share=20 of the $1.8 billion cost-cutting plan but reversed themselves Wednesday=20 after the company extended the original deadline. James C. Little, leader=20 of the ground workers' union, said he was considering whether to withhold=20 signing the concessions contract that his members narrowly approved. "If=20 members had known about these compensation agreements, there would have=20 been a higher turnout of 'No' votes," Little said. According to the SEC filing, the company's board agreed to fund 60% of the= =20 pension trust established for 45 top executives and it approved bonuses for= =20 six top executives if they stay through January 2005. The bonuses would be= =20 double each executive's pay. American spokesman Bruce Hicks said the=20 benefits were designed to retain top talent and were similar to deals=20 offered by other major companies. "Retention benefits are designed to keep= =20 key senior management who are constantly being wooed by other companies =97= =20 other airlines and non-airlines," he said. Hicks said the extra pensions=20 were similar to a supplemental plan for American's pilots, which he said=20 would also be protected in bankruptcy. Ground workers and flight=20 attendants, who earn far less than pilots, have no such a plan, he said.=20 Chairman and chief executive Donald J. Carty could get a $1.6 million=20 bonus, based on his 2002 salary of $811,000. Carty told workers last month= =20 that he would take a 33% pay cut to demonstrate management's willingness to= =20 make sacrifices for the company's good. Carty did not publicly discuss the= =20 bonus he could get in 2005. Few employees learned of the executive benefits until after they had=20 approved concessions that call for pay cuts of about 16% for flight=20 attendants and ground workers and 23% for pilots. "It's pretty blatant to=20 us that we found out about it after they disclosed it to the SEC. ... It=20 was done intentionally that way to wait until after the voting process,"=20 said Little, the Transport Workers Union official. "This ... leaves the=20 issue to us whether they were actually bargaining in good faith." Hicks,=20 the airline spokesman, said union leaders and their consultants were=20 briefed about the executive benefits over the past several weeks =97 but=20 under a confidentiality agreement that prohibited them from informing=20 rank-and-file workers. Little and Ward said they were given general=20 information about executive compensation but denied being told about the=20 bonuses and pension funding. "The only thing we were told is that (Carty) wasn't going to receive any=20 bonuses," *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.carstt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************