Carty apologizes today for what seemed to be an intentional oversight/mistake? The employees may be sorry in the future if they go along with the Tentative Agreement & and trust that AA still files for Chapter-11 soon after. Would they have to renegotiate even lower pay ? >From: Roger James <ejames@xxxxxxxxx> >Reply-To: The Airline List <AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Roger >James <ejames@xxxxxxxxx> >To: AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >Subject: AA transport union to vote again; Carty apologizes about >undisclosed perks >Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 21:25:35 -0500 > >AA transport union to vote again; Carty apologizes about undisclosed perks > >FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) =97 A second major union at American Airlines >said=20 >Monday its members would vote again on a pay-cut package designed to >keep=20 >the carrier from bankruptcy. The decision by the transport workers union=20 >came in response to an executive bonus and pension plan that has riled=20 >labor relations at the beleaguered airline. American's chairman and >chief=20 >executive, Donald J. Carty, repeated his apologies from last week about >the= >=20 >perks, which were revealed after the airline's three main unions agreed to= >=20 >$1.8 billion in annual concessions. ``I made a mistake, and of course it=20 >was a big one," Carty said at a news conference. The transport workers=20 >union said late Monday on its Web site that it would have a new vote. Late= >=20 >Friday, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants announced that=20 >its members would reconsider their $340 million share of the wage and=20 >benefit cuts American has said it needs to avoid bankruptcy. > >The labor unrest prompted investors to sell shares of AMR, American=20 >Airlines' parent, down 23 percent Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.=20 >AMR shares fell $1.15 to close at $3.85. The shares jumped 52 percent last= >=20 >week, as American edged back from the brink of bankruptcy. Some experts in= >=20 >labor law said the union could have valid cause for conducting a new=20 >election because the company did not disclose bonuses and payments to a=20 >pension trust for top executives while it negotiated with unions for pay=20 >and benefit cuts. The bonuses were rescinded, but the company won't try to= >=20 >recover the undisclosed amount it paid to fund the pensions for 45 top=20 >executives. A spokesman for the flight attendants union said members >were=20 >just as upset Monday as they were when they learned of the executive perks= >=20 >late last week. ``The fact that we're re-balloting has really helped," >said= >=20 >the union spokesman, George Price. ``They did feel as though they were=20 >duped by the company, and now they feel they can make a fully informed=20 >decision." > >The union at first rejected the concessions but reversed itself after=20 >voting was extended by a day, which the union blamed on technological=20 >glitches in the voting process. In the end, 52.7 percent of flight=20 >attendants who voted approved the concessions, fearing that bankruptcy=20 >would lead to even deeper wage and benefit cuts. In public, American has=20 >acted as if the flight attendants' election is settled in the airline's=20 >favor. Company officials say they have a ratified contract with the >union=20 >that takes effect May 1 and have declined further comment on the >subject.=20 >Some labor-law experts, however, say the unions could have legal grounds >to= >=20 >challenge the election. Charles Craver, a professor of labor law at The=20 >George Washington University, said unions have wide latitude in conducting= >=20 >ratification votes. He added that the company could be guilty of >bargaining= >=20 >in bad faith if union negotiators asked about executive compensation and=20 >were not told of the bonuses and pension payments. David L. Gregory, a=20 >labor-law professor at St. John's University, said American could be >guilty= >=20 >of bad-faith bargaining by threatening unions with bankruptcy unless >they=20 >approved concessions. He added that American might have interfered in >the=20 >flight attendants' voting by contacting union members on the last day =97 >a= >=20 >complaint raised by the union. ``There is a very solid basis for this vote= >=20 >to be challenged," Gregory said. > >Even if American's actions were legal, the scholars said, they put the=20 >company in a bad light just when it appeared to have avoided bankruptcy.=20 >``The American executives have put their entire corporation at risk,"=20 >Craver said. Before the AMR board's decision in October, executive >pensions= >=20 >were paid out of company general funds and would have been unsecured in=20 >bankruptcy, said Bruce Hicks, the American spokesman. Hicks said the=20 >company was not considering rescinding the pension payments, which were=20 >made to protect the benefits in case the airline filed for bankruptcy, >as=20 >are the pensions of other employees. AMR also won't ask executives to=20 >return money from a trust. Fort Worth-based AMR is scheduled to report=20 >first-quarter earnings Wednesday, and analysts predict it will post an >$800= >=20 >million loss. > > > >*************************************************** >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.pscutt.com >TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt >********************************************************* _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail