American Airlines pilots eye strike authorization

[scooter2525]

Wouldn't it be frustrating that even if all the pilot group wanted to strike, the feds so no and that is that?

 

[z987k]

I'm surprised that a lot of people think a job action would result in an arrest if it was not "legal".

Think of it this way- a modern strike is meant to be a legally sanctioned job action. The workers aren't "quitting" per se, but the immediate results are exactly the same. The employee does not show up for work (in a complete strike). If the entire employee group decides to quit without NMB approval for a job action, it's irrelevant why they quit or whether they even wish to come back. The company will sue their union representation entity and case law supports the company's case. Two main scenarios can play out here:

1. The employees are not planning on returning. The local and/or national gets sued and the courts find a judgement and the company may get what it wants or, if the union dissolves or becomes dormant, it may not. No worker returns, no contract is applied any longer. Company may or may not survive, depending on circumstances. A typical airline with fold

2. The workers intend to come back to work. Things can get really complicated but in short, case law still supports the company. The company will surely get restitution and this could severely damage the local and/or national. It certainly wouldn't speed up negotiations. It's kinda like getting a flag for delay of game. The "referees" will see it as something that the union caused that was not necessary. I can see this scenario also divided into 2 different outcomes:

A. The company panics and rushes to get the contract done. Then (or while getting the contract done) asks for an injunction and then sues and the contract could get thrown out. I think it eventually would.

B. The company does not panic and immediately goes to the judge and plays it out in court with little or completely without negotiations.

The intent of everyone quitting should only be option 1.

 

[ClearedToThe]

I am not talking about management but executives. Way before the recent banking scandal airline executives have a history of declaring bankruptcy to bust a union or void a contract or manipulate the wages of employees lower then give themselves a bonus for their hard work.






Executive compensation at American Airlines raises eyebrows



By D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer Published: 4/19/2010 6:51 PM Last Modified: 4/19/2010 6:51 PM
Several years ago while in Tulsa speaking with company mechanics, American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey was asked whether executive bonuses could endanger the hard-won cooperation — the “shared sacrifices, shared rewards” — between management and labor.
The bonuses, then as now, are given to executives at a time when American’s unionized mechanics, ground workers, pilots and flight attendants are working under 30 percent wage and benefit cuts agreed to in 2003 to keep the airline out of bankruptcy.
“They’re not bonuses,” Arpey told his questioner. “It’s stock-based compensation.” If it’s mid-April, it’s bonus/stock-based compensation time again at AMR Corp., American’s parent.
AMR is expected to announce the awards Wednesday or Thursday, officials said.
Awarded to the company’s top executives by AMR’s board of directors, the bonuses reward executives for the company’s stock and financial performance.
During the past five years, AMR has awarded top executives more than $300 million in stock-based compensation, officials said.
In 2008, the latest year for which figures are available, Arpey’s total compensation was $3.42 million, of which $2.52 million or 73.7 percent was stock or stock option awards, company records show.
The same year, Chief Financial Officer Thomas Horton received $2.23 million in total compensation, of which $1.05 million or 47 percent was stock or stock option awards, AMR documents say.
In 2008, AMR reported losses of $2.1 billion.

Just so they can watch their stock-based bonuses plummet to a zero value? Highly doubt it. That is the whole point of stock-based compensation...