Don't Fix Airline 'On the Backs of Labor'

[usa1]

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11373136/1/amr-union-dont-fix-airline-on-the-backs-of-labor.html

Glading realizes that US Airways(LCC_) could one day seek to make a case to the committee for a merger. "If they come in, they will have to present a business plan that shows that American Airlines will be more successful with US Airways than as a stand-alone," she says. "It will depend on that."

Union priorities include retaining a defined-benefit pension plan. American's plans, among the few left at airlines, include about 130,000 participants and, as of Nov. 29, had about $8.3 billion in assets to cover about $18.5 billion in benefits. In a Nov. 29 statement, the PBGC said canceling the plans would lead to a $1 billion loss for participants. The airline is expected to seek to curtail the plans, but the agency says, "We will encourage American to fix its financial problems and still keep its pension plans.

The PBGC/government should step up and require the merged company to come up with some type of guaranteed, respectable, retirement for all the employees of the combination before any merger is approved.

 

[Phoenix]

Union priorities include retaining a defined-benefit pension plan. American's plans, among the few left at airlines, include about 130,000 participants and, as of Nov. 29, had about $8.3 billion in assets to cover about $18.5 billion in benefits.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11373136/1/amr-union-dont-fix-airline-on-the-backs-of-labor.html



The PBGC/government should step up and require the merged company to come up with some type of guaranteed, respectable, retirement for all the employees of the combination before any merger is approved.

It is unconscionable that lawyers have developed schemes to take all that money away from employees. Expect some crocodile tears from congress over AA pension loss and some voice of concern from PBGC, all while a great sucking sound vacuums in all that cash into the hands of the bureaucrats.

Just wait until congressmen figure out how to get their mitts on everyone's 401Ks. They already do it in the military.