You've made this statement twice now. I hate to call your bluff, but the profit sharing info I've been reading doesn't come anywhere near restoring salary to pre-filing levels. Who has been made whole, WT?
First,
I didn't use the word "made whole" - you did. Made whole to me means recouping all of the cuts that were imposed - and no airline employee has done that.
However, I did say that some airline employees have come close to or have restored their salaries to pre-BK levels.
Let me cite DL since I have the most data on that airline. There were many DL emploiyees who received lump sum and stock payouts within the first month or two of exiting bankrutpcy that exceeded the cash reductions in salary they incurred during BK. Part of those payouts was compensation for the loss of pension benefits during BK - most airlines did not fund their pension plans during BK and the employees became creditors whic his why they received stock. Most employees - just like in America as a whole - sold the stock and spent it and the lump sum payouts; thus it is hard to argue that about how difficult the pension benefit cuts were. Thus, the cash spent essentially became extra income (that's the way IRS treated it unless it was rolled into an IRA or other pension plan)
But DL employees have received and/or will receive in the near future (pending conclusion of the representation process) fairly significant pay raises. The pilots received very substantial pay increases because they agreed to "play nice" and make the merger work, agreeing to a joint contract before the merger closed. And the pilots have played "very nice"... DL pilot insiders can add their two cents but the rancor that is usually part of a merger process - and why so many airlines fear mergers - has been absent. IN fact, from a labor standpoint as it affected the operation, DL's merger has been unusually smooth aside from the representation process. And DL gave its non-contract employees pay raises a couple weeks ago and is going to spread them to PMNW employees as soon as the representation process is resolved.... now this is key. most DL employee groups took pay cuts of 15-20%. The wage increases are in the area of 9-10%. DL has stated multiple times that it expects to pay significant amounts of profit sharing and based on the amounts that have been recorded so far this year, profit sharing could amount to more than 10% of the salary - which would mean that many of those employees have indeed returned to pay levels higher than what they had before.
And the DL pilot group so far as I can tell based on public information are now the highest paid US network airline pilots. While these levels may not be as high as the last pre-9/11 contract (not sure of the amounts), these levels are sustainable and the company has added increases unlike the pre-9/11 contract which was pattern bargaining driven by UA's pilots who forced the company to write a check they could not afford... and again, which AA did not write and which probably helped save AA from having to file for BK.
How much UA has to shell out for labor peace remains to be seen... but at least for DL employees, many have come very close to regaining their salary levels pre-BK - and their company is growing - which is ALWAYS good news for airline employees.
Which brings me to the final point... some of you argue that AA employees have fared better than their network peers who filed for BK - but how many AMR employees are still on furlough? Data I see shows that more than 1500 AA pilots are still on furlough - if that data is current. When the point of a union is to argue for the benefits of all employees in that group, you cannot say that the group as a whole is doing better than airlines like CO, DL, and US east which have either completed furloughs or will in the near future. When you factor in the furloughed employees and their lack of a salary, then you cannot argue that AA employees are doing better when 10% or more of the workforce is on furlough compared to other airlines which are now hiring off the street. And of course those airlines that are hiring off the street are also able to promote their employees further through the company as the company grows.
While some may not like hearing the example of DL, the simple fact is that they executed the fastest and most successful bankruptcy in the history of the airline industry and they returned the company to a profitable growth mode which has helped employees.
Bankruptcy is never an easy process but if it has to be done, it should be done quickly and effectively. A large part of AMR's problem is that they have not finished the process which was started seven years ago while AA's competitors have resolved their restructuring processes and have moved on.
It is precisely because both AMR and its employees continue to believe they are better off than their competitors that they have not resolved their restructuring - which only allows competitors to continue to move ahead, including moving into markets which AA once dominated.
