Hopeful
Veteran
- Dec 21, 2002
- 5,998
- 347
------------------------------------------------------
For further information contact:
For immediate release Jamie Horwitz, 202/549-4921
April 17, 2007 [email protected]
TWU Launches “Online Picket Lineâ€
Against Corporate Greed at American Airlines
Union circulates online petition, purchases Web-based advertisements and blasts email to hundreds of thousands of air travelers, shareholders, union activists and other citizens to draw attention to inequity of AA executives splitting nearly $200 million stock windfall while employee “partners†get nothing.
Union also to join lobbying effort for Congressional limits
on executive compensation.
DALLAS – While American Airlines’ flight attendants and pilots will be holding rallies and setting up traditional picket lines this week to protest the airline’s award of at least $177 million in stock to corporate executives, TWU members and their allies will let their fingers do the walking on an “online picket line.†The Transport Workers Union (TWU) which represents 27,000 American employees, more workers than any other union at the company, has launched an online petition and is blasting emails to shareholders, customers and allies in consumer groups and other unions. A link to the petition can be found at http://go.care2.com/9425295 .
“Our goal is to create a viral campaign on the Internet where thousand of individuals who find corporate greed as outrageous as we do will join a national conversation, send protest messages to the company and help us lobby for limits on executive compensation through Congressional action,†said TWU International President James C. Little. In addition to circulating its petition and sending emails, the union will spread its message through Google Ad Words and other forms of online advertising.
-- m o r e --
TWU Launches Online Picket Line Against Corporate Greed at American/ Page 2
This week, HR 1257, a bill introduced by Rep. Barney Frank D-Mass., to provide shareholders with an advisory vote on executive compensation, will be debated on the floor of the House of Representatives. “American Airlines has become the poster child for HR 1257,†Little said. “American’s executives are taking an amount equal to about 80 percent of the company’s 2006 profits, while awarding employees nothing. These are the same corporate leaders that told workers ‘share the pain and share in the gain.’ We’re going to make sure members of Congress know what’s going on at American,†he added.
Through its partnership with the company, TWU members have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in recurring cost savings and more than $100 million in new revenue since 2003. South American airlines and competing U.S. carriers are now flying their planes to American’s U.S. facilities for repairs. Projections for new revenue related to the partnership are $100 million in 2007 and $175 million in 2008.
The union sent a proposal March 15 to the company asking it to award its “partners†with stock or provide compensation for dilution of shares already held due to the large management reward scheduled for April 18. On that date, a select few company managers will split at least $177 million in stock. The annual profit for American Airlines in 2006 was $231 million. The company formally rejected the TWU proposal last week and refused to discuss any alternatives.
Unlike the pilots’ and flight attendants’ unions at American, TWU represents more than 100,000 workers at other airlines and in other areas of transportation. The union plans to reach out to members outside of American with its online picket line.
“Flight attendants at Southwest are stunned by the greed of these American executives,†said Thom McDaniel president of TWU Local 556 which represents 9,000 flight attendants at Southwest Airlines. “Through a true shared commitment between management and labor, our company remained profitable and continued to grow even in the worst days following 9-11. Southwest’s CEO Gary Kelly scored
-- m o r e --
TWU Launches Online Picket Line Against Corporate Greed at American/ Page 3
millions of dollars in savings by hedging oil better than executives at any other airline. Instead of going to war with unions, our executives are paid fair salaries and bonuses and employees share in the profits. Our execs, as successful as they are, only make a fraction of what Mr. Arpey and the rest of his gang across town at American are taking from the cash register.â€
Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) represents 130,000 workers, primarily in commercial aviation, public transportation and passenger railroads. More than half the union’s membership works for commercial airlines. The union is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.
-- 30 --
For further information contact:
For immediate release Jamie Horwitz, 202/549-4921
April 17, 2007 [email protected]
TWU Launches “Online Picket Lineâ€
Against Corporate Greed at American Airlines
Union circulates online petition, purchases Web-based advertisements and blasts email to hundreds of thousands of air travelers, shareholders, union activists and other citizens to draw attention to inequity of AA executives splitting nearly $200 million stock windfall while employee “partners†get nothing.
Union also to join lobbying effort for Congressional limits
on executive compensation.
DALLAS – While American Airlines’ flight attendants and pilots will be holding rallies and setting up traditional picket lines this week to protest the airline’s award of at least $177 million in stock to corporate executives, TWU members and their allies will let their fingers do the walking on an “online picket line.†The Transport Workers Union (TWU) which represents 27,000 American employees, more workers than any other union at the company, has launched an online petition and is blasting emails to shareholders, customers and allies in consumer groups and other unions. A link to the petition can be found at http://go.care2.com/9425295 .
“Our goal is to create a viral campaign on the Internet where thousand of individuals who find corporate greed as outrageous as we do will join a national conversation, send protest messages to the company and help us lobby for limits on executive compensation through Congressional action,†said TWU International President James C. Little. In addition to circulating its petition and sending emails, the union will spread its message through Google Ad Words and other forms of online advertising.
-- m o r e --
TWU Launches Online Picket Line Against Corporate Greed at American/ Page 2
This week, HR 1257, a bill introduced by Rep. Barney Frank D-Mass., to provide shareholders with an advisory vote on executive compensation, will be debated on the floor of the House of Representatives. “American Airlines has become the poster child for HR 1257,†Little said. “American’s executives are taking an amount equal to about 80 percent of the company’s 2006 profits, while awarding employees nothing. These are the same corporate leaders that told workers ‘share the pain and share in the gain.’ We’re going to make sure members of Congress know what’s going on at American,†he added.
Through its partnership with the company, TWU members have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in recurring cost savings and more than $100 million in new revenue since 2003. South American airlines and competing U.S. carriers are now flying their planes to American’s U.S. facilities for repairs. Projections for new revenue related to the partnership are $100 million in 2007 and $175 million in 2008.
The union sent a proposal March 15 to the company asking it to award its “partners†with stock or provide compensation for dilution of shares already held due to the large management reward scheduled for April 18. On that date, a select few company managers will split at least $177 million in stock. The annual profit for American Airlines in 2006 was $231 million. The company formally rejected the TWU proposal last week and refused to discuss any alternatives.
Unlike the pilots’ and flight attendants’ unions at American, TWU represents more than 100,000 workers at other airlines and in other areas of transportation. The union plans to reach out to members outside of American with its online picket line.
“Flight attendants at Southwest are stunned by the greed of these American executives,†said Thom McDaniel president of TWU Local 556 which represents 9,000 flight attendants at Southwest Airlines. “Through a true shared commitment between management and labor, our company remained profitable and continued to grow even in the worst days following 9-11. Southwest’s CEO Gary Kelly scored
-- m o r e --
TWU Launches Online Picket Line Against Corporate Greed at American/ Page 3
millions of dollars in savings by hedging oil better than executives at any other airline. Instead of going to war with unions, our executives are paid fair salaries and bonuses and employees share in the profits. Our execs, as successful as they are, only make a fraction of what Mr. Arpey and the rest of his gang across town at American are taking from the cash register.â€
Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) represents 130,000 workers, primarily in commercial aviation, public transportation and passenger railroads. More than half the union’s membership works for commercial airlines. The union is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.
-- 30 --
