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The Investigators: Turbulence at US Airways
Thursday, February 17, 2005
By STUART WATSON / 6NEWS
Many folks, not just employees of US Airways, are angry that the CEO of US Airways isn't taking the same pay cuts as the pilots, the gate agents, the flight attendants and the ramp workers.
Bruce Lakefield isn't the first CEO to try to turn around a multibillion dollar bankrupt company.
When Chrysler was in bankruptcy, Lee Iacocca took the helm to rescue the automaker for a dollar a year.
Now Lakefield is trying to rescue US Airways for $425,000 a year.
“And I don't think it's fair,†a retired pilot with decades of experience said. “If you want credibility with your people in the workplace, belly up to the bar and take the same hits they have.â€
US Airways has repeatedly slashed workers pay in a desperate attempt to stay aloft.
Outside a bankruptcy hearing in December Lakefield told reporters, “I feel sorry for those people and there has to be empathy for those people. But, you know, we need this company to survive.â€
Lakefield may have empathy, but he’s not taking a pay cut like the rest of the workforce.
Waiting for an employee bus outside Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, a ramp worker said, “We've been taking pay cuts left and right. Every time they come back crying they need money they come to us.â€
US Airways execs like to say Lakefield made his sacrifices when he came to the airline, accepting a third less than his predecessor with no golden parachute and no multimillion dollar payout if he leaves.
Lakefield said, “Whether we like it or not, everybody has suffered and it's a competitive world.â€
But a reporter pressed him saying, “Some people may lose their houses. You're talking about a golden parachute. They may not have a place, the same place to live.â€
Lakefield responded, “That's absolutely true and I will tell you if the company goes under for sure they will lose their houses.â€
But Lakefield won't lose his house. Make that houses. In fact he's cited the need for another house as a reason he wouldn't give up his salary.
Tony Mecia who covers US Airways for The Charlotte Observer said, “In bankruptcy court he said that amount of money really was a pimple. He said he needed it to support a second house. He lives in Florida.“
Tax records show Lakefield owns a million dollar home in New Jersey and another $1.2 million home on the fairway at the Audubon Country Club in Naples, Florida.
Pulling her carry-on luggage behind her, a flight attendant paused long enough to say, “I don't think anybody cares. CEO's. They don't care what happens to their employees.“
Down in Atlanta, Delta DEO Gerald Grinstein was locked in rancorous negotiations with pilots.
Last year Grinstein gave a speech in which he said, “We do have obviously the challenge in the cockpit.â€
So half way through the year Grinstein gave up his half million dollar paycheck, all of it.
US Airways’ rank and file would like so see their CEO follow suit.
As another flight attendant put it, the pay cuts are “Hitting the ones that make the least the hardest. It does make you feel better if you know you have camaraderie at the top.â€
Plainly, a pay cut for Lakefield would be a largely symbolic gesture. A half million dollars wouldn't run a major airline like US Airways for half an hour. But pay cuts for the boss speak volumes to workers facing the unkindest cut of all.
The Investigators: Turbulence at US Airways
Thursday, February 17, 2005
By STUART WATSON / 6NEWS
Many folks, not just employees of US Airways, are angry that the CEO of US Airways isn't taking the same pay cuts as the pilots, the gate agents, the flight attendants and the ramp workers.
Bruce Lakefield isn't the first CEO to try to turn around a multibillion dollar bankrupt company.
When Chrysler was in bankruptcy, Lee Iacocca took the helm to rescue the automaker for a dollar a year.
Now Lakefield is trying to rescue US Airways for $425,000 a year.
“And I don't think it's fair,†a retired pilot with decades of experience said. “If you want credibility with your people in the workplace, belly up to the bar and take the same hits they have.â€
US Airways has repeatedly slashed workers pay in a desperate attempt to stay aloft.
Outside a bankruptcy hearing in December Lakefield told reporters, “I feel sorry for those people and there has to be empathy for those people. But, you know, we need this company to survive.â€
Lakefield may have empathy, but he’s not taking a pay cut like the rest of the workforce.
Waiting for an employee bus outside Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, a ramp worker said, “We've been taking pay cuts left and right. Every time they come back crying they need money they come to us.â€
US Airways execs like to say Lakefield made his sacrifices when he came to the airline, accepting a third less than his predecessor with no golden parachute and no multimillion dollar payout if he leaves.
Lakefield said, “Whether we like it or not, everybody has suffered and it's a competitive world.â€
But a reporter pressed him saying, “Some people may lose their houses. You're talking about a golden parachute. They may not have a place, the same place to live.â€
Lakefield responded, “That's absolutely true and I will tell you if the company goes under for sure they will lose their houses.â€
But Lakefield won't lose his house. Make that houses. In fact he's cited the need for another house as a reason he wouldn't give up his salary.
Tony Mecia who covers US Airways for The Charlotte Observer said, “In bankruptcy court he said that amount of money really was a pimple. He said he needed it to support a second house. He lives in Florida.“
Tax records show Lakefield owns a million dollar home in New Jersey and another $1.2 million home on the fairway at the Audubon Country Club in Naples, Florida.
Pulling her carry-on luggage behind her, a flight attendant paused long enough to say, “I don't think anybody cares. CEO's. They don't care what happens to their employees.“
Down in Atlanta, Delta DEO Gerald Grinstein was locked in rancorous negotiations with pilots.
Last year Grinstein gave a speech in which he said, “We do have obviously the challenge in the cockpit.â€
So half way through the year Grinstein gave up his half million dollar paycheck, all of it.
US Airways’ rank and file would like so see their CEO follow suit.
As another flight attendant put it, the pay cuts are “Hitting the ones that make the least the hardest. It does make you feel better if you know you have camaraderie at the top.â€
Plainly, a pay cut for Lakefield would be a largely symbolic gesture. A half million dollars wouldn't run a major airline like US Airways for half an hour. But pay cuts for the boss speak volumes to workers facing the unkindest cut of all.
