What do you believe the airline should do? If you worked for American Airlines would you be willing to part with your pension program? Your money? Tell me what you think.
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Airline analyst Henry Harteveldt of Forrester Research in San Francisco said, 'It's really a double standard. You have to ask if it's fair to penalize airlines who have run their businesses better and stayed out of bankruptcy.'
But American's interest in the pension issue is acute. The airline could be in an even more difficult position if a bill fails to pass, because it could have to pay more than $1 billion into the plan next year.'This is a very complicated, very important issue for American Airlines and its employees,' said Gregg Overman, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, the union that represents American's pilots.
American and Continental could get the same benefit if they freeze their plans before December 2007, according to airline analyst Jamie Baker of JPMorgan Securities.
Baker predicts that if the law passes, American will ask its employees to agree to freeze the plan. Under union contracts, workers must approve any changes to the pensions. American's contracts expire in 2008.
'This implies management must seize the next 17 months to bring labor to the table prematurely and sell the need for pension parity,' Baker said in an investment report Monday.
That has union officials worried.
Overman of the pilots union said maintaining the pension is a crucial issue for that work group. The pilots' approval of concessions in 2003 'was predicated on the notion of preserving the pension,' he said.
Fort Worth Star Telegram via Topix.net
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