Hot News for April 2009
Workers Memorial Day
April 28
Decades of struggle by workers and their unions have resulted in significant improvements in working conditions. But the toll of workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths remains enormous. Each year, thousands of workers are killed and millions more are injured or diseased because of their jobs. The unions of the AFL-CIO remember these workers on April 28, Workers Memorial Day.
The first Workers Memorial Day was observed in 1989. April 28 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the day of a similar remembrance in Canada. Every year, people in hundreds of communities and at worksites recognize workers who have been killed or injured on the job. Trade unionists around the world now mark April 28 as an International Day of Mourning.
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Rally at Headquarters, 4-14-2009
For further information contact:Jamie
Horwitz 202/549-4921
For immediate release April 2, 2009
TWU Launches National Advertising Campaign to Expose
Outrageous Executive Bonuses at AMR
Union Says: Too Late to Act Against
AIG or Merrill Lynch but the Public Still Can Stop American Airlines
Exec Bonuses
Ads Encourage Public to Play an Online Game
“Take the American Exec Check” and Then Contact AMR’s Board
“This
is about Equity,” says TWU’s President James C. Little
Dallas – The
Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) today announced a national
advertising campaign to raise awareness about outrageous bonuses
to corporate executives and particularly those awards pending at
AMR, the parent company for American Airlines and American Eagle.
The
union will run advertisements beginning today in major news outlets
such as CNN and in newspapers in Dallas, Chicago, Miami, Tulsa and
other major American Airlines markets. The union also will reach
out to the public through targeted advertisements delivered by Google
as well as other Internet sites and search engines. Each message
encourages frequent flyers and the general public to play a game
called the “American Exec Check” and then to electronically contact
AMR’s board of directors via email and an online petition. The AMR
board is being asked to stop paying executive bonuses to company
executives until frontline workers are included in bonus compensation.
“In
many ways American has become the poster boy for outrageous executive
bonuses,” said TWU International President James C. Little. Despite
running a money-losing
airline with declining share value, AMR executives have taken $300
million in bonuses in recent years with more awards expected in mid-April
while the wages of frontline employees essentially have been frozen
after 30 percent pay cuts in 2003.
“We’re not opposed to executives
being well-paid; we oppose the executives taking seven-figure awards
while other workers are laid off or have their wages frozen,” said
Little. “This is about equity. Mechanics and other ground workers
keep the planes flying. We’ve figured out how to make operations
more productive and we have brought outside work into AMR facilities.
We’re not asking for the Earth, moon and stars. We’ve shared the
pain, shouldn’t we also share any bonuses or gains that the execs
make? And, if the company is in truly bad shape, shouldn’t execs
be barred from taking bonuses?”
In recent years, the Transport Workers
Union, working with AMR, has found ways to reduce the cost of airplane
maintenance including major overhauls. TWU also has worked with the
airline to jointly market maintenance facilities to other airlines.
AMR now generates hundreds of millions of dollars in outside revenue
through these efforts. Despite these improvements and hundreds of
millions of dollars saved through other efforts to boost productivity,
workers at American and American Eagle have been unable to reach
agreement with management on either long-term contracts or ones that
would serve on an interim basis.
“Times have changed,” Little said.
“There is no more divine right of kings. The public, shareholders
and workers will no longer tolerate outrageous checks to American
execs. We can’t stop the awarding of bonuses at AIG or Merrill Lynch
but AMR’s board can do the right thing and stop this imbalance in
AMR and our society.” Nationally, the average CEO makes 344 times
the wages of the average worker. According to Vice President Joseph
Biden, “the average CEO makes $10,000 more per day than the average
worker.”
“The American Exec Check” online game can be found at www.americanexeccheck.com
. The game challenges the public to click and drag a CEO to a desk
marked with differing dollar figures corresponding to their published
compensation. Viewers are later provided with information on how
to protest the bonuses the American executives are taking home. Advertisements
will begin appearing online beginning April 2 and are scheduled to
run through the time of the AMR board announcement regarding executive
compensation in mid-April.
The Transport Workers Union of America
(TWU) represents 200,000 workers and retirees, primarily in commercial
aviation, public transportation and passenger railroads. The union
represents the largest share of unionized workers at both American
Airlines and American Eagle. TWU is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.
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Union launches national ad campaign criticizing management bonuses
at American Airlines
By TREBOR BANSTETTER
The union representing thousands of American Airlines ground workers
is launching an advertising and Internet campaign blasting executive
bonuses and likening the airline to AIG and Merrill Lynch, two poster
children for corporate greed.
The Transport Workers Union is running newspaper ads in North Texas,
including in the Star-Telegram, as well as in Chicago, Miami and other
major American Airlines markets. The ads will run for several weeks.
Jim Little, the union’s international president, said American’s executive
bonuses are a slap in the face to workers who have been trying to negotiate
a new contract for 18 months.
"Enough is enough," Little said. "Time and time again,
when we try to solidify an agreement, the company drops the ball. And
now we’re faced with another round of these bonuses, and we’re sick
of it."
American spokeswoman Missy Latham said the company’s executive compensation
plan was designed to place a significant amount of management compensation
at risk. Compensation packages are intended to offer median pay compared
with positions inside and outside the airline industry, she said.
She also noted that the annual stock bonuses will be significantly
smaller this year than in 2008.
"Performance-based compensation plans are considered good corporate
governance, something that we believe in strongly," she said.
Airline officials have said that the comparison with AIG is unfair,
given that American has never accepted a federal bailout.
In addition to the ads, the union launched an Internet site, www.americanexeccheck.com,
where users can play a game that compares the 2007 compensation of
Gerard Arpey, American’s CEO, with that of executives from Southwest
Airlines, Google Inc. and Apple Inc. The game’s graphics show a cartoon
of Arpey carrying a bag of money and state that "it’s too late
to stop outrageous checks to corporate execs at Merrill Lynch and AIG,
but we can stop the corporate greed at American Airlines."
It includes a petition urging the board of AMR Corp., American’s parent
company, to cancel the bonuses.
Union frustration
Unions representing pilots and flight attendants have already criticized
the bonuses in public statements and compared American to disgraced
insurance giant AIG. But the TWU is the first labor group to cite the
much-maligned company in an ad campaign aimed at American.
All three of American’s unions are in contract negotiations. Many
American employees are incensed by the annual bonuses, pointing out
that rank-and-file workers are still laboring under reduced wages and
benefits stemming from concessions that were approved in 2003 to keep
the airline out of bankruptcy.
The annual bonus plan rewards about 1,000 top executives and managers
and is based on the performance of AMR’s stock compared with other
airlines’. The final value of the bonuses will be based on the closing
price of AMR shares on April 15.
It has paid out richly in previous years, but the 2009 bonuses are
likely to be paltry when they’re awarded this month. That’s because
AMR shares have plunged in value during the past year.
For example, if based on Wednesday’s closing price of $3.37 a share,
the airline’s top five executives would share a stock bonus totaling
about $725,000. That’s down from $3.2 million last year, and $18 million
in 2007.
The decrease "demonstrates the downside of at-risk compensation
and serves as a reminder that we have more work ahead to build a stronger
financial foundation for our company," said Latham, the airline
spokeswoman.
The TWU, which represents about 26,000 mechanics, dispatchers, fleet
service clerks and other ground workers, has been less critical of
American management in recent years than other unions. Labor leaders
worked closely with management after the 2003 concessions on a plan
to bring in outside contracts to keep maintenance bases open in Fort
Worth, Kansas City and Tulsa.
Little said that effort is part of the reason for frustration over
the lack of a new contract that improves wages and benefits for ground
workers.
"We actually took [the maintenance bases] and turned them into
profit centers for American," he said. "And we have yet to
reap any reward."
He noted that Dallas-based Southwest Airlines recently inked contracts
with flight attendants, pilots and mechanics that include raises and
other benefits.
"That shows that it’s possible to sit down and get it done," he
said. "Lately we feel like American just isn’t really interested
in getting it done."
TREBOR BANSTETTER, 817-390-7064
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