APA President blasts management.

[Koolcat]

How people forget Thier history lessons!

Dougie , learn his lesson with delta by not bypassing labor when wanting to merge with an airline. Did Parker sweeten he pot to get labor on his side , absolute! !! Did Horton need labor to get what he wanted , No. Bankruptcy court did that for him. Again Horton did not need labor's support to come out as a stand alone, absolutely No.

 

[WeAAsles]

American Airlines Group reported a record fourth quarter GAAP (Generally accepted Accounting Principles) net profit of $3.3 billion, or $5.09 per diluted share, which includes a $3.0 billion net special credit resulting from the reversal of the Companys tax valuation allowance. This compares to a GAAP net profit of $597 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, or $0.82 per diluted share.
 
For full year 2015, the Company reported a record GAAP net profit of $7.6 billion, or $11.07 per diluted share, compared to a GAAP net profit of $2.9 billion, or $3.93 per diluted share in 2014.
 
American Airlines Groups fourth quarter 2015 net profit, excluding net special credits, was a record $1.3 billion, or $2.00 per diluted share versus a fourth quarter 2014 net profit excluding net special charges of $1.1 billion, or $1.52 per diluted share. The Companys fourth quarter 2015 pretax margin excluding net special credits was a record 13.4 percent, up 2.8 percentage points from the same period last year.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-airlines-group-reports-record-123000458.html

Now maybe some people can understand the reasoning behind Capt. Wilson's letter? Delta employees received a PS check worth 21% of their gross wages for 2015 Profit. I wonder how much we would have received?

 

[WeAAsles]

Bethune and Herb proved that you can make a lot of money for everyone if you have the right mindset. Parker is just lining his pockets by stripping the value out of AAL. When he company goes BK again he wil get a nice retention bonus and we will get another paycut.

I wanted to come back to this comment by Overspeed. OS do you still believe that Parker is trying to head us into BK in the future?

"For full year 2015, the Company reported a record GAAP net profit of $7.6 billion,"

Is this enough proof yet that the merger was a better idea than sticking with the old management team and their Standalone plan?




 

 

[700UW]

This is the same guy who didnt know CO filed chapter 11 twice, once in 1983 and again in 1999 and the employees negotiated and ratified concessions in 2005.
 
And didnt even know Lorenzo's actions at CO in 1983 caused Congress to enact Section 1113 and Section 1114 of the Bankruptcy Code.
 
As he touted CO in a post, saying how good they were to employees.

 

[nycbusdriver]

I wanted to come back to this comment by Overspeed. OS do you still believe that Parker is trying to head us into BK in the future?

"For full year 2015, the Company reported a record GAAP net profit of $7.6 billion,"

Is this enough proof yet that the merger was a better idea than sticking with the old management team and their Standalone plan?




 

 
The incredibly low price of oil right now would make CEO Beavis look like a airline genius.  Had AA gone the standalone route, AA would still be profitable right now.  US would also be amazingly profitable as a standalone, too.   
 
So, to answer your question: No.  It is not enough proof.  
 
Parker, Kirby and bunch have been preaching an improved corporate culture when it comes to employee relations since the day he became CEO of US Airways in 2005.  They even hired someone into a vice presidency to manage the transition.  I am sure she enjoyed her salary for getting nothing done.  Sine 2005, this management team has done NOTHING....NOT ONE THING...to improve that corporate culture.  They say what you want to hear in order to get their way, then immediately forget the entire concept of cooperation once they get it.
 
Just be happy to have a job with the New American West Airlines.  

 

[WeAAsles]

 
The incredibly low price of oil right now would make CEO Beavis look like a airline genius.  Had AA gone the standalone route, AA would still be profitable right now.  US would also be amazingly profitable as a standalone, too.   
 
So, to answer your question: No.  It is not enough proof.  
 

I seem to remember Parker saying at the beginning of this oil drop that they were going to run AA as if oil prices were still at $100.00 per barrel. Jet prices for AA were down $1.00 per gallon from what they paid in 2014. The price of gas doesn't correlate with the oil drop for usually a few months after the price drop. So this year they should save even more on Jet A than last year.

But yes all the airlines would have been profitable had AA been able to go standalone. But not at the levels seen for this year.
 

 

Parker, Kirby and bunch have been preaching an improved corporate culture when it comes to employee relations since the day he became CEO of US Airways in 2005.  They even hired someone into a vice presidency to manage the transition.  I am sure she enjoyed her salary for getting nothing done.  Sine 2005, this management team has done NOTHING....NOT ONE THING...to improve that corporate culture.  They say what you want to hear in order to get their way, then immediately forget the entire concept of cooperation once they get it.
 
Just be happy to have a job with the New American West Airlines.  

Impossible to improve any corporate culture if people are taking pay-cuts or wages are remaining stagnant. I don't care how much cookies, cake and rah rah sessions a company has. Only money pays the bills and most people never have enough of it.

 

[Kev3188]

Totally disagree. You get some leadership who listens to it's members, who have balls like they did in years past, then maybe you will have less of the I got mine folks and truly have unionism alive and well. The blame the member crap gets old...
 
Unions became a business instead of a fight and therein lies the problem. The Association is a perfect example of taking care of themselves before the members. But I will add the decline started before then.

It gets old because people generally don't like hearing they're partly responsible for something.

I agree with you about inept leadership, but who allowed that to happen? Who was asleep at the switch- not just at AA (or the industry in general)- but in this country as well?

P.S. I agree with you 100% on the Association. In fact. I would use that as a prime example to prove my above point.

 

[WeAAsles]

AAL Announces Massive Q4 Profit
[SIZE=12pt]Flight Attendants Shut Out of Historic Gains[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=10pt]FORT WORTH, Texas (January 29, 2016) - In a conference call with investors this morning, American Airlines Management announced another quarter of record profits for the Company. With $6.3 billion in revenues to report, the call had a celebratory tone and featured the excited voices of the airline's Management team, institutional shareholders, and Wall Street analysts. Absent amidst all the self-congratulations and mutual admiration was the voice of American's front line employees: the 25,000 Flight Attendants who have made the new American Airlines so successful and have yet to realize the fruits of that labor.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]The Association of Professional Flight Attendants has been fighting tooth and nail to deliver the benefits of the 2013 merger with US Airways to its 25,000 members. Persistent problems with a new scheduling system have been taking money out of Flight Attendants' paychecks for months. Certain provisions of the APFA contract, meant to improve Flight Attendants' work lives, have been delayed indefinitely due to management disinterest, ineptitude, or both. And a modest request for a year end bonus, in part to make up for these problems, was dismissed out of hand by CEO Doug Parker.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]"For Management to get on that call this morning and make like everything is sunshine and rainbows is the ultimate display of disrespect," said APFA National President Marcus Gluth. "In addition to stock buy-backs and dividends, how about showing some appreciation for the employees that are breaking their backs out there? At the very least they could use some of that money to meet their pension obligations. Flight Attendants made this merger a success and make this airline profitable - not Wall Street bankers. Doug needs to truly recognize the people who made his success - and tremendous personal wealth - possible."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]In 2003, well prior to the American - US Airways merger, APFA and other American unions negotiated givebacks totaling 30 percent of total compensation in order to keep the airline afloat. Flight Attendants did not begin to see relief from those cuts until the recent merger. Thus, significant material sacrifices for the sake of the company have been going on for well over a decade. [/SIZE]


https://www.apfa.org/hotline/2530-current-hotline

 

[NYer]

Since you're around NYer, what's the prefund and equity latest? (You can post it in the Prefund & Equity topic if you prefer)

 
The Prefunding is mired in the AMR BK as an Adversarial Proceeding.
 
The Equity is awaiting for the Appellate Judge to render a decision or schedule arguments.

 

[NYer]

This is the same guy who didnt know CO filed chapter 11 twice, once in 1983 and again in 1999 and the employees negotiated and ratified concessions in 2005.
 
And didnt even know Lorenzo's actions at CO in 1983 caused Congress to enact Section 1113 and Section 1114 of the Bankruptcy Code.
 
As he touted CO in a post, saying how good they were to employees.

 
AA employees tout Crandall as some kind of hero when he caused the current labor distrust by always taking the ax to our CBA's. For some reason, people forget how he was the worst CEO for employees in the history of AA.

 

[Overspeed]

700UW,
I said Bethune was good to his employees. You twist facts to suit your argument. Bethune never took CO BK ever.
 
I do know Lorenzo abused the BK laws in 1983 but those 1113 laws were in place in 1990 when EAL filed BK and the IAM got scammed again. Then again at UAL, and again at US BK1 and BK2, and again at TWA BK1 and BK2. I know all about when 1113 was in place but you seem to be in denial about how badly the IAM negotiated BK many times and left thousands of their members on the street and those working with far less than non-union people at DAL and TWU members at AAL after a restructing outside BK and 1113 in 2012.
 
Face it, the IAM has a history of failure. I never wanted the merger but it was inevitable but the shotgun wedding to the IAM. No way. I have always been pro-TWU and I still am. If you line up all the unions that have failed the airline workers the most I know most throw out AMFA but loo at the facts. The IAM represented workers at TWA, NWA, US, and EAL. They were once the largest representative of airline workers and now...a joint body with the IAM. The TWU should have forced the issue and fought for being the sole representative of the ground workers at the new AAL. All they would have had to do is show the failure of representation at four major US carriers and the deal was done. TWU would have been the sole collective bargaining agent.
 
Now we have to concern ourselves with how the IAM reps will try to force the IAMNPF on us, crappy 50% outsourcing scope clause, and treating AMTs liek second class members.

 

[Overspeed]

W,
I agree that the merger was inevitable but I think we legacy members at AAL would have been better off with either exiting BK and merger later or agreeing to the merger but with different leadership (Parker did nothing at US after the US/HP merger), Perker is clearly stripping AAL's value for his own benefit. AAL stock still sideways even after posting largest profit ever. The fundamentals are not good at AAL with taking on more debt, buying back stock to artificially inflate EPS, and degrading AAL's brand to Spirit's level.
 
The future right now is bleak in my opinion for labor. We might get gains now but the company is not being built for longevity, its being built for the short term. Next down turn we will be saddled with debt (low interest though, yeah!!!). Guess where the money will come from to keep AAL a float...the unions and BK.

 

[Overspeed]

NYer,
You wre here in 2003 right? Carty the was the worst CEO in American's history but Parker is challenging that.

 

[NYer]

NYer,
You wre here in 2003 right? Carty the was the worst CEO in American's history but Parker is challenging that.

 
Carty? He gave us the best contract we've ever had in 2001. That's your choice as the worst? Good grief.

 

[WeAAsles]

W,
I agree that the merger was inevitable but I think we legacy members at AAL would have been better off with either exiting BK and merger later or agreeing to the merger but with different leadership (Parker did nothing at US after the US/HP merger), Perker is clearly stripping AAL's value for his own benefit. AAL stock still sideways even after posting largest profit ever. The fundamentals are not good at AAL with taking on more debt, buying back stock to artificially inflate EPS, and degrading AAL's brand to Spirit's level.
 
The future right now is bleak in my opinion for labor. We might get gains now but the company is not being built for longevity, its being built for the short term. Next down turn we will be saddled with debt (low interest though, yeah!!!). Guess where the money will come from to keep AAL a float...the unions and BK.

OS there was absolutely NO guarantee that AA was going to merge with anyone at all if they had been able to come out standalone. As a matter of fact the M word didn't even start coming out as a rumor (Jetblue) until after Parker started making overtures. As for what Parker did with US. He kept it alive. Look at the time-frame and how the industry was during those years. Did you watch the roadshow where he told the attendees how for years he woke up every day not sure if the company was going to make it. You hit 700 a lot for what you perceive as the IAM's failure but the truth is that US was flying in barely breathing mode for more years to count. Personally I think if it wasn't for Parker and Kirby US would have been liquidated. 700 doesn't do a great job in explaining that time because I think it hurts his pride to admit that there was nothing they or he could do?

AA is not being degraded to Spirit level. They're selling a select number of seats to compete against these F'n low cost carriers that were a part of putting all of us in a mess in the first place. Like I said I'm happy as hell to see AA go after these blood suckers. You should be too.

Now look at the financials. Think about how future bookings are here in the US for airlines (Solid) Oil being forecast to remain low for many more years. AA is adding debt but they also have plenty of cash on hand. 7 Billion in operating cash and almost 9 in total cash. I personally believe that we and the industry are out of the woods but too many are not seeing it yet.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=AAL+Key+Statistics