GGpillow,
You're correct. I had forgotten that all of the T/A's are conditioned upon approval of an ATSB loan guarantee. So I suppose that does indeed answer my question about the S.1113 letters.
However, my view is that with the IAM having now agreed to their T/A, I believe our potential to restructure successfully has dramatically increased, regardless of whether we get an ATSB loan or not. The spirit of cooperation appears to be there. I think Glenn Tilton made a significant comment when he said (and I'm paraphrasing) that the significance of getting all UA unions to agree to concessionary T/A's affords UA a tremendous competitive advantage that it leverage. I don't think this point can be stressed enough. I'm of the opinion that when the spirit of cooperation is there from all of your work groups, great things can be achieved, even in the face of all the naysayers. Let them underestimate what we can accomplish. Proving people wrong is always sweeter, anyhow. But we now have a fantastic opportunity to reshape our company into a highly competitive force; a company that is feared again in the marketplace. I think we'd all like to see that happen. I know I would. I'm tired of being slammed in the press by everyone. It'd sure be nice to get some payback going here pretty soon. It can happen. With all work groups poised to do what's necessary to effect that re-shaping, combined with the great leadership (in my view) that Glenn Tilton is providing, we have the ability to do what everyone seems to think we can't do. I'm not for a moment discounting the tough road that lies ahead. We may in fact have to file for bankruptcy protection. In fact, the majority of me still feels that we will, even though I hope I'm wrong. But even if bankruptcy happens, we now appear to have the spirit of cooperation that is absolutely vital to successfully reorganizing.
Maybe I'm putting too much stock into the IAM T/A. Maybe I'm probably putting the cart ahead of the horse because the T/A hasn't been ratified yet. But I feel that the mere fact that the IAM leadership reached agreement on a concessionary T/A with UA is a significant milestone in and of itself. Hopefully, it'll prove to be a sign of good things to come for all of us. Let's hope so.
