Kev3188 said:
Great!
More than enough $$$ to go around for all of us. I'll leave the quibbling about being "biggest and/or best" to the foamers; I'm just happy that as rank and file workers, we're all (for the most part) under sunnier skies than we were just a few short years ago.
just remember that you will get profit sharing while most of the unionized workers at AA and US will not.
Even if it is ONLY one billion dollars of profits - for one quarter - DL employees are on track to record the largest profit sharing payout in aviation.
AGAIN.
As other AA employees have said, "what difference does it make if the airline makes huge amounts of money if it doesn't help me?"
but yes, AA people are due for some good news. Deserve? well, good news and profit sharing are earned.
And AA SHOULD record the largest profits.
It is fresh out of BK with labor costs per employee that are well below its other 3 large US peers and it also has just cut a number of costs.
It is also now the largest airline in the world.
As the article notes, analysts do not make their earnings estimates with one-time and special items such as merger integration costs and the Venezuela currency issue.
There are no other KNOWN one-time or special items that could face the US airline industry but those are significant and are heavily weighted against AA.
from the article
"The airline expects to log about $600 million in one-time accounting charges due to bankruptcy and merger items and from selling its fuel hedging contracts. Without the fuel hedging contracts, the airline will save money when the price of jet fuel goes down but will pay more when prices increase. American’s new executive team, most of whom came from US Airways, did not use fuel hedges while running the Tempe, Arizona-based airline."
Read more here:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/07/19/5981179/american-expected-to-lead-the.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
As for whether this is the right time or not to unionize, it is precisely profits like this that make labor salivate - but do you not think that Parker knew all along that he was going to lock labor into contracts for years on end (6 years for many groups, right?) only to report huge profits?
good luck on trying to unionize or get pay increases in that environment.
and there are more and more analysts that are saying the US is in one of the most extended economic bubbles and that the risk of recession in Europe is growing.
Airline mgmts. read the economic outlooks and realize that making labor commitments now have implications for years down the road.
