T
The Goose
Guest
______________________________________
From the Wall Street Journal, 24 May 2007:
WASHINGTON -- A nearly $120 billion Iraq-war spending bill headed toward the House floor after chemical and airline industries won concessions and Democrats divided up billions of dollars in added funding for domestic programs.
In the final bargaining, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines won a provision promising significant pension relief for itself and rival Continental Airlines Inc.
Under a provision added to the war bill, American, Continental and some regional carriers should qualify for a flat 8.25% rate, still less than Northwest and Delta but about 2.25 percentage points above what they would have faced when the new pension rules are in place.
"Every airline is born with their hand out," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D., Wis.)
______________________________________
This is just a snippet of the entire article.
This is quite a large chunk of change on a yearly basis (cuts required pension contributions considerably, I believe) and will no doubt figure prominently in executive bonus calculations (due to a smaller yearly cash outlay and corresponding increase in stock price) unless our unions get a piece of this windfall for the workers.
Note this has only cleared the Senate - the bill hasn't been blessed by the House yet. The president will, no doubt, sign the bill (opinion); AMR (Fort Worth) and Continental (Houston)
Someone please correct me if I'm in error with the numbers.
ps: I still want a F(amilies) U(nder) R(educed) P(ay) button.
From the Wall Street Journal, 24 May 2007:
WASHINGTON -- A nearly $120 billion Iraq-war spending bill headed toward the House floor after chemical and airline industries won concessions and Democrats divided up billions of dollars in added funding for domestic programs.
In the final bargaining, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines won a provision promising significant pension relief for itself and rival Continental Airlines Inc.
Under a provision added to the war bill, American, Continental and some regional carriers should qualify for a flat 8.25% rate, still less than Northwest and Delta but about 2.25 percentage points above what they would have faced when the new pension rules are in place.
"Every airline is born with their hand out," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D., Wis.)
______________________________________
This is just a snippet of the entire article.
This is quite a large chunk of change on a yearly basis (cuts required pension contributions considerably, I believe) and will no doubt figure prominently in executive bonus calculations (due to a smaller yearly cash outlay and corresponding increase in stock price) unless our unions get a piece of this windfall for the workers.
Note this has only cleared the Senate - the bill hasn't been blessed by the House yet. The president will, no doubt, sign the bill (opinion); AMR (Fort Worth) and Continental (Houston)
Someone please correct me if I'm in error with the numbers.
ps: I still want a F(amilies) U(nder) R(educed) P(ay) button.