SAVE AMERICAN !!!

[Bob Owens]

AMR already has an employee stock purchasing plan. Commisions are waived. There is no matching.
According to the ATA domestic airfares are averaging around 11cents per mile ($108 for 1000 trip). When the government gives an allowance of 37.5 cents per mile for business use of an automobile but its cheaper to fly something is wrong. The problem is that the airlines are not charging enough. Until they start fixing the pricing system, all other attempts to Save the airline will fail. I think that the airlines are deliberately under charging for their services in order to win long term concessions from labor. For the airlines, its worth it to lose.Once the concessions are won, the prices will go up, routes that are still unprofitable will be discontinued and the airlines will boast of their miraculous recovery. Meanwhile once again we will be on the sidelines watching them make huge profits while we are locked into concessionary contracts.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

They already have a stock option program, including retirement stock options. If employees can't sell the stock, that's zero dollars coming into the company. A ten percent match is stock that essentially has no real value since no one paid for it, no money came in. Even if employees went a full 20%, that doesn't mean it's money AA doesn't have to come up with for payroll, they just have to come up with it for another reason somewhere along the line.

In order to have a strong voice in the company, you need to be able to have enough proxy votes to out-vote the largest stock holders who, combined, have more than 64% of AMR's outstanding stock, so the employees could never garner enough stock ownership to have a say in anything. Out-voting cronyism is a very hard thing to do. These hard-liner investment groups and pension funds that hold blue-chip stock are not easily swayed, and they are the ones to keep an eye on because, if they start to jump ship, you know something is up.

If you want to buy AMR stock, go get it on the open market. I'm sure AA has it's own investment company that employees and anyone else can join, just like United uses ComputerShare BYDS where you buy UA stock (a big bargoon right now) and this company will handle the dividend reinvestments for you without a fee. If UA gets their loan guarantees that they are shooting for, and it's a pretty good bet that they will, those who eat up their stock at this 1.90 stuff that it hovers at will stand to reap a hefty profit down the road. For a mere 1,000.00 you could pick up 525 shares of UA stock. Can you do the math if they get their ship in order and their stock climbs back up to the 12-15 dollar range again? That same 1K investment could easily turn into 8K in a matter of months.

The same holds true for USAirways. Right now that same 1K investment could buy 1,700 shares of stock. If and when USAirways comes out of bankruptcy early next year as planned (and I think they will) their stock will climb also. Even if it didn't surpass the 52 week high of 8.80, you have to realize that even at that price, your original investment of 1K turns into 15K, and that's not chicken feed, it's more than half the annual salary many airline workers now receive.

All airline stocks are speculative right now, whether you work for the carrier or not. There is a lot of incentive at the AA brass offices to get that stock price back up. For instance, Carty holds nearly 700,000 shares of AMR stock, and that doesn't include what he may have in the little woman's name. Currently, that stock has a value of about 3.5 million on the open market. A year ago, that stock had a value of roughly 21 million! So therein lies their incentive to get off their collective a$ses and fix the balance sheets in such a way that it doesn't screw the employees who are the ONLY ones that can keep a balance sheet in the black.

Your AA pension fund is already heavily invested in AMR stock so if you want a voice, that's where you do it - by moving your money either in, or out, of the fund that invests in the company. Unfortunately, the only place the money in your 401K and SuperSaver accounts will earn anything right now is in the AA credit union - one of the strongest in the country.

PS - this thread totally contradicts the SELL AMERICAN thread you started last week!

 

[TWAFA007]

Aloha,
AMR should start a voluntary employee stock purchase program. Each employee could contribute up to 20% of their income into the program. AMR in return would match 10% in stock. The hook is that you could not sell the stock for 3 years. This is a win win situation. AMR would be getting a loan at 10% and for 3 years would save hundreds of millions in payroll. The employees are getting a minimum of a 10% return and a chance to become employee owners with a real voice at AMR. As it is voluntary it would seem to be a benefit instead of a forced pay cut. Believe me, investing at these stock prices we could all be rich.
With the extra cash AMR would receive would help it return to profitability and the stock would rise. AMR would have the cash to increase efficiency and grow while other poor airlines shrink. By growing, AMR could afford to bring back all of our furloughed Brothers & Sisters, including me! Ya! The extra cash would also help buy the assets of airline forced to sell at bargain prices. I believe 3 years is enough breathing room to recovery. Unless the war is still going on .
So what do you think? Would you invest 2%, 5%, 10% or 20% in your future at AMR?
ALOHA, 007

 

[DFWCC]

I said it before, US Air goes BK. Demands and gets concessions forced by the FED. UA is next in line. More pay reductions. Low and behold here comes DL AA CO and NW. We need give backs to be competative. Again here goes the circle. Now everyone has given concessions all pay and costs have been lowered and guess what? we're all in the same boat again. Gee, maybe it may be due to mgnts dumb decisions. After all as an employee I only follow their rules. They say get out on time don't worry about baggage. OK. Gee I did my job as directed, am gettimg lower pay and we are still losing money.
Maybe we need more give backs? YEA RIGHT!!!

 

[bagsmasher]

I agree with DFWCC, US is in BK, UAL will soon follow, and all the other airlines will be lining up in BK court. USAir is asking a judge to throw out it's union's contracts. If that happens, we are all screwed. AA will be forced into BK to remain competitive. Buying AMR stock right now is close to flushing it. I know several TWAer's who lost thousands by buying TWA at $3. We are headed down the same path.

 

[bagsmasher]

More than a few others are thinking AMR is heading towards BK. Shares fell 14.75% today to a 20 year low of $4.22.

 

[Get Over It Already]

Again, the true idiots focus only on AMR stock, and ignore the other airline stocks and the XAL.

AMR lost $0.73.
CAL lost $0.70.
DAL lost $0.99

Using doomsayer logic, all three are destined for BK court, which probably won't happen for any of them.

It isn't just the airlines.

[blockquote]
The Nasdaq swooned Monday, plunging through its low of the year to a six-year nadir under the weight of corporate warnings and soft economic news. The Dow and S&P also suffered bitter losses as sellers mauled retail, airline and biotech stocks.
[/blockquote]

Using doomsayer logic, half of the Fortune 500 will be in bankruptcy.

Someday, people on the internet will figure out that stock prices have no bearing on if a company is bankrupt or not.

Being out of cash is what determines when you go bankrupt.

 

[DFWCC]

[blockquote]
----------------
On 9/22/2002 146 PM DFWCC wrote:


I said it before, US Air goes BK. Demands and gets concessions forced by the FED. UA is next in line. More pay reductions. Low and behold here comes DL AA CO and NW. We need give backs to be competative. Again here goes the circle. Now everyone has given concessions all pay and costs have been lowered and guess what? we're all in the same boat again. Gee, maybe it may be due to mgnts dumb decisions. After all as an employee I only follow their rules. They say get out on time don't worry about baggage. OK. Gee I did my job as directed, am gettimg lower pay and we are still losing money.
Maybe we need more give backs? YEA RIGHT!!!
----------------
[/blockquote]
Like I said before. Give back... more consessions... more give backs.... What's wrong with this picture [img src='http://www.usaviation.com/idealbb/images/smilies/14.gif']

 

[will fix for food]

Buy American...Sell American...Buy American...Sell American....and today it is...drum roll please....Buy American!

 

[TWAFA007]

Aloha will fix for food,

I believe more in SAVE AMERICAN!!!, now more than ever. The question is do you believe AMR is going to make it or not. If you work for AMR you better believe. If you dont this is good time to jumb ship.

The fact is all employees are going to take pay cuts. Its nice to trade pay for stock, then nothing at all. With these prices theres not much to lose. At least if AMR does go under you have these really cool stock certificates that make great wallpaper. You should see what TWA paper did for my bathroom. If per chance AMR does make it & UAL folds, there is a great chance to get back what you gave.

The coming talks are going to be a VERY HIGH stakes of poker. Trade chips for chips. Its better to be all in, but dont blink.

I still believe it will be three years before AMR turns around. Thats if its around. Its up to you.

ALOHA, 007

 

[ZMAN777]

[blockquote]
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On 2/3/2003 513 PM TWAFA007 wrote:



If per chance AMR does make it & UAL folds, there is a great chance to get back what you gave.

----------------
[/blockquote]


A lot of assumptions there!! Don't count on UAL folding. While it's not going to be pretty over here there's a pretty determined group of employees that want to keep the ship righted as much as you guys want to at AMR. Wishing you, us, everyone the best.

Cheers,
Z

 

[s80dude]

Given that 1/30/03 the company ended the ESPP and then letter I got today telling me I cannot invest in stock through the $uper$aver, if I want stock, I have to buy it through a broker.

 

[airlineorphan]

[blockquote]
----------------
On 9/22/2002 11:34:56 AM TWAFA007 wrote:

Aloha,

AMR should start a voluntary employee stock purchase program. Each employee could contribute up to 20% of their income into the program. AMR in return would match 10% in stock. The hook is that you could not sell the stock for 3 years. This is a win win situation.

[snip]

ALOHA, 007
----------------
[/blockquote]


I'd urge caution on something like this. At U, once the company went Ch. 11, all of the stock we had in our employee accounts became wallpaper. The company then hired a fiduciary firm to cash out this wallpaper and sent us all checks.

My check was 47 cents. I plan on framing it. I figure it cost the company about $10 to produce the check and all the associated tax paperwork that keeps coming as a result of my windfall

I wish you all the very best at AMR! Good luck to all of us in this industry!

-Airlineorphan