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peggy fender
05-14-2013
01:15 PM ET (US)
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new info inre: retiree medical
AMRRC Members Briefing for May 10, 2013
Recently all retirees should have received two required notifications - the first one gave notice of the June 4, 2013 bankruptcy hearing in front of Judge Sean Lane to continue the BK process for final approval of AMR's reorganization exit plan which must be approved by the Court prior to AMR leaving the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court. Since a part of this reorganization plan includes a merger of American Airlines & USAirways there is also Congressional and Justice Department oversight/approval in play with this merger as well.
The second notice as required by the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006 came to retirees in the form of a "Dear Colleague" letter from Denise Lynn, Senior Vice President of AA, dated April 30, 2013. This letter is required by federal law for any employer that maintains Defined Benefit Plans (pensions). The purpose of this annual letter is to disclose to the plan participants the funding levels, asset values, number of participants and investment policy of the various retirement benefit plans as administered by American Airlines. You have received the specific letter designated for the workgroup that you were a member of prior to your retirement from AA/TWA.
A part of this required notice is also to state clearly a summary of the rules governing the termination of such plans, the guidelines and guarantees of the federal agency (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation) that oversees such a termination. As Lynn's letter states during the course of AA's bankruptcy these Plans were frozen as of November 1, 2012 for active employees but will continue to be managed and funded by the company in accordance with the funding requirements under the law.
Concerning the issue of Retiree Health Care Plans, presently Judge Lane has no scheduled 1114 Hearing on his docket regarding any modifications to retiree plans. The 1114 process is the section of the bankruptcy process that refers directly to retiree benefits. Any future notice of a hearing on this matter will appear in an AMRRC updated Members Briefing.
As stated many times before the bankruptcy process is both long and frustrating for all potentially impacted retirees of AMR. But as a reminder presently any retiree benefit that was in place on November 29, 2011 (the date of the AMR bankruptcy filing) remains in place unless and until the Court approves, during the 1114 process, any employer requested modification to a retiree benefit plan(s).
The monthly AMRRC on-line chat regarding retiree benefits will take place on Thursday, May 16, from 7 to 9pm CST. This discussion is a resource tool moderated by AMRRC Chair Paul Mazzara. You may join this on-line discussion by going to www.rbassociation.com with your individual questions.
Visit us at www.amrrc.net
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Linda Outlaw
04-30-2013
02:38 PM ET (US)
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A friend mentioned that yours was good info. Please add my name. Linda Outlaw, AA employee #
Sent from my iPhone
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Mary White
04-26-2013
05:35 PM ET (US)
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Jan, we have to worry about them dropping our secondary in which case we would have to pay out of our pockets for supp insurance. Which right now we don't have to.
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Jan Benedict Flori
04-26-2013
12:47 PM ET (US)
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Very Interesting to see if you go to AAL Negotiations on your Yahoo Page, (NOT ON JETNET) There is much more info on the Public Site about the Company Proposed Health Benefits for us retirees......Of course all remains to be seen, But Reading what it says gives me Hope that we won't have to Go to the Poor House Paying for our Health Care until we reach "65" . Check it out! Jan Flori
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peggy fender
04-19-2013
05:50 PM ET (US)
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about our AAL retiree medical:
http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2013/04...ckground-info.html/
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Maureen DiCola
04-14-2013
12:00 PM ET (US)
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Deadline for O'hare Kiwis fund-Raiser to benefit WINGS is April 19th, event is April 26th. Reservations handled by Stephanie Butler, 2640 Cessna Circle, Poplar Grove, IL 60165, email stephanie.butler45@gmail.com. Cost $75.00, please indicate choice of entrees, Chicken Wellington or Pesto Crusted Salmon, when placing reservation. Thank You, Looking Forward To Seeing You There.
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giene
04-09-2013
11:51 AM ET (US)
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I'm sorry to hear that Sandy D'Agostino's Mother-In-Law passed away yesterday. I'm sure she would love to hear from her friends. Mr. & Mrs. Peter D'Agostino, 141 Founders Pt. So., Bloomingdale, IL 60108
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Deleted by author 04-07-2013 04:45 PM
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peggy fender
03-29-2013
05:38 PM ET (US)
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Excellent Forbes article about corporate greed in our society using the latest example of Horton's $20 mil bonus.
Paid To Fail: Bankrupt American Airlines CEO Slated For $20 Million Severance
http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardfinger/...e/?partner=yahootix
When I first read the headline that Honorable Judge Sean Lane had objected to the $20 million proposed “bonus” payment slated for outgoing AMR CEO Tom Horton, I was encouraged that finally, someone had pulled a (Judge) Rakoff, and objected to a settlement based on the moral principles of Justice, fairness and reason.
But alas, after further reading, I returned to my normal state of cynicism when learning of new deca-million dollar bonuses paid to corporate managers. Perched high on bench in his lower Manhattan courtroom, U.S. Bankruptcy judge Sean Lane sang the praises of the proposed AMR Corp. (parent of American Airlines) and U.S. Airways merger. All set was he to grant his necessary imprimatur when one wee issue peeked out from behind a curtain. US Trustee and bankruptcy watchdog Tracy Hope Davis had the temerity to single out for question another bogus CEO severance payment. In this case, I am referring to the announced $20 million severance giveaway to bankrupt AMR Corp. outgoing CEO Tom Horton. Ms. Davis objected to this invidiousness because it is against the law. A feature of a 2005 Bankruptcy Code overhaul specifically bars severance payments to insiders (officers and directors) of companies while under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection “unless the compensation is applicable to all full-time employees or is less than 10 times the average severance paid to non-management employees during the same calendar year.” Unless every non-management employee got more than a $2 million severance, then under the law Horton’s deal is deemed illegal. Judge Lane, made no comment, complaint, or judgment as to the size of the proposed “golden parachute”. He merely announced it would be, in his words, “inappropriate” at this time and he would revisit the issue at some later date. Let me share my definition of “inappropriate” in this case. Why must failure once again be rewarded in a virtuous light? Mr. Horton was only named CEO on November 29, 2011, the same day AMR Corp. entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. So for a mere sixteen months of toil, the entirety of which have been spent in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the board wants to pay him $20 million. For a company teetering on insolvency Mr. Horton has been very handsomely remunerated, pulling in $3.6 and $4.2 million in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Additionally, he was paid $371,000 for his service on the board of directors in 2011. It’s funny how companies that are hemorrhaging cash and laying off workers manage to pay their directors such princely sums. I guess even all that high priced advice couldn’t keep away the boogeyman of bankruptcy. Exxon (XOM), which earns more net income in a year than AMR Corp has made in its entire corporate history, only compensates its board an average of $285,000 annually.
So Judge Sean dutifully approved the merger sans the severance bonus for Mr. Horton. Weil, Gotshal & Manges, lawyers for AMR Corp. argued that the AMR Corp was being replaced by American Airlines Group, Inc. after the merger-which technically meant it wasn’t AMR Corp. making the severance payment, therefore the bonus should be allowed. Also the payment wasn’t going to take place until after the merger was complete. Lawyers were also trying to change the nature of the payment and re-characterize it as a bonus for negotiating the merger between AMR Corp. and U.S. Airways. Apparently, he also renegotiated some union labor contracts. Getting paid some grand bonus for mergers or divestitures is ridiculous. That’s what managers are paid to do. It’s part of their job. There is nothing outstanding or heroic about it. That is just not so according to one Ellen Marcus, an employment compensation lawyer. Here’s Ellen, “The payout is in line with what other CEOs receive during mergers and…..You want to incentivize your CEO to act in the interest of shareholders if a good offer comes along.” So Ellen says unless we give Tom $20 million he will lose his focus and won’t try real hard. Ellen is wrong and is part of the cabal that perpetuates these obscenities. Mr. Horton wasn’t even a real CEO. He was but a caretaker of a failed enterprise in transition. Reality is regardless of how Judge Sean ultimately rules, after the merger the new board of directors of the combined entity is free to grant whatever largesse they care to bestow on Mr. Horton. The whole dance is but a charade. The insider cronies will figure a way to make this thing happen. The only way to stop this from happening is to complain. Equity holders are getting nearly completely wiped out under the reorganization plan. They will end up with only 3.5 percent of the new combined American Airlines Group, Inc. (which is what should and normally does happen in a proceeding like this) Do shareholders think it equitable that one person for sixteen months of effort walks off with $20 million? They should have a place at the table. Shareholders should be given the ultimate say on issues like this. Corporate governance legislation needs to give the ultimate power to the owners of the company; the shareholders. If shareholders can stop just one of these payouts and just maybe boards will commence taking notice that they cannot with impunity capriciously make awards.
It is attempted atrocities like these, piled one on top of other, that have gotten into the collective psyche of society today. Reading about another wacky corporate payout is not something I can ever get anesthetized to. Each one is just another pinprick of the injustices in our broken system of corporate governance. People rightly perceive that in corporate America, the game is rigged. Rank and file workers are the balls getting bounced around off the bumpers of a pinball machine, while insider corporate cronies dole out shareholder money for egregious bonuses using like it’s a Parker Bros. game of Monopoly. As one justification the crony filled board made mention that after the bankruptcy all of Mr. Horton’s precious options might be worthless. What about the pensions of the thousands of employees who held AMR Corp. stock? What about unsuspecting public shareholders and widows and orphans?
Many people focus on these micro structural failures in corporations and wrongly extrapolate that our entire capitalist architecture suffers systemic rot. Capitalism is inherently unequal. It is a system based on merit where people with hard work, can and do rise up and do great things. I wonder if the high powered board at AMR Corp. considered how long and hard a risk taking entrepreneur has to work to clear $20 million. Guess what happens when the small business owner enters bankruptcy. They get zero, nada, zilch. Mr. Horton is a former manager of a failed enterprise. While he is not to blame for its failure, neither is a former baggage handler or middle management employee who will walk away with nothing . Just like those employees displaced by the merger, Mr. Horton needs to go find another job …….without an extra $20 million. Injustices like these, repeated over and over again- It is the stuff of which revolutions are made.
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Barbara Fritsch
03-29-2013
01:09 PM ET (US)
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Give him nothing.. greedy
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Angelfaye@aol.com
03-29-2013
01:06 PM ET (US)
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I hope that p___k gets NOTHING. Why our system puts up with this kind of corp crap, I truly c annot understand. He robbed the present & even past Flight Attendants(if AMR get their wish no medical for us) AWFUL system & man.
Natasha
In a message dated 3/29/2013 9:09:45 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, qtopic-26-Mfeu8NGwMNm@quicktopic.com writes:
< replied-to message removed by QT >
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Mary White
03-29-2013
12:09 PM ET (US)
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In our paper yesterday, Horton is asking for 19 million plus stock options PLUS FREE lifetime first class passes for he and his wife. I guess he can't afford to pay the fares with that kind of retirement monies. So far the judge hasn't granted him that.
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peggy fender
03-26-2013
05:32 PM ET (US)
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this is from Dallasnews...article by Terry Maxon:
Published: 22 March 2013 08:19 PM
With American Airlines Inc.’s bankruptcy case winding down, the carrier’s nearly 47,000 retirees are anxiously awaiting a decision on whether they’ll have to pay for their medical coverage as part of the airline’s cost-cutting.
As of Saturday, it will have been two months since U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane heard arguments about whether American can quit paying for medical coverage for its retirees, who worry that their health coverage will turn into a budget breaker each month if they have to pick up the bill.
“Most of us are now living on a very modest pension and fixed income and struggle just to cover all our normal living expenses,” retiree Nancy Urban of Meriden, Conn., wrote Lane this month. “To have to begin all over again scrambling to find and pay again for new insurance would be devastating and for many of us no longer financially possible.”
American spokesman Michael Trevino defended the Fort Worth-based carrier’s efforts to have retirees pay for their health coverage, an expense that currently costs the airline close to $125 million a year.
“We have approached our restructuring with the commitment that all of American’s people, current and retired, have a stake in the company’s ability to survive and succeed,” Trevino said. “We are following the path of many other U.S. airlines which have previously reduced their costs through the bankruptcy process, so that we can successfully restructure our company to effectively compete.”
In the court case, American argued that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act doesn’t require it to continue funding the benefits. The Official Committee of Retirees, which represents the interests of the former employees, had argued that those benefits are “vested,” that American did make binding promises and is compelled by the law to keep paying for health coverage.
Committee chairman Jim Sovich, a former pilot, and the committee’s lead attorney, Catherine Steege, said they believe the company is legally and morally committed to keep funding the program for its retirees.
“The retirees are loyal prior employees of American Airlines who want to see this thing succeed and hope the merger [with US Airways Inc.] allows them to be the best airline in the country again,” said Steege, a partner at Jenner & Block in Chicago.
“I personally think it’s outrageous that American Airlines is continuing to try to take away benefits from its retirees. What they think they can do and what they should do ought to be two different things,” Steege said. “American Airlines does not need to cut retiree benefits to be able to succeed going forward.”
American asked Lane on July 6 to rule that the employees had no vested right to the retirement benefits they have been receiving, with the intent not to offer health coverage.
It later modified its request to seek the right to alter its benefits, with the intent to have the retirees pick up all the costs of their health insurance.
Sovich, the Allied Pilots Association president from 1994 to 1997, said American has argued that it has to treat current retirees the same as it is treating today’s employees when they retire. Current employees as of Nov. 1, 2012, no longer will get that benefit when they retire.
However, Sovich said, current employees have received pay raises and other improvements in exchange for what they gave up.
In addition, “all active employees will be able to improve their lot in life in subsequent contracts,” he said. “We don’t get a subsequent contract. It’s this or nothing else.”
He said the hardest hit will be the oldest retirees. “We have 70-, 80-, 90-year-old widows out there, many of them who had husbands that weren’t making decent pensions, that rely on this medical [coverage] to offset some of their costs in Medicare. It’s really a Medicare supplement for them,” he said.
He noted that American’s costs over time will decline as the retirees die. “On top of that, the cost is limited because the lifetime maximum [benefits] once you retire is set in stone at $300,000. And once you retire and hit 65, it’s set in stone at $50,000,” he said.
Randy Brown and his wife both retired from American in 2009 at age 55, and now the Nashville, Ind., residents are worried about how they’ll be able to pay for their medical coverage. They were promised medical insurance as part of their early-out packages.
“What are we supposed to do?” Brown asked this week. “I had cancer six years ago and, for all practical purposes, am uninsurable. I paid for my retiree medical insurance while I was working and now AA wants to take it away.”
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peggy fender
03-26-2013
09:05 AM ET (US)
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RETIRED AMERICAN AIRLINE EMPLOYEES~~~~
AMRRC Members Briefing for March 25, 2013
As an update concerning both the AMR bankruptcy as well as the present merger track with USAir, as it applies to AMR retirees, little was said during last week's Congressional Hearing regarding retirees. This next week, on March 27, a hearing is scheduled in Judge Sean Lane's bankruptcy court to review the merger proposal and possibly give approval to this AMR/USAir merger plan as part of the bankruptcy reorganization of AMR.
As review, our primary concern is AMR's current bankruptcy court position as to the retiree health care benefit plans that were in place at the point of AMR's bankruptcy filing. During the 1114 hearing in front of Judge Lane on January 23rd AMR counsel made arguments that the corporation had the unilateral right to either modify or terminate the health & welfare insurance plans for its retirees.
It must be said that in the bankruptcy court AMR is trying to 'have its cake and eat it too' as to the positions it has taken regarding its retirees. During this January 23, 2013 hearing AMR counsel argued for the elimination of retiree health & welfare benefits while also taking the position the retirees have no claim to even have our side heard. The ultimate impact of this position is to foist the cost of health care on the government by a debtor that does not need this relief to reorganize its business.
If you are an American Airlines or former TWA retiree and you have NOT written your personal letter to your elected U.S. Congressional Representatives (both Senators and House Representative) and these retiree health & welfare insurance plans are important to you we urge you to write your congressional letter asking for support. Presently our insurance plans remain status quo and that is the hope we have for them to remain throughout this merger process.
It must be noted there have been documents given to the Court in the 1114 arguments that the cost of providing these benefits is so minimal that it will not negatively impact AMR/American/USAir's bottom line. Thus, the merger agreement assumes the current retiree benefits plans as is so the merger is not dependent on the Court ruling. Of course we agree with this position. It is the right thing to do.
On another subject we have received questions regarding the 2003 AMR stock options that were traded in value during the 2003 concessionary agreements. These options will expire on April 17, 2013 and presently have no value. If the AMR stock price goes beyond the 2003 $5 strike price a retiree who still holds these options may elect to exercise (cash in) same, but this must all happen prior to April 17. We suggest you keep an eye on AMR's stock price but considering any 'cash in' would be less any taxes, fees or commissions it seems rather doubtful that these expiring options will be of value in the weeks ahead.
The monthly AMRRC on-line chat regarding retiree benefits will take place on Thursday, April 11, from 7 to 9pm CST. This discussion has become a popular resource and is led by AMRRC Chair Paul Mazzara. You may join this discussion by going to www.rbassociation.com with your individual questions.
Visit us at www.amrrc.net
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Maureen DiCola
03-19-2013
06:43 PM ET (US)
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Yes, Sandy. The Hilton suites Chicago/Oakbrook, 10 Drurylane Lane. Suite has 2 separate bedrooms. Mention Ohare Kiwis & rate is $95. Plus tax. Reservation phone 1 -800-HILTON'S. Or Hilton Garden Inn Reservations 630-941-1177. Rate is $75.00, plus tax for single King. Both on on the Drurylane Lane property. This will be convienent after a few coctktails.. Hope to see you. Maureen diCola
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Sandy Berry
03-19-2013
01:53 PM ET (US)
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Anyone have info. about hotel resevations for Wings Event on April 26 in Oakville, Il.? Please post
Thx!
Sandy Berry
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