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neueste Meldung: Zoff mit Piloten wegen geplanter Kappung der Pensionen. Wenn die Piloten Recht bekommen, hat sich der Rettungsplan erledigt und alles ist wieder offen, auch die Aktionäre sind dann wieder im Spiel! US Airways` Pilots Blast Pension Cuts as Illegal Feb 13, 2003 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- US Airways` unionized pilots today are expected to try to block the carrier from terminating their pension plan, saying the move represents an illegal attempt to annul its labor contract with the company. "They are looking to rip out our pension plan and leave a hole in our contract," Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) spokesman Roy Freundlich said yesterday. But in papers filed last month in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria, Va., the airline contended that unless it can reduce its pension expenses by terminating the pilots` plan, it won`t be able to pay off debts and emerge from bankruptcy protection. The airline also said that termination of the pilots` pension plan and creation of a new plan to replace some of the lost pension benefits would not violate the collective bargaining agreement, which it noted has been "amended from time to time" through negotiations between the airline and ALPA. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Stephen Mitchell next Thursday plans to hear arguments on the airline`s proposal to terminate the pilots` pension plan. The court and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC), a federal agency that insures the private pension plans of 44 million Americans, would have to approve such a move. The outcome of the high-stakes battle could determine whether US Airways can achieve its goal of emerging from Chapter 11 by the end of March. The airline already has coaxed about $1.9 billion in annual concessions from its unionized employees, aircraft lessors and lenders. However, unless it can reduce its pension expenses over the next six years, it has said it won`t be able to win final approval from a federal board for a $900 million loan guarantee that it needs to obtain $1 billion in private financing. The company also has said that failure to resolve the pension dispute could jeopardize $200 million in interim financing from the Retirement Systems of Alabama -- money it says it must have to pay for operations through March 31, when it expects to emerge from bankruptcy protection. If it`s unable to slash pension obligations, the airline has said it also won`t be able to receive an additional $240 million from the Alabama pension fund as well as $3 billion to $4 billion in financing it needs to purchase or lease a fleet of new regional jets. Deployment of the smaller jets is a "cornerstone" of its plan to return to profitability in a few years. ALPA maintains that the Arlington, Va.-based carrier is unfairly trying to place the burden of cutting its pension costs on the backs of 8,000 retired and active pilots. Those pilots stand to lose up to 65 percent of their benefits if the pension plan is terminated, ALPA said. US Airways has said it will not seek to terminate the pension plans of lesser-paid flight attendants or aircraft mechanics. The company has said it anticipates having $3.1 billion in underfunded pension obligations through 2009, about $2 billion of which would go to support the pilots` plan. The remainder would support the pensions of other employees, principally the mechanics and the flight attendants. By canceling the pilots` retirement plan, the company said it could reduce the underfunding of the pilots` plan from $2 billion to $840 million over the next six years -- enough to satisfy the needs of the federal board and the Alabama pension fund, which stands to receive a controlling stake in the carrier for its capital infusion. The pilots union contends US Airways has overstated its pension plan expenses. It said changes agreed to following second round of pay-and-benefit concessions late last year pared the company`s pension obligations to pilots by $500 million to about $1.7 billion. What particularly upsets the pilots, Freundlich said, is that the company wants to use the savings it receives by terminating the pilots pension to cover other employees` pension plans and to help finance the purchase of regional jets. It was through negotiations with the pilots, he noted, that US Airways was able to boost the number of regional jets it can deploy from 70 to 465. By Frank Reeves To see more of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.post-gazette.com (c) 2003, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. |
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| aus der Diskussion: | $$$$US AIRWAYS gerettet????$$$$ |
| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | Speckratte (13.02.03 11:39:38) |
| Beitrag: | 105 von 110 (ID:8597215) |
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