American Airlines Agent Ad-Hoc Committee Gets Its Day in Court

An ad hoc committee of passenger service agents organizing for a CWA voice at American Airlines convinced a U.S. bankruptcy judge to block a huge multimillion dollar payoff by parent company AMR Corp. to financial firms working on the airline's bankruptcy reorganization.

AMR proposed the multimillion dollars payments to financial advisers despite moving to cut airline workers' jobs and benefits.

Last week the bankruptcy judge blocked the company from entering into agreements to make large multimillion-dollar payments to other advisors until a hearing at the end of February.

Despite having $4 billion on hand, AMR has paid just $6.5 million of the $100 million it owes to workers' pension plan.

One leader of the agents' organizing campaign said that the fact that the agents' Ad Hoc Committee was recognized by the bankruptcy court is gratifying. "This counters the company's claim that our Ad Hoc committee would be powerless," said American Airlines agent Regina Reed. "Organizing together gives us strength."