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No Golden Parachutes for US Airways Executives
After extracting billions of dollars in concessions from union workers, the 23 top executives at bankrupt US Airways shamelessly decided to hand themselves fat severance packages on top of all the bonuses and perks they already enjoyed.
However, the judge overseeing the bankruptcy refused to approve the golden parachutes, backing an objection filed by CWA, AFA-CWA, and the pilots and machinists unions along with the United States Trustee in the proceeding.
The executive "retention" contracts for the top officers, valued at more than $14 million, were disallowed in a June 16 order by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen S. Mitchell.
The package for the 23 officers was part of a proposed "transaction retention program" the airline wanted to implement, which would have allotted as much as $51 million in total bonuses and severance payments for 1,900 management employees.
Besides nixing the bonuses for the top execs, the judge slashed to $15 million the potential executive severance payout in the event the airline is liquidated.
CWA's attorney in the case, Daniel M. Katz, said such rulings are rare, as bankruptcy courts routinely rubber stamp management proposals.
"The unity produced by the joint opposition of the four major unions and the Office of the U.S. Trustee has informed management in no uncertain terms that they are being closely watched and that they don't have a free pass to pay themselves rich rewards when their principal accomplishment thus far has been to cut $1 billion a year in pay and benefits from rank-and-file workers," Katz said.
CWA also presented the judge with petitions signed by more than 2,200 union workers outraged by management's hypocrisy.
The CWA filing said approving the management payout "would generate a devastating loss of morale ... thousands of workers who have sacrificed on the job and at home, in a myriad of serious ways, would understandably view these payoffs as an insulting and treacherous stab in the back."
However, the judge overseeing the bankruptcy refused to approve the golden parachutes, backing an objection filed by CWA, AFA-CWA, and the pilots and machinists unions along with the United States Trustee in the proceeding.
The executive "retention" contracts for the top officers, valued at more than $14 million, were disallowed in a June 16 order by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen S. Mitchell.
The package for the 23 officers was part of a proposed "transaction retention program" the airline wanted to implement, which would have allotted as much as $51 million in total bonuses and severance payments for 1,900 management employees.
Besides nixing the bonuses for the top execs, the judge slashed to $15 million the potential executive severance payout in the event the airline is liquidated.
CWA's attorney in the case, Daniel M. Katz, said such rulings are rare, as bankruptcy courts routinely rubber stamp management proposals.
"The unity produced by the joint opposition of the four major unions and the Office of the U.S. Trustee has informed management in no uncertain terms that they are being closely watched and that they don't have a free pass to pay themselves rich rewards when their principal accomplishment thus far has been to cut $1 billion a year in pay and benefits from rank-and-file workers," Katz said.
CWA also presented the judge with petitions signed by more than 2,200 union workers outraged by management's hypocrisy.
The CWA filing said approving the management payout "would generate a devastating loss of morale ... thousands of workers who have sacrificed on the job and at home, in a myriad of serious ways, would understandably view these payoffs as an insulting and treacherous stab in the back."