Originally Posted by
xj200capt
Having been in this situation with Mesaba we want to stay out of bankruptcy if we can. Right now the company is only asking me for 5% (I am not in favor - just saying the ask). If/when we go into bankruptcy, the whole contract is up for renegotiation. A 5% pay cut is bad. In bankruptcy the company just has to convince the judge that min day, insurance costs, per diem, needs to be reduced some percentage. Don't fool yourself - EVERYTHING is on the table. And nothing labor says will affect the judges decision.
This is why Tom Wychor wants to stay out of bankruptcy I suspect.
In our bankruptcy we had a few small victories. But nothing substantial was won. I don't want to take a pay cut. I didn't get ANY benefit from the contract or SLI so a pay cut would be a disaster for me.
I don't know if out of seniority furlough is possible. I've heard both sides. But I do know that the judge will do what he can to keep the company alive - not to keep the employees happy. I am not looking forward to it. But I suspect that with the short term things ending in April we will hear some interesting things fairly soon.
Do you really think that a 5-7% pay cut across the board will keep you guys out of Bankruptcy? Research recent history, how many airlines have entered CH11 after signing a new contract with the employees. AMR tried hard in the fall of 2011 to sign new contracts with employees, to include those who had contracts that had not reached they amendment date. Weeks after they gave their employees an ultimatum they filled BK, even with a new contract we would still be in Bankruptcy court but with less of a contract to cut from. Bankruptcy has to do with more than just your pay, the company wants to renegotiate leases and other loans, it wants to fix the SLI debacle that you guys have. Workforce is just a small picture, unlike the majors where pensions, work rules and SCOPE played a larger factor. Delta can't afford to have you guys failed and liquidated, there aren't many other regionals out there anymore so that would mean that RAH and SKW would grow and thus demand more for feed or take it back to the mainline, but they can use the CH11 process to readjust their fleet cheeper, just like AMR is doing! But I am no expert, I just have been researching and paying attention to the game because I work for a bankrupt airline!