Originally Posted by
nene
When/if they file BK, the BK judge will be assigned and a creditors committee will be formed. Then if the company mgmt can form a viable plan considering labor/equip/facilities going forward, they will make a plan to submit to the committee/judge which may include things like forced labor contract changes, lease changes, etc. The committee can also consider other offers by 3rd parties to buy assets and/or just proceed with liquidation. It's up to the committee and judge which path is most viable and labor/smaller creditors are mostly along for the ride. Of course politics/money/influence all have huge stakes in the process.
It's not good for anyone, especially labor and if nothing else, is actually very expensive because the many lawyers involved get PAID BANK!
Worth noting that BK companies, even if allowed to reject/modify a CBA do not get carte blanche. Typically the judge will impose an "industry average" contract, although if it were necessary to make the numbers work in the reorganization proposal the court might cut deeper. In this case the company would argue for the average of the ULCC industry (SY, F9, G4, Breeze, Avelo), not the average of DL, UA, AA, and SW.
Courts seem to like snap-back provisions, so you might suck it up for a while and then get some or all of the original contract back after things turn around post-BK.
Also the company has to jump through some hoops before it can even go there with a CBA, and that would take at least some amount of time (11 USC 1113). If the company starts trying to negotiate a concessionary CBA that's a good sign that Ch.11 is right around the corner.