Hostess Brands Inc. on Tuesday launched its courtroom campaign to impose new labor deals on a group of unions that represent a small slice of the Twinkie maker's workforce, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported yesterday. The struggling baking company has already convinced its largest union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to accept fresh collective bargaining agreements and is gearing up for a repeat trial with its second-largest union, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union. But Hostess said that it also needs to bring 10 additional unions---representing some 1,118 Hostess employees---on board in order to survive its second bankruptcy filing in recent years.
The union representing pilots at American Airlines said that the airline wants to resume talks, signaling the company's intent in resolving a stalemate with the association, Reuters reported yesterday. A special meeting of the association's board has been scheduled for Wednesday to determine next steps, said Keith Wilson, president of the Allied Pilots Association. American began implementing cost cuts for its pilots this month after a bankruptcy judge ruled that the airline could abandon its collective bargaining agreement with the pilots union. The pilots, the only major work group at American that has not agreed on contract concessions since the carrier filed for chapter 11, had voted down a final offer from the airline in August.
Pilots for AMR Corp.'s American Airlines asked a U.S. bankruptcy judge to suspend his order allowing the carrier to throw out their labor contract and impose cost cuts while their appeal is considered, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday. The decision by Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane allowing AMR to reject the contract will cause "irreparable harm" to pilots, the Allied Pilots Association said in a court filing on Friday. American won Judge Lane’s approval on Sept. 4 to impose work rule and other changes as it restructures after pilots rejected a final contract offer. The union has appealed the decision to U.S. District Court in Manhattan and is asking Judge Lane to stay his order while the appeal is considered.
AMR Corp. won court approval yesterday to pay the professional fees for bondholders considering a potential equity infusion that could allow the bankrupt airline to emerge as a standalone company, Reuters reported yesterday. The bondholders group, which holds roughly $900 million in various bond offerings, wants to perform due diligence to explore a financing offering, AMR attorney Harvey Miller said at a hearing. The 12-member bondholder group includes Pentwater Capital Management, Litespeed Management, Claren Road Asset Management and a JPMorgan unit, according to court filings. The fee agreement does not mean the bondholder group will ultimately provide funding on a standalone plan, or that other parties cannot explore providing an equity infusion, said Jack Butler, an attorney for AMR's creditors' committee. Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/20/amr-hearing-idUSL1E8KK6E02012…
In related news, the union representing pilots at American Airlines yesterday said that it has called no job action at the bankrupt carrier, which this week canceled hundreds of flights citing increased pilot maintenance reports and sick leave usage, Reuters reported. American began implementing cost cuts for its pilots this month after a U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled that the airline could abandon its collective bargaining agreement with the pilots union. The airline, a unit of AMR Corp, said on Wednesday that it canceled about 300 flights for this week out of nearly 24,000 departures planned across its network, including the American Eagle regional division. American cited factors including "an increase in maintenance reports filed by pilots, as well as levels of sick leave usage that have been running higher than historical norms." Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/20/americanair-pilots-idUSL1E8KK…
The bankrupt maker of the Twinkies snack, Hostess Brands Inc., is seeking court approval to impose a new collective bargaining agreement on 6,500 members of a bakery union, days after the union voted overwhelmingly against the deal, Reuters reported yesterday. Hostess said in court documents that imposing the labor contact, which cuts wages by 8 percent and reduces benefits, is the company's last hope to avoid a going-out-of-business liquidation. The Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers International Union said on Monday that 92 percent of its members rejected the labor contract.
One of the most vexing problems for Chicago and its teachers went virtually unmentioned during the strike: The pension fund is about to run dry, the New York Times reported today. The Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund has about $10 billion in assets, but is paying out more than $1 billion in benefits a year — much more than it has been taking in. That has forced it to sell investments, worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, to pay retired teachers. Experts say that the fund could collapse within a few years unless something is done.
AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines and American Eagle, this week notified some 11,000 mechanics and groundworkers that they could be laid off as part of the company's bankruptcy restructuring, although actual layoffs will be far fewer, the Chicago Tribune reported today. Of the 11,000 members of the Transport Workers Union who received notices, fewer than 40 percent, or 4,400, will eventually be laid off, said AMR said. The 4,400 layoffs are far fewer than the 8,500 called for in AMR's original restructuring plan announced in February. The layoffs number was bargained down in contract negotiations between the company and the union.
AMR Corp.'s American Airlines won bankruptcy court approval of new cost-cutting labor agreements with unions for flight attendants and mechanics, which will get equity stakes in the airline, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Six-year contracts were approved Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane, who said that "labor peace" was valuable to the bankrupt airline. The accords secure savings that Fort Worth, Texas-based American says are critical for its restructuring. Pilots are now the airline's only union that has not agreed on concessions. Judge Lane last week approved American’s request to reject the collective-bargaining agreement with pilots and impose cost cuts. The ruling came after the pilots rejected a proposed contract.
Kodak said yesterday that it is reshuffling executives and cutting thousands of jobs as the pioneering photography company tries to emerge from bankruptcy protection, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Eastman Kodak Co. said that it cut about 2,700 employees worldwide since the beginning of the year and plans to cut about 1,000 more by the end of 2012. Annual savings from the cuts should reach about $330 million, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The Florida Supreme Court is to hear arguments on whether Republican-backed changes to the state’s public-employee pension system, touted as a way to save more than $1 billion a year, violate workers’ constitutional rights, Bloomberg News reported today. The court today will review a judge’s finding that the pension-overhaul legislation, backed by Republican Governor Rick Scott as a way to help close a $3.6 billion budget gap, illegally cut state workers’ collective-bargaining power. As part of an effort pushed last year by Scott, legislators changed the way pensions were funded, requiring workers to contribute 3 percent of their pay and eliminating the retirement fund’s cost-of-living adjustment for employees retiring after the law took effect.
