[기사 메모] AMR labor needs shifted after bankruptcy - executive (Reuters, Apr 2012)

출처: AMR labor needs shifted after bankruptcy - executive (Reuters, 27 Apr 2012)

※ 발췌 (excerpt):

AMR Corp's labor relations chief acknowledged on Thursday that the company tried to "limp along" by negotiating burdensome short-term labor deals before deciding to file for bankruptcy. Testifying at a court hearing on AMR's request to abandon its labor deals, Jeff Brundage said the concessions AMR asked of its unions before its bankruptcy filing would not have "allowed us to be a viable enterprise."

Brundage was addressing criticism from labor unions that the AMR demands for concessions since filing for bankrupcy have been unfairly steep, and that it sought more drastic cuts than in earlier negotiations.

But Brundage said that is because the company's goals shifted after it filed for Chapter 11 protection. Before the bankruptcy, AMR's aim was to keep its unions from striking, and to avoid bankruptcy.

"We were governed by how hard we believed we could push to make changes and have them ratified," Brundage told a full courtroom at U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. "We were governed by the art of what we thought the possible was, not what [we?] thought necessary."

Now in bankruptcy, AMR si trying to hash out union contracts that will allow it to become viable and profitable in the long term, Brundage added.

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Among the unions's complaints about the new demands is that they seek deeper cuts than pre-bankruptcy proposals, in which AMR sought between $600 million and $800 million in reduction.

But AMR executive internally referred to those offers as "limp along" or "kick-the-can" methods, Brundage said, adding they were designed only to avoid bankruptcy and keep the peace with unions.

"It was not brilliant, but it was employed to meet those two goals," he said.

In hindsight, Brundage said it is clear that pre-bankruptcy offers would not have allowed the company to avoid bankruptcy. The company hoped outside factors such as an improving economy would then allow it to flourish.

"We hoped if we could get a little tailwind, rather than headwind, we could capitalize on it," Brundage said.

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