2.03.12 – (LAA) – Bankurptcy Update

February 3, 2012

It is important to remember that the company’s ridiculous proposal from Wednesday is merely an opening salvo. Of course, they would like for this term sheet to be ratified and for this process to be wrapped up in a few days, but we do not see it that way. We will not allow the company to force this plan on us. There is a great amount of work to be done by our negotiators as well as our legal and financial experts. We will not agree to terms that look anything like this. We will not put our members’ livelihoods or retirements at risk solely based on the company’s overblown, unproven numbers simply to meet their timeline. The company must bargain in good faith by providing factual and provable numbers and not numbers that appear to have been taken from their very active imaginations.

Meantime, Horton has hatched a plan to take his proposal to our membership individually through meetings with management in our airports. DO NOT ATTEND THESE MEETINGS! They represent another management tactic to bully and intimidate our membership and we will not stand for it.

Although we were disappointed not to have Ed Schultz weigh in on our cause on television last night after interviewing Laura earlier in the day on his radio show, we are pleased to say the fight against AMRís misguided, unjustified, and draconian proposal has been taken to the public via many major broadcast and print media. Leading up to and immediately following Wednesdayís meetings, and then again on Thursday, Laura Glading and the APFA Communications team implemented a strategy to engage targeted members of the media with prepared statements and interviews. The tactic proved successful as our message was carried by every major outlet locally and nationally. Putting our side of the story into the public discourse is important to affecting the outcome of this process. See a sampling of the print coverage below:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/02/uk-amr-idUSLNE81100S20120202

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/business/american-airlines-seeks-job-cuts.html?_r=1

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-01/amr-poised-to-start-labor-talks-with-10-000-job-cuts-possible.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/02/american-airlines-job-cuts_n_1249088.html

http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/01/news/companies/american_jobs/?source=cnn_bin

http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/02/01/3705622/american-airlines-plans-to-cut.html

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2012/02/01/labor-leaders-skeptical-of-american-plan.html

Our media strategy is of course just one prong of our approach. We continue to reach out to our friends and allies in government and at other unions for support. And of course, we remain committed to negotiation strategy, particularly with regards to an early-out option for Flight Attendants to retire with security. Finally, our team of legal and financial experts have been hard at work around the clock since Wednesday scouring AMR’s proposal, disputing the veracity of management’s claims and justifications, analyzing the affect it will have on our membership, and preparing alternatives.

Please refer to www.www.apfa.org for the most current and accurate information.

Weí’l be back over the weekend with the regular Weekly Hotline content.