Bain Capital Crushed Pilots' Effort To Create Union At Key Airlines
The successful launch of Bain Capital, a private equity firm founded by current GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his associates in 1984, was propelled in part by a move to squash the formation of a union at one of the first companies in which it invested, according to the Financial Times.
The episode began in 1984, long before Bain became a multi-billion dollar firm. Romney and his business partners were working to buy Key Airlines, a small and somewhat troubled charter carrier that had a number of valuable assets, and turn it into a profitable investment. According to a report by the Financial Times (paywall), Romney and his colleagues orchestrated a $5 million leveraged buyout of the airline. The Times reports that Key rebounded slightly under Bain's management, but began to struggle again in 1985, a year that brought particular turmoil to the company when its pilots attempted to form a union.
Bain, which would end up selling Key for $18 million in 1986, had plans turn the company for a profit, and was presumably not eager to navigate through the additional burden of labor agreements in making a deal. According to Roger Foley, a federal judge who would later rule on a subsequent case brought by two pilots, what followed was an effort by Key's management to stamp out any cockpit crew members union before it could come into being.
more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/bain-capital-unions_n_1792381.html
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)to sign a pledge not to unionize.
Dkc05
(375 posts)This does not bode well for Unionized Gov employees. I can see him banning other unions too. Obama needs to implement card check by executive order righ now to make sure we have the right to unionize.