W Post: Turbulence Over Executive Pay Airline Workers Question Leaders' Bonuses

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/21/AR2007052101516.html

Turbulence Over Executive Pay
Airline Workers Question Leaders' Bonuses After Rank-and-File Pay Cuts

By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 22, 2007; Page D01

FORT WORTH -- American Airlines executives should have been celebrating last week during their annual stockholders' meeting, the first in six years at which they could spotlight an annual profit.

Instead, chief executive Gerard J. Arpey spent much of the session fending off questions from irate employees. After agreeing to accept massive pay cuts in recent years to keep American flying, the employees said they were upset that the carrier's top officers have been given stock-based bonuses worth millions of dollars. One employee at the meeting called Arpey and other executives "arrogant, greedy, selfish and heartless individuals."


United Airlines pilots protested this month at Reagan National Airport. United gave its CEO more than 1.3 million shares of stock and options last year.
Photo Credit: By Win Mcnamee -- Getty Images Photo

The anger over airline leaders' pay is not unique to American. Employees who have taken pay cuts at United and Northwest airlines and US Airways are also battling their executives over similar deals.

Labor groups say the unhappiness has led to at least two showdowns with managers over contractual issues. Some say demoralized workers could also hurt service.

"When you have a bitter and angry workforce, that translates into a rough-and-tumble summer travel season," said Edward Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department, an umbrella organization that lobbies on behalf of airline unions.

The executives and their representatives all defended the deals, saying the bonuses were granted for solid performance. The companies say much of their executives' compensation is in the form of stock grants, which could lose value if the airlines perform badly or rise if they sustain their recoveries. They also note that the companies' boards, not the executives themselves, set the compensation levels.

FULL story at link.