American Greed

American Airlines is having a tough time. It is losing money and on the verge of bankruptcy. Executives told the unions that they could sacrifice now, or risk losing their jobs entirely if the operation goes under. Faced with that choice, the unions gave a lot back to management in a series of difficult membership votes.

Now, however, it appears that management doesn't believe that its talk of tough times ahead really applies to them. According to CNN, American's top executives gave themselves big fat "retention bonuses" and a healthy supplemental pension fund that would continue to pay out even in the event of bankruptcy. For management, it's a win-win situation; for the rest of the employees, it's lose-a-lot or lose-it-all.

The unions are fighting back, as well they should. The flight attendants union is going to take another vote on the give-backs it agreed to just a few days earlier. I'm not sure how all this will play out, but workers everywhere should understand the lesson here. When management talks about "pulling together" or "working as a family", always check the books first before you believe one word. American isn't the first company to believe that sacrifice in tough times shouldn't apply to the named executive officers.