Astar/ABX -- Teamster or ALPA?

[fodc8]

I think this thread is premature. My finance guy called me and told me to get ready to sell my ABX stock. He said that on Wall street when an informal offer to buy is made public it is intended to raise the stock price so the Execs can pull the ripcords of their golden parachutes. Then the deal is trashed and the stock price crashes and the remains are picked apart at a low price. Everyone wins. I think the cleansing process is far from over and as I understand it Joe is not ready to stop running an airline. The real question is what will be what will be left at the end, and what exactly will Joe be taking with him. I'm pretty sure Astar will never be teamsters but I like the free coke Machine.

 

[ABXbooger]

right now I wish I was a member of the IPA...

 

[Cargoav8or]

Interesting thought. Looking back Daz has always talked about the "cleansing" of ABX before he did anything. Thought it odd that he would try to buy all of it, but then what do we know. I don't see a great future in 9s but that goes for B4s, 72s or 8s. I guess nothing is impossible.

The Market today says $7.99, were getting closer.

 

[Cargoav8or]

What makes you think they'll merge you. Why not consolidate some ops then the crews against each other. Its the holding company thats doing the buying, true....false?

What holding company? As far as I know and I may be wrong, Astar has no holding companies. ABX recently formed a holding company, but nobody knows why. Maybe Daz will buy ABX put the parts he wants from both airlines in it and sh$t everything else.

Booger I'm with you, I wish I were a member of the IPA to right now. We have had a few leave in the last couple of months and more on the way. Hope some of your guys have been putting out their trash. This ACMI business sucks!

 

[ABXbooger]

Seriously, as a former regional pilot, I have a very bitter view of ALPA. Seems like we are in kind of the same boat as the regionals in respect to our size and position in the market. I always had a problem with the pilots from UAL, DAL, and at that time TWA making decisions for the combined union, which always favored the larger carriers. Teamsters are not perfect, far from it, but the level of support and the facilities we have built in ILN are excellent. Our staff is amazing. Don't forget there is a very large movement to unionize both the ground workers and the ABX mechanics. I have a feeling this announcement will speed that along.

 

[penguin22]

What makes you think they'll merge you. Why not consolidate some ops then the crews against each other. Its the holding company thats doing the buying, true....false?

First off, its ABX that has the holding company, but its Astar (Dasburg) that is trying to buy ABX. And we think we would get merged because Dasburg said it himself in his letter to ABX’s BOD..

“Accordingly, we believe that we would well serve our respective shareholders and other stakeholders by exploring a potential merger between our two companies. We also believe that this should be done in an expeditious fashion so as to avoid unnecessary disruption of ABX's and ASTAR's employees, customers and businesses.”

The figure of 80-90 million in annual savings to DHL has been repeatedly tossed around as how much they’d save by having just one airline. Whatever the number is, it’s probably the driving reason why DHL is making this thing happen. We’re gonna get merged.

That said, this thing is far from a done deal. The price is too low (that’s not my opinion, that’s the markets opinion. ABXA is still trading at 8 bucks, a good premium over Dasburg’s offer) and Joe knows he’s on the way out; he’s going to want to take some 767s with him and do this ANA thing. (that part IS my opinion; I could be wrong) That was probably the original intent of the new ABX Holdings. He’s going to split off as much as he can get away with and start fresh in Japan. If I’m right, a bunch of us at ABX could have a big decision to make.

 

[Cargoav8or]

Seriously, as a former regional pilot, I have a very bitter view of ALPA. Seems like we are in kind of the same boat as the regionals in respect to our size and position in the market. I always had a problem with the pilots from UAL, DAL, and at that time TWA making decisions for the combined union, which always favored the larger carriers. Teamsters are not perfect, far from it, but the level of support and the facilities we have built in ILN are excellent. Our staff is amazing. Don't forget there is a very large movement to unionize both the ground workers and the ABX mechanics. I have a feeling this announcement will speed that along.

My biggest problem with Teamsters is your problem with ALPA. I have a feeling that they will pay more attention to the big money. That being from maids, truck drivers, doc workers. I think their airline division is way to small. There is a lot more going on outside ILN and I want my union to be a part of that. Especially with the open skies movement, etc... Are the teamsters back into the AFLCIO. I suspect they are not playing nice,nice with the folks in Washington. As pilots we need all the help we can get.

We can still have a good working relationship with the other unions on the field and achieve the same results. The one we have with the 1224 needs to change and fast before to many get left out in the cold.

ONE VOICE.

 

[fodc8]

Would Joe take the certificate and leave just assets behind?

 

[penguin22]

Alpa has a louder voice in gov't concerning airline business.

I don’t think so. Ask some of our gov’t affairs committee members about the reception they get in congressional offices. One of em tells a story about how a bunch of pilots were meeting with various congressmen on some issue. When they were introduced to one of the congressmen in his office, as soon as our guy said he represented Teamsters, the congressman grabbed his hand, pulled him past all the ALPA guys, and sat him down in front. It seems the Teamsters could swing quite a few more votes in the congressman’s district than ALPA. That’ll be true in every congressional district.
We all know money talks in Congress. I don’t know for sure, but I’ll bet the Teamster lobby has more $$ than the ALPA lobby.

 

[penguin22]

Penguin,

Does that machine have Mountain Dew? If it does, count me in! We'll bring our flatscreen TV's though, ok?

hey, my airplane has flat screen! Four of em in fact!