Grinstein interview and pensions

[Skater]

Q: Continental Airlines CEO Larry Kellner recently complained about Delta's competitive advantages from bankruptcy. What are those advantages?
A: [Laughs] The advantages of bankruptcy are the same ones that Kellner's company took advantage of. [Continental made two trips through Chapter 11.] They got rid of their pension costs. Scrubbed all of their labor costs down. ...
Q: When will Delta make a decision on whether to terminate the pensions?
A: Well, I don't know whether Delta would ever make a decision on that. If I recall correctly at United, it was the [Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.] that made the decision to terminate the pension plan.
Q: But do you still hold out hope for any legislative relief from Washington [where Congress is considering measures to allow Delta to stretch out payments into its pension funds and ease the cost of keeping them]?
A: Well I don't want to say that I think Washington is going to be the end all, be all, but I do think I'd like to see what the legislation is. ... We don't have a plan to ask the court to terminate their pension.
Q: Do you think companies have a moral obligation to fulfill their pension obligations and to pay them?
A: Sure, but I want to balance that against the moral obligation that I think companies have to try and preserve as many jobs as they possibly can. ... If what you're looking at is a world where you're canceling their pensions and it's going in my pocket, then it's a pretty clear moral situation. But the contrast is, between trying to preserve, as we are at Delta ... 50,000 careers, and we can't do it if we have to pay those [pension plan contributions]. Then you've got two moral issues right in square conflict with each other.



Lots to worry about with what Grinstein said in this Atlanta Journal interview, but with out coming out and saying he is going to shell pensions, he doesn't make it too hard to read between the lines. He also made it pretty clear he would not be around when Delta clears Chapter 11. Does he have a golden-parachute an how much is it worth?

I am tired of this dirty business.....

 

[81Horse]

Q: When will Delta make a decision on whether to terminate the pensions?
A: Well, I don't know whether Delta would ever make a decision on that. If I recall correctly at United, it was the [Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.] that made the decision to terminate the pension plan.

Bogus. He's positioning himself to throw his hands up in the air and feign innocence when this happens at DAL. Dog forbid ...

 

[Draginass]

Don't kid yourselves. Huge amounts of money are going into Delta execs pockets . . . it'll just be under the table and at night.

 

[Spooky 1]

This guy has no moral compass. He was there when all the executives were lining their pockets and for unknown reasons there are good Delta employees who still want to believe he is somehow going to get them out of this fix they are in. This guy is poison. No morals, no plan, no money.

 

[Mugs]

The bottom line is simple. The capital markets will not provide the necessary financing for DAL or NWA to exit BK with the pension plans in place regardless of what the respective managements do. If you guys were running a large financial institution considering such a risky investment, would you not insist on the pension burdens being eliminated to help reduce that risk? Especially when there are plenty of better places to invest? Don't kid yourselves.

 

[Draginass]

I sure wouldn't loan money to those companies with the clowns that were and are running them.

 

[Skater]

Simplifares

Did the guy who came up with Simplifares get canned. I don't see how the Board of Directors or any investors could have any confidence in a CEO who thought reducing ticket prices when fuel costs are going to an all time high (and with loads already in the high 70's low 80's) was going to generate more profit. I think Delta's management has surpassed United's as the worst in the industry.