Unions push airlines to promise they'll avoid stock buybacks

[MissMillie]

This article is a few days old. I read it in a local paper that my dad saved for me (so I can do the crossword puzzle).




https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/unions-push-airlines-promise-avoid-stock-buybacks-88563571

The unions said Thursday that the four largest U.S. airlines spent more than $39 billion on stock buybacks from 2014 through 2019 rather than making investments to help employees and passengers.

The airlines are currently barred from buying back their own shares as a condition of $54 billion in federal pandemic aid, but that prohibition ends after Sept. 30. Union officials worry that buybacks will come back now that most U.S. airlines have returned to profitability after huge losses in 2020 and 2021.

The unions, which represent pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, baggage handlers and other workers, launched a campaign and petition drive that portrays buyouts as a giveaway to Wall Street and a tool for airline executives to boost their own stock-based compensation.

“We paused the greed in aviation for a little while," said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants. She blamed “greed that ran rampant before COVID” with leaving airlines understaffed.

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Employees don't get raises and customers don't get service (we heard about a lot of flight cancellations in the last few months). But the execs and the stockholders manage to make out just fine.