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Right-to-work for less supporters question Mitt Romney's stance on unions, but think he's headed their way.
The Transport Workers Union announced plans to protest Mitt Romney's appearances in Florida in the lead-up to the state's Republican Primary in response to Bain & Company's recent hiring to lay off workers at American Eagle Airlines. Union members and working families will picket outside of Romney's events in Florida leading up to the January 31 primary. AMR Corporation, of which American Eagle Airlines is a subsidiary, hired Bain & Company, which is still paying Mitt Romney, specifically to lay off workers:
The union filed a formal objection to AMR’s hiring of Bain in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York on Friday. Bain has been engaged specifically for the task of reducing jobs at AMR subsidiary American Eagle. The consulting firm was not hired to renegotiate aircraft leases, advise on financing or alter route structures; their sole function is eliminating employees. American and American Eagle workers are currently employed at 171 U. S. airports including four hubs or “cornerstone cities,” one of which is Miami.
“It’s outrageous that someone running for president as a ‘job creator’ is going to enrich himself by cutting pensions, cutting wages and destroying American jobs,” said Little. “Like so many on Wall Street, Mitt Romney earns his money by destroying the jobs of airline employees. We’re going to do our best to make sure voters in Florida and elsewhere know exactly where Mitt gets his money.”
According to a report in the New York Times on Jan. 17th, “[a] significant portion” of Romney’s wealth “remains locked up in Bain funds, from which the Romneys draw income on their own investments with the firm, as well as a share of Bain’s profits.”
More than 24,000 TWU members work at American Airlines and American Eagle. AMR Corporation, the parent company of both airlines, filed for bankruptcy reorganization on Nov. 29th.
AMR filed for bankruptcy, despite having $4 billion in the bank. The full text of the legal complaint against AMR is here. TWU represents several thousand workers at American Eagle and Southwest, as well as a number of rail workers.
