HOMESTEAD: The Federal Bailout of the airlines and our role as employees and customers of the AAG

[Dan Bell <dbell@kent.edu>]

>From: "Steve Nieman, President" <haceca@home.com>
>Subject: The Federal Bailout of the airlines and our role as employees and
customers of the AAG
>Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 07:02:50 -0700
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>    HACECA, EAHSOP, CSOPAH HAPPENINGS ON SEPT. 19th,  2001 Employees and
>passengers--now&#8217;s our chance. Thought owning airlines was for  only
>the golden gilded like Howard Hughes or Carl Icahn? Or employees would have
> to spend billions in wage concessions like United Airline workers did?
>Maybe  not. Now&#8217;s our chance to get a combined much larger share of
>ownership via the  contemplated federal bailout of the US airlines
>including Alaska/Horizon.  we taxpayers did) and now that company is owned 
>overseas by Daimler Benz. DaimlerChrysler announced last January that it
>will  eliminate 26,000 jobs, or one out of every five white- and
>blue-collar jobs at  its Chrysler Group in the US. And the UAW-represented
>workers didn&#8217;t have one  iota of input or control over either
>decision or earn one capital-side dime  (besides profit sharing).
>DaimlerChrysler accounts for 4 percent of the US gross  domestic product.
>Will a taxpayer funded bailout of the US airlines be different? From the 
>lessons learned from Chrysler--it should be!! If Congress uses taxpayer
>money to  aid private, deregulated airlines, what should be the upside for
>taxpayers?  Stock. Stock in those airlines. I called James Hoffa&#8217;s
>office in Washington D.C. and left a message urging  the Teamsters to get
>on the stock bandwagon. Contact your union representatives.  Contact
>management of AS/QX. Contact any shareholder of the AAG you know. This  is
>a serendipitous opportunity to finally get justice for the true 
>stakeholders--employees and customers--into larger stock ownership of
>Alaska and  Horizon. There are always silver linings to any event no matter
>how catastrophic: one  of life&#8217;s spontaneous workings. The horrible
>events in New York and Washington  D.C. may have triggered an ESOP/Co-OP
>earthquake that could break open a  democratization of capital and capital
>credit for the masses. No doubt the  terrorist attacks were religiously
>motivated. But it was most certainly economic  terrorism, too. One percent
>of the world&#8217;s humans control 99 percent of the  wealth. As anybody
>who&#8217;s ever punched a time clock has figured out--you will never  make
>ends meet on hourly-only wages. This is the modern day&#8217;s form of
>human  slavery. Everyone must be able to appropriately share in the
>economies of scale  of capital-side payouts, and you can only access the
>end of that rainbow through  stock ownership. Ownership of large capital
>institutions like airlines. And more ownership means more power sharing.
>Board seats occupied by  employees and customers to guide the
>company&#8217;s future. No more smoke and  mirrors. Everyone can see how
>the money is earned and spent, so we can all truly  learn our business and
>understand it first hand. The airline executives are in Washington D. C.
>right now holding their hands  out. They want this money with no strings
>attached. But business is business.  And justice is justice. Our hard
>earned tax dollars are poised again to go  sailing out the window. Whether
>you&#8217;re an employee, investor, or customer--and  we certainly are all
>taxpayers--give us our equity stake! President Bush, tie  this money to
>broader ownership--Steve Nieman, President of the Horizon/Alaska 
>Customer/Employee Co-Ownership Association, AAG shareholder, Horizon
>employee  and QXTeamster The Horizon/Alaska Customer/Employee Co-Ownership
>Assn. (HACECA) Inc's  website is www.eahsop.org 
--
Dan Bell
International Program Coordinator
Ohio Employee Ownership Center
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242
(330) 672-0333 << New direct number!
(330) 672-4063 fax
dbell@kent.edu
http://www.kent.edu/oeoc/
http://cog.kent.edu