April 30, 2013
By Neal Tepel
Washington, DC – The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents approximately 340 pilots and flight attendants for Global Aviation’s two airlines World Airways and North American Airlines, are calling on the company’s board of directors to take swift and decisive action in selecting a chief executive officer with a proven track record of turning an airline around.
Global Aviation emerged from bankruptcy Feb. 13, 2013 after pilots and flight attendants made significant sacrifices to save what had been the biggest charter-flight company for the U.S. military.
Since then, Global’s CEO Robert Binns – who pocketed a seven-figure “retention payment” shortly after Global emerged from bankruptcy – abruptly quit. The current interim CEO, Charles McDonald, President of Global Aero Logistics, is part of the past management team that brought this company from financial solvency in 2007 to bankruptcy in 2012.
"Global's employees accepted significant concessions to help the company emerge from bankruptcy including a nearly 27 percent reduction in wages and far more flexible work rules in exchange for an equity stake," said Captain David Bourne, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division. "Global’s management team has no excuses to not follow the contract that they agreed to. Instead the pilot group finds itself with a record number of grievances and an apathetic Flight Operations team and flight attendants face a very uncertain future.”
Through their ownership equity stake, employees appointed an airline executive with a successful record of navigating airlines through and out of bankruptcy to serve on our board of directors.
“There is no time for a prolonged, costly executive search," Bourne said. "What this company needs is a new CEO that has a proven track record of successfully turning around airlines; bringing companies out of bankruptcy and working cooperatively with front line employees to bring stability and profitability to the company, its investors and stakeholders.
