Machinists union objects to Hawker Beechcraft executive incentive plan

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, July 25 - The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) objected to Hawker Beechcraft, Inc.'s motion for a key employee incentive plan, according to an IAM news release.

The union said the proposal would grant up to $5.3 million for the "Beechcraft Eight," comprised of eight senior executives who are named as beneficiaries to the proposed plan.

The IAM called the incentive plan a "thinly disguised effort" to reward top executives at Hawker Beechcraft for achieving "routine, short-term and not particularly challenging" tasks.

"The attempt to implement such a lucrative bonus program for the very executives who led Hawker Beechcraft into bankruptcy is particularly outrageous after thousands of Hawker employees have already lost their jobs and thousands more could lose jobs and pension benefits," IAM aerospace coordinator Ron Eldridge said in the release.

In its objection filed Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, the IAM said the court should not lose sight of the "complete irony and hypocrisy" of a motion seeking to provide millions in bonuses for executives at a company struggling to survive.

"If this motion is approved, the Beechcraft Eight can rightfully take their place as the newest poster boys for corporate greed and excess in the United States," Eldridge said in the release.

"The 80-year legacy of Hawker Beechcraft deserves better than this tawdry spectacle of corporate avarice."

The IAM also said the motion should be denied because the KEIP fails to specify any true incentive thresholds as required by the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Instead, the union said the motion seeks to provide the executives with up to $5.3 million in "pay to stay" bonuses.

A hearing is scheduled for July 26.

Hawker Beechcraft, a Wichita, Kan.-based manufacturer of business, special mission, light attack and trainer aircraft, filed for bankruptcy on May 3. Its Chapter 11 case number is 12-11873.

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