Published 11 Jul, 2013
The TWU is working with the Transportation Trades Department, (TTD) AFL-CIO, to support bipartisan legislation (H.R. 2591), which would allow our members to defer taxes on the equity stake that we negotiated during the American Airlines bankruptcy process.
The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Michael G. Grimm (R., N.Y.), and co-sponsored by Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY), Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX), Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Richard Hanna (R-NY), Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL).
Under the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, most airline employees at carriers that filed for bankruptcy between September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2006, and who received special one-time payments for, among other things, the termination of their pension plans, were afforded the opportunity to defer federal income taxes (but not FICA taxes) on up to 90% of their payments by rolling them over to an IRA. This newly proposed bill would extend the same rollover opportunity of the 2012 Act to participants who had their pension frozen due to the AMR bankruptcy.
The TWU is working with the TTD to urge Members of Congress to support this legislation and to get this bill passed.