Stocks In News: Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) & AMR Corporation (AAMRQ), LCC

Management Changes CFO David Viniar to retire; Harvey Schwartz to replace

Retiring after 32 years with bank is Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.(NYSE:GS)’s Chief Financial Officer David Viniar, the last 12 as CFO. Harvey M. Schwartz will replace him at the end of January.

Harvey M. Schwartz served most recently as the global co-head of Goldman's securities division. He joined the firm as a vice president in 1997, became a managing director in 1999, and was named partner in 2002. Schwartz, in his new role will have oversight of operations, technology and finance at the bank. He will also serve as co-head of the Firmwide Risk Committee.

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American Airlines send Notices to 11,000 Employees, Expect Job Losses to be 4,400

American and parent AMR Corporation(PINK:AAMRQ), which is based in Fort Worth, filed for bankruptcy protection in November. American Airlines is sending layoff warning notices to more than 11,000 employees although a spokesman says the company expects job losses to be closer to 4,400.

The notices went out to mechanics and ground workers whose jobs will be affected as American goes through a bankruptcy restructuring.

Bruce Hicks, American Airlines spokesman said Tuesday that fewer than 40 percent of those getting notices will lose their jobs. Hicks said federal law requires the company to notify anyone whose position could change, including those who could get "bumped" by more-senior employees whose jobs are eliminated or outsourced. American said in February that it planned to cut 14,000 jobs, including 13,000 held by union workers. But if Hicks is right, the final job losses will be about a third of that.

Over the summer American accepted slightly smaller cost-cutting measures. In a new labor contracts it agreed to give bonuses to flight attendants and ground workers who quit. So far 1,800 flight attendants and 800 ground workers have applied to take the money and leave.

Layoff notices went to nearly 3,000 workers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where a maintenance facility will close, and nearly 3,000 more at a base in Tulsa, Okla. Also receiving notices were about 1,200 workers in Miami, 1,100 in New York and Newark, N.J., 900 in Chicago, and smaller numbers elsewhere.
"As bad as this is — and we knew this day was coming — we've been able to lessen the pain," said Jamie Horwitz, a spokesman for the Transport Workers Union.

The leader of the pilots' union blasted the company, saying it is "paying lip service" to negotiating a contract while using the bankruptcy process to wring punitive cost-cutting concessions from pilots.

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Eight other labor groups approved long-term contracts that will help AMR cut annual labor spending by about $1 billion. Pilots, however, voted overwhelmingly against the company's last contract offer, and a federal bankruptcy judge allowed American to impose new pay and working rules on pilots.

Hicks said American is ready to resume negotiations "when the union is ready."

Still, pilots are holding a strike-authorization vote. And according to the company, they are calling in sick more often than usual, contributing to an increase in canceled flights. American has trimmed its September and October schedule by up to 2 percent to make sure it has enough pilots to operate flights.

An American merger with US Airways Group, Inc.(NYSE:LCC) could produce a bigger airline with more revenue and more labor peace, Keay said. US Airways has lobbied for a merger but American executives have been reluctant.

Shares of LCC soared 8% to $11.12, while AAMRQ fell 6%.