Date: 1982-05-18
Speaker: HOWARD PUTNAM (democrat)
Chamber: H

President. Braniff International DallasFort Worth Airport. Tex. DEAR MR. PUTNAM: Braniff International occupies a special place in my heart. For the past twenty years. I doubt that anyone has been a more frequent customer of Braniff than I have. During my seven million miles of travel on Braniff. I have found consistent fine service by loyal and dedicated people. On more occasions than I can recall. Braniff employees have gone out of their way to solve problems and see that servicefor me and everyone elsewas superb. More often than not. I have found Braniff people ready. willing and able to solve problems that other airlines would not even consider. On one recent swing of mine that involved a complex schedule. Braniff people successfully dealt with three crises. at each of three different stops. In each case. other airlines were not responsive. Thats service. and thats what has made me a loyal customer. Braniff provides an essential service. its employees are the best in the business. and I want to see the airline succeed. No good purpose would be served for Braniff to be swallowed up by another company. or for it to simply vanish. My first concern is for the employees. Everyone at Braniff has been affected by employment cutbacks. by the ten per cent salary reduction imposed a year ago. and now by the oneweek pay deferral of onehalf of earnings. Even though Braniff says that the pay will be restored. the employees of the company will have Irretrievably lost the use of $8 million in earnings for the week of the pay deferral. I believe that In cases where there has been a pay deferral or cutback in working hours. employees should have some recourse. I would request that you consider two petinent suggestions. Fict in the case of pay deferrals. I believe affeztcd employees should have the right to compensation through the unemployment insurance program if full pay is not restored within 30 days. In this way. employees would be certain of receiving the pay they have earned. regardless of circumstances. Would you support legislation to provide for such a compensation program? Second. in the case of reductions In working hours. I feel that employees should be entitled to partial unemployment compensation. Such a program is operating in California. and is very successful. Under this pro. gram. an employee whose workweek is cut from five to four days. for example. is entitled to receive 20 percent of the normal unemployment compensation. The effect of this is to help employees affected by mandatory cutbacks to be held harmless. and to Insure that employees are able to stay with their employer through temporary hard times. In the case of an airline. for instance. such a partial compensation program would help the company avert losses of skilled and essential personnel. who might otherwise be forced to seek work elsewhere. Would you support a program of this nature? Third. I want to see Braniff survive and continue to provide the excellent. competitive service It has always delivered. I believe that one way this could be accomplished would be for Congress to authorize carriers to refinance their debt through use of funds in the Airport and Airways Trust Fund. The use of such funds is logical. since they are derived from taxes paid by the airlines and passengers who use themthe very people who would benefit from maintenance of a high degree of competition among trunk carriers. Loans from the trust fund would be limited. would carry interest charges. and would be temporary. I know that Braniff is preparing a financial restructuring program for its lenders. and that this will be delivered by the end of March. Nevertheless. I believe that a Federal loanoflastresort program would be beneficial to the industry as a whole. perhaps even vital to Braniff. Therefore. I wonder if you would support such a concept as I have outlined. I believe that Federal loan guarantees might also be considered. but given the extraordinary interest rates we are seeing today. and the evident prospect that Reaganomics will keep interest levels at record highs. it seems to me that a direct loan would be more beneficial than a guarantee. With private investors not interested in equity ventures. owing to the high return on interestbearing Instruments. it seems to me that the only source of cash at reasonable rates would be governmental. I want to emphasize once again my firm belief that Braniff must be enabled to continue in businessbecause it has earned a place. provides an essential service. and because the industry itself needs to maintain the level of competition that can only be assured if the present number of trunk carriers remain in business. I want to help. and urgently solicit your comments on the suggestions I offer. Viva Braniffl