Amid the chaos and conflict of American Airlines' bankruptcy negotations, an unlikely hero has emerged – one who's ended up effectively holding the airline to its obligations, rather than dumping them on taxpayers.

A recent Wall Street Journal article shines the spotlight on Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation director Josh Gotbaum and his efforts to keep his somewhat obscure (at least to the outside world) agency from shouldering the burden as American attempted to dump its pension plans as a cost-saving move.

All totaled, American's pension obligations would have saddled the PBGC with an unwieldy $9 billion, a cost that would have raised the organization's deficit by a third.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

  • Critical BenefitsPRO information including cutting edge post-reform success strategies, access to educational webcasts and videos, resources from industry leaders, and informative Newsletters.
  • Exclusive discounts on ALM, BenefitsPRO magazine and BenefitsPRO.com events
  • Access to other award-winning ALM websites including ThinkAdvisor.com and Law.com
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.