General Lee
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United pilots clash over chief
Union boss faces recall vote; her ouster could upset contract talks
By Julie Johnsson TRIBUNE REPORTER
The chairwoman of United Airlines’ pilots union could be ousted Monday in a dispute over the pace and tone of contract negotiations with the carrier’s management, sources told the Tribune.
Capt. Wendy Morse, the first woman to head a major U.S. pilots union, faces a recall vote as United’s Air Line Pilots Association leaders gather for a quarterly meeting in Chicago on Monday. Morse, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
A defeat of Morse could signal the start of labor strife that new United CEO Jeff Smisek has sought to avoid as he melds recently merged Continental Airlines and United into the world’s largest carrier and negotiates contracts with every employee group, analysts said. “I don’t see anything good coming out of this, if the idea is to get a joint collective bargaining agreement out in as short a period as possible,” said William Swelbar, labor expert with the MIT International Center for Air Transportation. “Recalling your master chairperson in the middle of negotiations is never good for continuity.”
The mayhem is unusual even for the cutthroat world of airline pilot politics, sources said. Morse survived a recall vote before she took office at the start of 2010. And the leaders of the union’s Washington, D.C., pilots’ council also face a recall vote on April 22 for aiding the effort to dump Morse. The turmoil is the result of a longstanding philosophical divide among United pilots over how best to deal with management and threatens to inflame divisions among Continental’s pilots, sources said.
The master executive council, whose members set policy and elect the union chairman and other officers, is almost evenly split between those who favor a get-tough approach to management and moderates who favor keeping channels of communication open and hammering out differences in private. The soft-spoken Morse, who is viewed as a moderate, is known as a master tactician with deep negotiating experience. She was elected over incumbent Steve Wallach by a single vote in 2009, sources said. She also faces re-election this October, which makes the timing of the recall vote puzzling to observers like Swelbar.
Wallach won a reputation as a firebrand in an unsuccessful campaign to oust then-CEO Glenn Tilton, and his sympathizers continue to hold powerful posts on the union’s executive and negotiating committees. The union lost much of its clout on Wallach’s watch, however, when United won a temporary restraining order against it for allegedly encouraging a “sick-out” by junior pilots.
Since United merged with Continental last year, frustration has grown among pilots over the deliberate pace of talks for a joint contract with management of United Continental Holdings Inc., the carriers’ Chicago-based parent company. United pilots are eager to get out of a bankruptcy-era contract that slashed average pay by about 40 percent.
The resolution to oust Morse came out of a no-confidence vote approved by the Washington council March 25, according to documents obtained by the Tribune. The measure claimed Morse was an ineffective leader who wasn’t using the union’s leverage to speed talks. Council chairman Steve Brashear didn’t return phone calls. “Whereas we continue to be saddled with the ‘wait and see’ responses from her with respect to our contract,” the resolution stated. “While we ‘wait and see,’ United management is saving millions of dollars on the backs of this labor group once again.”
Morse’s supporters claim she is being used as a scapegoat and that contract talks, while cumbersome, are moving forward. They raise the specter of US Airways, whose deeply divided pilots are stuck with a bankruptcy-era contract six years after merging with America West Airlines.
If the recall occurs, “what follows in terms of the culture between the pilots and United Airlines is going to make what is going on at US Airways look like a day at Disney World,” predicted a United pilot who asked not to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. “And anybody who thinks that a contract would result from the mayhem created by that culture is living in a fantasy land.”
United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy declined to comment on the imbroglio but said negotiations with pilots continue. Added David Kelly, an ALPA spokesman: “Our policy is not to discuss internal ALPA politics.” [email protected]
JOSÉ M. OSORIO/TRIBUNE PHOTO United Airlines pilots, shown picketing in 2010, will vote Monday whether to retain their union leader. Some pilots are disappointed over the deliberate pace of contract talks with the carrier.
I hope they get their acts together, get a better contract, and keep and then tighten the CAL Scope. Let's hope this does NOT become another USAir....
Bye Bye---General Lee
Union boss faces recall vote; her ouster could upset contract talks
By Julie Johnsson TRIBUNE REPORTER
The chairwoman of United Airlines’ pilots union could be ousted Monday in a dispute over the pace and tone of contract negotiations with the carrier’s management, sources told the Tribune.
Capt. Wendy Morse, the first woman to head a major U.S. pilots union, faces a recall vote as United’s Air Line Pilots Association leaders gather for a quarterly meeting in Chicago on Monday. Morse, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
A defeat of Morse could signal the start of labor strife that new United CEO Jeff Smisek has sought to avoid as he melds recently merged Continental Airlines and United into the world’s largest carrier and negotiates contracts with every employee group, analysts said. “I don’t see anything good coming out of this, if the idea is to get a joint collective bargaining agreement out in as short a period as possible,” said William Swelbar, labor expert with the MIT International Center for Air Transportation. “Recalling your master chairperson in the middle of negotiations is never good for continuity.”
The mayhem is unusual even for the cutthroat world of airline pilot politics, sources said. Morse survived a recall vote before she took office at the start of 2010. And the leaders of the union’s Washington, D.C., pilots’ council also face a recall vote on April 22 for aiding the effort to dump Morse. The turmoil is the result of a longstanding philosophical divide among United pilots over how best to deal with management and threatens to inflame divisions among Continental’s pilots, sources said.
The master executive council, whose members set policy and elect the union chairman and other officers, is almost evenly split between those who favor a get-tough approach to management and moderates who favor keeping channels of communication open and hammering out differences in private. The soft-spoken Morse, who is viewed as a moderate, is known as a master tactician with deep negotiating experience. She was elected over incumbent Steve Wallach by a single vote in 2009, sources said. She also faces re-election this October, which makes the timing of the recall vote puzzling to observers like Swelbar.
Wallach won a reputation as a firebrand in an unsuccessful campaign to oust then-CEO Glenn Tilton, and his sympathizers continue to hold powerful posts on the union’s executive and negotiating committees. The union lost much of its clout on Wallach’s watch, however, when United won a temporary restraining order against it for allegedly encouraging a “sick-out” by junior pilots.
Since United merged with Continental last year, frustration has grown among pilots over the deliberate pace of talks for a joint contract with management of United Continental Holdings Inc., the carriers’ Chicago-based parent company. United pilots are eager to get out of a bankruptcy-era contract that slashed average pay by about 40 percent.
The resolution to oust Morse came out of a no-confidence vote approved by the Washington council March 25, according to documents obtained by the Tribune. The measure claimed Morse was an ineffective leader who wasn’t using the union’s leverage to speed talks. Council chairman Steve Brashear didn’t return phone calls. “Whereas we continue to be saddled with the ‘wait and see’ responses from her with respect to our contract,” the resolution stated. “While we ‘wait and see,’ United management is saving millions of dollars on the backs of this labor group once again.”
Morse’s supporters claim she is being used as a scapegoat and that contract talks, while cumbersome, are moving forward. They raise the specter of US Airways, whose deeply divided pilots are stuck with a bankruptcy-era contract six years after merging with America West Airlines.
If the recall occurs, “what follows in terms of the culture between the pilots and United Airlines is going to make what is going on at US Airways look like a day at Disney World,” predicted a United pilot who asked not to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. “And anybody who thinks that a contract would result from the mayhem created by that culture is living in a fantasy land.”
United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy declined to comment on the imbroglio but said negotiations with pilots continue. Added David Kelly, an ALPA spokesman: “Our policy is not to discuss internal ALPA politics.” [email protected]
JOSÉ M. OSORIO/TRIBUNE PHOTO United Airlines pilots, shown picketing in 2010, will vote Monday whether to retain their union leader. Some pilots are disappointed over the deliberate pace of contract talks with the carrier.
I hope they get their acts together, get a better contract, and keep and then tighten the CAL Scope. Let's hope this does NOT become another USAir....
Bye Bye---General Lee
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