Comair to judge: Reconsider
BY ALEXANDER COOLIDGE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Comair has asked a bankruptcy judge to reconsider his decision last month to not reject its contract with its flight attendants union.
In its filing, the regional airline said Judge Adlai Hardin's April 26 order overlooked facts and included legal errors.
Comair, a subsidiary of bankrupt Delta Air Lines, says cuts in flight attendants’ salaries are vital to the regional airline’s restructuring. Hardin ruled against Comair two weeks ago, saying the cuts it sought were deeper than from other workers and that it hadn’t bargained in good faith.
Comair made the motion just days before it and the flight attendants union are scheduled to return to the bargaining table. Two days of talks are scheduled beginning Thursday in Washington, D.C.
effort to cut $8.9 million in costs.
Hardin's decision threw into limbo cost cutting agreements with Comair's unionized pilots and mechanics, which are contingent on cuts from the airline's nearly 1,000 flight attendants, which are represented by Local 513 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Victoria Gray, a spokeswoman for the Teamsters, said the talks are still on for Thursday. She said union officials are confident the judge would stick with his original decision.
In his 25-page ruling, Hardin said because Comair had set the cuts for the flight attendants at $8.9 million in its concession deals with the other two unions, its talks with the flight attendants hadn't met the good faith standard required for a contract to be voided under bankrtupcy law.
But lawyers for the the Erlanger-based regional airline say in the new filing that the judge's decision was not consistent with legal precedent in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The Second Circuit includes New York, where Hardin's court is located.
In a 30-page memorandum, Comair asks Hardin to reconsider his order because it "creates several rules of law which place this debtor, and any other debtor needintg labor costs reductions from multiple unions, in an untenable position from both legal and labor relations perspectives.
"Indeed, the court's decision would make a consensual collective bargaining solution at Comair substantially less likely, and would make less likely the achievement of the cost reductions necessary for a successful reorganization," the memo continues.
Comair flight attendants are paid from $16,000 to $40,000 a year. The company's requested cuts would mean a loss of more than $10,000 in pay and benefits on average, according to the union.
Parent Delta and Comair sought bankruptcy protection on Sept. 14.
Comair operates the most flights at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, parent company Delta's second-largest hub. It is the nation's third largest regional airline.
Without cost cuts, Delta has threatened to shift flights to other carriers and eventually shut down the company.
The flight attendants union threatened to strike if the judge ruled for the airline and it imposed the cuts. In arguing in court against Comair's motion to dump the contract, the unions said that the cuts requested of its members were disproportionately harsh and didn't guarantee job security.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060509/BIZ01/305090010
BY ALEXANDER COOLIDGE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Comair has asked a bankruptcy judge to reconsider his decision last month to not reject its contract with its flight attendants union.
In its filing, the regional airline said Judge Adlai Hardin's April 26 order overlooked facts and included legal errors.
Comair, a subsidiary of bankrupt Delta Air Lines, says cuts in flight attendants’ salaries are vital to the regional airline’s restructuring. Hardin ruled against Comair two weeks ago, saying the cuts it sought were deeper than from other workers and that it hadn’t bargained in good faith.
Comair made the motion just days before it and the flight attendants union are scheduled to return to the bargaining table. Two days of talks are scheduled beginning Thursday in Washington, D.C.
effort to cut $8.9 million in costs.
Hardin's decision threw into limbo cost cutting agreements with Comair's unionized pilots and mechanics, which are contingent on cuts from the airline's nearly 1,000 flight attendants, which are represented by Local 513 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Victoria Gray, a spokeswoman for the Teamsters, said the talks are still on for Thursday. She said union officials are confident the judge would stick with his original decision.
In his 25-page ruling, Hardin said because Comair had set the cuts for the flight attendants at $8.9 million in its concession deals with the other two unions, its talks with the flight attendants hadn't met the good faith standard required for a contract to be voided under bankrtupcy law.
But lawyers for the the Erlanger-based regional airline say in the new filing that the judge's decision was not consistent with legal precedent in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The Second Circuit includes New York, where Hardin's court is located.
In a 30-page memorandum, Comair asks Hardin to reconsider his order because it "creates several rules of law which place this debtor, and any other debtor needintg labor costs reductions from multiple unions, in an untenable position from both legal and labor relations perspectives.
"Indeed, the court's decision would make a consensual collective bargaining solution at Comair substantially less likely, and would make less likely the achievement of the cost reductions necessary for a successful reorganization," the memo continues.
Comair flight attendants are paid from $16,000 to $40,000 a year. The company's requested cuts would mean a loss of more than $10,000 in pay and benefits on average, according to the union.
Parent Delta and Comair sought bankruptcy protection on Sept. 14.
Comair operates the most flights at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, parent company Delta's second-largest hub. It is the nation's third largest regional airline.
Without cost cuts, Delta has threatened to shift flights to other carriers and eventually shut down the company.
The flight attendants union threatened to strike if the judge ruled for the airline and it imposed the cuts. In arguing in court against Comair's motion to dump the contract, the unions said that the cuts requested of its members were disproportionately harsh and didn't guarantee job security.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060509/BIZ01/305090010
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