Here's the article
(for instructional use only)
Delta union to ask Comair about jobs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laid-off pilots eye subsidiary for help
By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The union that represents pilots at Delta Air Lines is planning to ask the pilot union at Erlanger-based Delta subsidiary Comair to lobby that carrier's management to give Delta pilots who have been laid off "preferential" hiring treatment, union officials confirmed Thursday.
This has angered many Comair pilots, including some who have already sued the national office of the Air Line Pilots Association for what they say is a conflict of interest.
Those pilots are upset at a clause in the Delta pilots' contract that limits the number of 70-seat regional jets that can be purchased and flown at either Comair or fellow regional subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines.
"This just brings up the same issues that we feel need to be addressed and for which we are seeking a solution through outside means," said Comair pilot Daniel Ford, a 15-year veteran of the Erlanger-based regional airline.
Mr. Ford is also chairman of the Regional Jet Defense Coalition, a group of Comair and ASA pilots who have sued ALPA in federal court in New York. The case has yet to be heard; ALPA has filed a motion to dismiss the case, which is now being answered by Mr. Ford's lawyer.
Delta last fall announced intentions to lay off 1,400 mainline pilots. The union has said that 993 will be out of work as of today, including 74 based at the airline's second-largest hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Of those 74 pilots, 14 actually live in the area.
The Delta branch of ALPA made its intent known to its nearly 10,000 members systemwide in a phone message last Friday.
Delta union spokeswoman Karen Miller Thursday confirmed the plans to approach Comair's union, although she did not say when it actually would be made. The request would be that Comair's union ask Comair management to consider hiring laid off Delta pilots before any other applicants. Those Delta pilots would not lose their seniority at Delta under the proposal, meaning they could start back at where they left off if Delta began rehiring pilots.
Ms. Miller would not comment further, but the phone message said a similar arrangement had already been worked out at Atlanta-based ASA.
Delta management would not comment on the potential request, and neither would Comair officials, saying nothing has yet been proposed to them. Comair has not laid off any union workers since the Sept. 11 attacks sent the airline industry into a tailspin. In fact, Comair continues to grow and is marginally profitable.
Yet Comair has never before hired laid off pilots and allowed them to keep their seniority at another airline, and it has not hired any laid off Delta pilots.
Comair pilot J.C. Lawson III, chairman of that airline's pilot union, said he could not discuss the situation either.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Does anyone know if this might actually move forward?
