Freight Dog
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2001
- Posts
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HAL? Jim? What brought this about??!
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Hawaiian Airlines seeks employee concessions
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer
Employees of Hawaiian Airlines have been asked for major concessions as the struggling interisland carrier tries to recover from the lingering effects of Sept. 11 and Hawai'i's two-year tourism slump.
In meetings with unionized workers this week and communications with officials of its labor unions, Hawaiian Airlines executives painted a dire picture of Hawaiian's financial health. Their message was that unless the carrier's business plan, including employee givebacks and concessions from companies like Boeing Co., moves forward, their options will be few and would result in a significantly smaller airline.
Hawaiian executives said they hope to have the cost cuts in place by the end of February.
The effort to win concessions from Hawaiian's employees follows 10 percent pay cuts that competitor Aloha Airlines secured from its employees in December, saving it $37 million over several years. Aloha received final approval for a $40.5 million federal loan guarantee after the pay concessions were won.
Hawaiian Holdings Inc., parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, which has yet to report earnings for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2002, said in November that it expects losses in both periods.
The labor savings sought by Hawaiian could take the form of pay or benefit cuts. Concessions from companies like airplane manufacturer Boeing may involve reductions in lease fees.
John Adams, Hawaiian's chairman and chief executive, told employees that the concessions are urgently needed to help the company survive long-term, according to one worker who attended a company meeting Wednesday night.
The state's two major interisland airlines, like other carriers nationwide, have been struggling to operate in a severely depressed market. United Airlines filed for bankruptcy last month, and analysts say American Airlines may be headed there as well.
"We are still subject to the same pressures and the same effects that other airlines are facing," said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian's new president and chief operating officer. That point was stressed at the employee meetings.
"We have told them that wage reduction will be something that we will by all means attempt to avoid but instead seek to use them more efficiently and more productively," Adams said.
"I think the employees are very receptive," Adams said. "They understand that this is not something that they or the airline brought onto themselves, that all of what we are dealing with has to do with the condition of the industry and the economy generally."
According to a December memo to Hawaiian Airlines' machinist union members, Adams said the survival of the carrier, and its ability to meet the company's financial obligations, depend on the unions' agreeing to the concessions.
"If we don't get the consensual plan that we laid out to all the constituencies ... we'll go before the board to discuss the full number of alternatives that would be available to us," Adams said. "All of them would involve shrinking the airline as all the other airlines are doing."
Union officials representing Hawaiian's pilots, machinists and flight attendants all declined comment.
Hawaiian Airlines announced in October it was cutting its work force by 4 percent by laying off 150 employees and reducing work schedules for other employees. The airline also said in October that 60 flight attendants agreed to take leaves of absence and that the company would not fill certain open positions for further savings. Hawaiian at that time had 3,538 employees.
"It is a significant challenge to reposition an airline in the current economic environment," said Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner. The effort will involve "some big developments on the horizon," but he would not elaborate.
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Hawaiian Airlines seeks employee concessions
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer
Employees of Hawaiian Airlines have been asked for major concessions as the struggling interisland carrier tries to recover from the lingering effects of Sept. 11 and Hawai'i's two-year tourism slump.
In meetings with unionized workers this week and communications with officials of its labor unions, Hawaiian Airlines executives painted a dire picture of Hawaiian's financial health. Their message was that unless the carrier's business plan, including employee givebacks and concessions from companies like Boeing Co., moves forward, their options will be few and would result in a significantly smaller airline.
Hawaiian executives said they hope to have the cost cuts in place by the end of February.
The effort to win concessions from Hawaiian's employees follows 10 percent pay cuts that competitor Aloha Airlines secured from its employees in December, saving it $37 million over several years. Aloha received final approval for a $40.5 million federal loan guarantee after the pay concessions were won.
Hawaiian Holdings Inc., parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, which has yet to report earnings for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2002, said in November that it expects losses in both periods.
The labor savings sought by Hawaiian could take the form of pay or benefit cuts. Concessions from companies like airplane manufacturer Boeing may involve reductions in lease fees.
John Adams, Hawaiian's chairman and chief executive, told employees that the concessions are urgently needed to help the company survive long-term, according to one worker who attended a company meeting Wednesday night.
The state's two major interisland airlines, like other carriers nationwide, have been struggling to operate in a severely depressed market. United Airlines filed for bankruptcy last month, and analysts say American Airlines may be headed there as well.
"We are still subject to the same pressures and the same effects that other airlines are facing," said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian's new president and chief operating officer. That point was stressed at the employee meetings.
"We have told them that wage reduction will be something that we will by all means attempt to avoid but instead seek to use them more efficiently and more productively," Adams said.
"I think the employees are very receptive," Adams said. "They understand that this is not something that they or the airline brought onto themselves, that all of what we are dealing with has to do with the condition of the industry and the economy generally."
According to a December memo to Hawaiian Airlines' machinist union members, Adams said the survival of the carrier, and its ability to meet the company's financial obligations, depend on the unions' agreeing to the concessions.
"If we don't get the consensual plan that we laid out to all the constituencies ... we'll go before the board to discuss the full number of alternatives that would be available to us," Adams said. "All of them would involve shrinking the airline as all the other airlines are doing."
Union officials representing Hawaiian's pilots, machinists and flight attendants all declined comment.
Hawaiian Airlines announced in October it was cutting its work force by 4 percent by laying off 150 employees and reducing work schedules for other employees. The airline also said in October that 60 flight attendants agreed to take leaves of absence and that the company would not fill certain open positions for further savings. Hawaiian at that time had 3,538 employees.
"It is a significant challenge to reposition an airline in the current economic environment," said Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner. The effort will involve "some big developments on the horizon," but he would not elaborate.
