Labor Problems at the "new" US Airways

[Cactus73]

Yesterday, The Arizona Republic ran a well done article on the not so good labor relations at the new US Airways.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/1205union05.html

It is a fairly good read except that the CWA/IBT just signed an agreement with the company today on a long term contract that runs through 2011.

This discussion started on another thread about CAL so I started this one so we wouldn't be hijacking the thread.

I've already been attacked for fearmongering but it seems that the Republic did a fairly good job. I made a comparison that some of the stuff going on is far more serious than the stuff going on this forum. I was talking about our resident jack A%^ "Doug Parker" that gets on here an provokes the AAA furloughed pilots. They aren't discussions but pure baiting. If they were in a bar I wouldn't be surprised to see a fight. Parker (the flightinfo poster) almost deserves it.

Our FA's (AWA) are really going to get screwed in this merger, and on top of it they aren't going to see a raise for years to come if the Company has its way.

As for the pilots, we are negotiating a merged CBA with the Company as I write. Last week, the Company gave the JNC a letter which states that they believe they have a right to impose the AAA contract on us if we can't reach a combined agreement in a reasonable amount of time. They didn't define reasonable. ALPA lawyers dismiss the Company's claim as absurd.

As I said in the other thread, I was treated like gold by AAA crews when I non-reved to Europe in October. However, there are skirmishes going on that the Union is working really hard to keep out of the CPO.

The whole industry is looking at this merger to see if they want to try too.

For the AWA pilots - please don't forget to vote for the LEC 62 elections. Voting ends in a few days and the leaders we elect will have a huge impact on our careers. (I'm posting this here, because our MEC has decided to shut down the AWA web board).

 

[PHXFLYR]

Mind doing a little "cutting and pasting ?" The link isn't working so well. Thanks

PHXFLYR

 

[PHXFLYR]

Never mind...I got it.



PHXFLYR

 

[calfo]

Merger glow dims amid labor tension
Dawn Gilbertson
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 5, 2005 12:00 AM By most appearances, the merger between America West and US Airways has gone smoothly in the first two months. Behind the scenes, though, labor battles have been brewing, battles that soon will spill into the public eye and threaten to end the honeymoon.

America West pilots have started a subtle public campaign to bring attention to their fight for seniority fairness and widely are expected to request an arbitrator to settle the prickly issue of who ranks where in the pilot pecking order.

The airline's flight attendants plan to picket at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport next week to protest what they say are empty promises from management and stalled contract negotiations.

Mechanics and ramp agents, fearing pay or benefit cuts to match the lower levels their US Airways counterparts got after the company went through bankruptcies, are starting to turn up the volume in their fight to retain their union and their contract.

Picketing and hype are to be expected during negotiations and are ever-present concerns for high-profile customer service businesses such as airlines. Stakes are especially high in this case because multiple negotiations are under way at once and because a smooth combination of the two labor forces is critical to the success of the merger.

"If you look around the airline industry, even companies that aren't going through (a merger) . . . have just experienced nightmares in labor negotiations in terms of strikes, threats of strikes, picketing, posturing, the whole nine yards," said John Budd, a human resources professor in the Industrial Relations Institute at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.

"I think passengers are going to have to get used to a lot of posturing and accusations flying around."

Union tensions and general unease about the merger are causing friction among the airline's 35,000 workers. Flight crews report occasional tussles between America West and US Airways workers as they wait for hotel shuttle vans on layovers and power struggles in key cities where they are working closely for the first time, such as in Philadelphia.

"It is starting to get a little nasty down in the trenches," one longtime America West pilot said. "There have been actual fights break out around the system."

Like other company employees, he asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing his job if he talks to the media.

Executives admit that the new US Airways is not one big happy family, but they say that's perfectly natural at this early stage in the merger. It's not unlike members of a stepfamily getting adjusted to one other, one said.

"It's one thing to have a new stepbrother," said Elise Eberwein, senior vice president whose responsibilities include cultural integration. "It's another thing to share a room with him."

Jeff McClelland is chief administration officer of the combined company, with responsibility for labor relations. He acknowledged the labor strife and some incidents among employees but said the problem is not widespread.

"There's nothing right now, in my estimation, that we're seeing that is really any cause for alarm, that isn't the course of a normal negotiated process," he said.

He said the tension likely won't go away until a slew of contracts are negotiated, the airline is truly merged, and employees know exactly where they stand. It may take as long as two years to straighten out all these issues.

"Until we can create certainty . . . you always think of the worst that can happen," McClelland said.

The anxiety level appears heaviest on the America West side of the family, which numbers more than 10,000 in the Phoenix area. There are two reasons.

First, the airline had been negotiating with flight attendants and mechanics when the merger took place. Both groups had been in talks for about two years but hadn't reached an agreement.

The unions are keeping up the fight for a new contract but haven't made much progress. They say US Airways CEO Doug Parker, who headed America West, and other top executives of the combined airline repeatedly have told them there is no money for raises. A mediator will step into the flight-attendant talks later this month.

"Our flight attendants feel that they have taken the back seat in this merger," said Gary Richardson, president of the America West unit of the Association of Flight Attendants. "They are now maybe facing years without looking at any type of pay increase."

Andy Marshall, secretary/ treasurer with Teamsters Local 104, which represents America West mechanics, customer service representatives and stock clerks, is more blunt.

"Parker's not following through on anything. He's not protecting his people the way he said he would," Marshall said. "I'm seeing shades of (former America West CEO) Bill Franke."

McClelland said he hates the idea that employees feel like they've been lied to, but he said the merger was necessary for both sides. The company has gone so far as to say, in a recent employee newsletter, that bankruptcy may have been an option for America West absent the merger.

"The reality is, this merger has been good, it's been good for both companies," McClelland said. "We'd be in a lot different position as America West if this merger hadn't happened, given the environment and given where everything (in the industry) was going."

Teamsters have the added dogfight of keeping their jobs. The two airlines' mechanics are represented by different unions, meaning only one will represent the combined workers after a vote in the next few months.

The US Airways mechanics union, the International Association of Machinists, is thought to have the advantage because it has more than three times the members.

The union representing America West's baggage handlers and other fleet service workers is in a similar position against the machinists association. Workers in both cases fear they will be forced to accept the lower wages and/or benefits in the current US Airways contract.

The biggest fight looms over seniority. Seniority is the dividing line between "how desirable or how lousy their work schedule is," said Budd, the human resources professor. It's not just about pay, as it is for teachers or auto workers, he said.

"Seniority is much more important to the daily work lives of pilots and flight attendants in particular, more so than just about any other occupation in the economy," he said.

Budd said lingering fallout from seniority issues dogged Northwest Airlines for several years after its merger with Republic Airlines.

America West workers in just about every unionized category are scared because the much larger US Airways has been around considerably longer.

They fear being bumped way down on the seniority list that dictates schedules, vacations and more. That would happen if seniority lists are merged based on date of hire.

Some US Airways flight attendants started as far back as the 1960s. America West didn't start flying until 1983.

Faced with that reality, the flight attendants union said America West flight attendants with the least amount of seniority have been leaving at nearly double the normal rate for the past few months.

"That tells you everything," said Mary Cost, secretary/ treasurer of the union.

America West pilots signed a new contract last year, so they are slightly ahead of the other employee groups in terms of negotiations with US Airways. Nonetheless, they worry about seniority.

JR Baker, the head of the pilots union, sent a letter to members this fall with a luggage tag emblazoned with the words "Save Dave."

Dave is Dave Odell, the last pilot hired by America West. He joined the airline this year from Trans States Airlines and lives in Laveen. Baker asked pilots to attach the tag to their luggage as a "simple yet powerful" reference to the issue of seniority.

"When people ask you what your bag tag means, be sure to tell them about Dave Odell and that he is our most junior pilot, and his future is all of our futures," Baker said.

McClelland said even if date of hire prevails as a way to measure seniority, management is adamant about including provisions that won't allow floods of employees in other cities to seek postings in Phoenix if there are no vacancies here.

"I think there's (going to be) some pretty good protections in there," he said.

For now, all that's falling on deaf ears. Richardson, of the flight attendants association, is preparing for a battle.

"Our flight attendants want to send the message not only to the management but to the flying public that there's troubled skies ahead," he said. "Management can choose to listen to it or not, but we won't remain silent any longer."



Reach the reporter at [email protected] or (602) 444-8617.

 

[PHXFLYR]

Thqnks.....

PHXFLYR

 

[regionaltard]

Some US Airways flight attendants started as far back as the 1960s.

the horror........

 

[heywatchthis]

Save Dave!!!

JR Baker, the head of the pilots union, sent a letter to members this fall with a luggage tag emblazoned with the words "Save Dave."

Dave is Dave Odell, the last pilot hired by America West. He joined the airline this year from Trans States Airlines and lives in Laveen. Baker asked pilots to attach the tag to their luggage as a "simple yet powerful" reference to the issue of seniority.

Now that shows some solidarity for the junior guy. Never seen that before!

 

[miles otoole]

Now that shows some solidarity for the junior guy. Never seen that before!

Are you sh1tting me? Do you you really think they care about "Dave" as much as they do about their own seniority and QOL?

I wonder what the slogan would have been if his name were "Chuck."

 

[Reebo]

I wonder what the slogan would have been if his name were "Chuck."

Save Chuck?
Up Chuck?
F*ck Chuck?

Who knows

 

[Dave Benjamin]

Merger glow dims amid labor tension
Dawn Gilbertson
Flight crews report occasional tussles between America West and US Airways workers as they wait for hotel shuttle vans on layovers and power struggles in key cities where they are working closely for the first time, such as in Philadelphia.

It's coming down to this?
I guess they'll need separate hotels soon.
Pretty sad.

 

[Draginass]

This is shaping up to make the AA-TWA integration look tame.

 

[Tomct]

:bomb:Need I say MORE? This is going to be UGLY!!!

 

[Ty Webb]

Now that shows some solidarity for the junior guy. Never seen that before!

AirTran pilots did it just after 9/11, when they agreed to a 60 day pay rollback, in exchange for a guarantee of no furloughs for the newhires.

 

[On Your Six]

Any word on solidifying the E190 flying among mainline pilots at the new USAirways? Or will Republic/CHQ have the rights? Has that been determined yet?

What about the effort by AW pilots to keep the "Cactus" call sign - what ever happened?

 

[TWA Dude]

Any word on solidifying the E190 flying among mainline pilots at the new USAirways? Or will Republic/CHQ have the rights? Has that been determined yet?

Yes, it was solidified a couple of months ago in a Transition Agreement: Mainline owns the E190 flying (the 170 has already been lost). No orders for 190s have been announced.

What about the effort by AW pilots to keep the "Cactus" call sign - what ever happened?

Here's the sitch. In an ideal world the flight ops geniuses would take the 'best practices' from both companies and create a super-awesome combined one. The reality is turning out that whichever transition is cheapest will win, as in, the US East way will prevail in most cases simply because that way there's fewer people to train that way. So to make a short answer long I'd expect our beloved "cactus" callsign to go the way of "clipper", et al.

 

[JetMonkey]

I gotta add a little good press to this. I had an overnight last week in which we shared a hotel van with an US Airways crew, I must admit when the van driver said that we were waiting for a US Air crew and knowing that the ride to the hotel was going to be fairly long, I said to myself "uh oh". From the moment they got into the van they were all very polite. The Capt sat shotgun and was pretty much to himself so I wasen't to sure what to make about him, but all the FA's and the FO were very nice and we all struck a conversation with them right away, I was thinking "ok, this is good".

Right before we arrived at the hotel, we invited them down for a beverage, the Capt and Fo accepted. So later down at the bar four pilots that are merging sat together like civilized people and had a few drinks and dinner, we all got along perfectly fine, later one of their FA's joined us and the conversation became that more enjoyable, they were just regular folk just like us, they wanted to know some things about our company, we asked questions about their side, it was very pleasant. I will say that we both never got into the subject of senority intergration but to be perfectly honest, the time with them whent by so nice that I actually forgot all about it. These stories about fights on the hotel van and such will ALLWAYS get the headlines of course, and yes all companies have their batch of people like that, but I'm convinced that those incidents will be a very, VERY small percentage. Me and the Capt. walked away from that dinner feeling much better and optimistic about the merger as a whole. It was my first encounter with a US Airways crew and I must admit I was very skeptical at first, I guess it's just human nature to be that way. But if most of them are this way and I'm sure they are and I know our people are mostly that way too, I do believe we got a great opportunity here, I hope it turns out well for all.

 

[Draginass]

"Nice" has nothing to do with it. When it starts coming down to the brass tact numbers, that's when you really find out what's happening.

 

[TWA Dude]

This is shaping up to make the AA-TWA integration look tame.

Wrong. Both sides (pilots) know the process is fair. There's no comparison.

 

[MK82Man]

Not that bad

Cactus – thanks for starting a new thread, we didn’t want to hijack the other one.

I’m kinda suspect of the Arizona Republican article. I just haven’t seen any of the “negative” the article leads you to believe. Is it just one of those “bad news sells better than good news stories?” I completely disagree with those folks who think this is going to be “ugly” merger. You would expect every group to negotiate the best they possibly can, but does that mean “labor disaster at hand, the carrier is doomed?” I can’t speak about any of the “non-pilot” groups, just don’t live in there world, and I haven’t had anyone come to me with a “firsthand account” of a “horror story” caused by a US Air counterpart. Even the non-pilot groups recognize we need to come together to succeed.

Sure folks here on this board trade/promote/advocate ideas and thoughts around … but try to find the common ground. Keep “the Golden Rule” front and center. Call me naïve, but treat anyone else, no matter who they are, exactly how you would want to be treated. Every USAir crew/agent/ramper/pilot I’ve met has been 100% professional everywhere I’ve been in the system. I can only imagine what it would have been like on their side and lived through the steady decline in benefits the experienced in the last five years alone. Most have a way better attitude than I would have expected. The FLL ramp supervisor came into the jet the other day with his business card and said “here … contact me via phone, fax, or email if there is any problem”… when is the last time you saw that at your carrier? I haven’t seen anything about fights or yelling matches at Van sites from the company or from anyone in the union and if there were credible instances of such events, why wouldn’t we get something from the Chief Pilot’s office or MEC to cease and desist. I would hope none of our guys would be pompous enough to want to instigate such events. Jet Monkey, I think you were right to steer clear of “integration.” That is what we have a merger committee for, why get in to it at a pilot level … the union will solve that. Now don’t mistake me for wanting to give up some of our contract to them just because of what they have been through …. Rather I’d like to hope we can raise them to our pay/benefits. Let’s work together to get the best possible deal for all of us with management and then let’s get down to the business at hand. The one thing I know is how tremendously important it is that all of us (US Air East and US Air West) do our best to creating the best possible carrier for our combined future.

Will everyone be happy, no, but America is a competitive business environment. I want the best for our FAs and the best for our Mechanics, etc, but at the end of the day if you are not happy with your work environment you leave to go somewhere else. If you can find a better deal, take it. Always have a Plan B so that if you think Plan A blows, then jump ship and move to Plan B. I hope we bring the furloughed AAA dudes back as soon as possible. From what I've seen, we are on a good road to creating a great airline for both groups ...

On the topic of integration I can only speak for myself but hope it is representative of most at AWA. Relative Seniority. If you were top 8% at USAir you will be top 8% at the new USAir, sitting at 66% at AWA, you will be sitting at 66% at the new USAir, if you were last at AWA (Dave), he may/could/would/should be last at the new USAir (he would probably expect that). Everyone stays were they are relative wise. Since the TA says the furloughed USAir guys come onboard after Dave, he moves up as he would with any new hire. I can’t imagine that Dave would want it any other way.

TWA Dude, new avatar but same rock steady sense of fairness. I always know you will take the higher ground. I’m hopeful all of us at AWA will continue to strive for the fairest deal for every East and West employee ….

 

[PHXFLYR]

I jumpseat on "Original Issue" USAir every week commuting to work from the east coast. I must echo what TWA Dude and Mk82Man have said. Everyone has been very cordial and 100 percent professional and are hoping that they can salvage something from what's left of their careers. I have experienced none of the nonsense that Cactus 73 alleges (flame bait,Cactus?). Now if we can only get Be Careful to play nice,we might really have something going here



PHXFLYR