Stall in negotiations with pilots will not derail agreement
By Jane Roberts
Contact
November 9, 2006
Pinnacle Airlines expects it could have a new agreement with Northwest Airlines within weeks.
But the tension that hangs like a low-cloud ceiling is that Pinnacle is no closer to a deal with its pilots than it was in late September when the company called in a federal mediator.
"Negotiations are going very well with Northwest, but not so well with the pilots," said Phil Trenary, president and chief executive.
In late August, Northwest said there would be no deal until Pinnacle got a contract with its pilots.
"I have no doubt they could have a deal prior to Thanksgiving, but the chances of a pilot deal between now and then are remote," said Wakefield Gordon, local spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association.
He says a series of "drop dead" deadlines over the year have been ploy to get the pilots to agree to a "substandard" contract, including the company's assessment in early October that it was at "a crossroads" and quickly losing the opportunity to negotiate with Northwest, its only customer.
The next week, what Trenary had termed the final negotiation with Northwest was postponed.
"Where's the deadline?" Gordon asked. "Deadlines have come and gone, one after another after another for months. We don't know if there's really a deadline or not.
"I'm reacting as any reasonable man would; someone has not been quite forthcoming with the truth."
Pinnacle, which flies feeder routes to about 700 cities as a Northwest Airlink partner, would like to expand its business to other carriers. It has promised its pilots any additional routes it might get from Northwest, but it wants to be free to hire nonunion pilots for other work.
It says its pilot offer includes raises and perks that pilots at other airlines lost in cutbacks and bankruptcy proceedings.
Pinnacle has 1,200 pilots. About 400 are based here. Wednesday, about 80 conducted an informational picket at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. A similar event is planned here in early December.
The pilots have been working without a raise since April 2005 when their contract became amendable.
Under the Railway Labor Act, airline labor contracts do not expire but become open for negotiation in order to preserve interstate commerce and travel.
The union is also pressing for written assurance that the company will not hire nonunion pilots, plus holding out for changes in work rules, pay and health benefits.
"This all comes at time when pilots feel the only reason that airlines exist is because the pilots are subsidizing their earnings," said Darryl Jenkins, aviation expert in Virginia.
While its possible Northwest and Pinnacle could come to a deal without a pilot agreement, he says it would be "very scary without having the cost structure in place.
"I would be very cautious if I were Pinnacle unless it has so much leeway it can't go wrong."
Tuesday, Pinnacle reported a third-quarter operating income of $208.5 million, down $12.4 million from the year-earlier period. Earnings per share were 72 cents compared to 60 cents last year.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/business/article/0,1426,MCA_440_5129280,00.html
By Jane Roberts
Contact
November 9, 2006
Pinnacle Airlines expects it could have a new agreement with Northwest Airlines within weeks.
But the tension that hangs like a low-cloud ceiling is that Pinnacle is no closer to a deal with its pilots than it was in late September when the company called in a federal mediator.
"Negotiations are going very well with Northwest, but not so well with the pilots," said Phil Trenary, president and chief executive.
In late August, Northwest said there would be no deal until Pinnacle got a contract with its pilots.
"I have no doubt they could have a deal prior to Thanksgiving, but the chances of a pilot deal between now and then are remote," said Wakefield Gordon, local spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association.
He says a series of "drop dead" deadlines over the year have been ploy to get the pilots to agree to a "substandard" contract, including the company's assessment in early October that it was at "a crossroads" and quickly losing the opportunity to negotiate with Northwest, its only customer.
The next week, what Trenary had termed the final negotiation with Northwest was postponed.
"Where's the deadline?" Gordon asked. "Deadlines have come and gone, one after another after another for months. We don't know if there's really a deadline or not.
"I'm reacting as any reasonable man would; someone has not been quite forthcoming with the truth."
Pinnacle, which flies feeder routes to about 700 cities as a Northwest Airlink partner, would like to expand its business to other carriers. It has promised its pilots any additional routes it might get from Northwest, but it wants to be free to hire nonunion pilots for other work.
It says its pilot offer includes raises and perks that pilots at other airlines lost in cutbacks and bankruptcy proceedings.
Pinnacle has 1,200 pilots. About 400 are based here. Wednesday, about 80 conducted an informational picket at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. A similar event is planned here in early December.
The pilots have been working without a raise since April 2005 when their contract became amendable.
Under the Railway Labor Act, airline labor contracts do not expire but become open for negotiation in order to preserve interstate commerce and travel.
The union is also pressing for written assurance that the company will not hire nonunion pilots, plus holding out for changes in work rules, pay and health benefits.
"This all comes at time when pilots feel the only reason that airlines exist is because the pilots are subsidizing their earnings," said Darryl Jenkins, aviation expert in Virginia.
While its possible Northwest and Pinnacle could come to a deal without a pilot agreement, he says it would be "very scary without having the cost structure in place.
"I would be very cautious if I were Pinnacle unless it has so much leeway it can't go wrong."
Tuesday, Pinnacle reported a third-quarter operating income of $208.5 million, down $12.4 million from the year-earlier period. Earnings per share were 72 cents compared to 60 cents last year.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/business/article/0,1426,MCA_440_5129280,00.html
