Senator Slams Pilots for US Airways Bankruptcy

[767-300ER]

Santorum Slams Pilots For US Airways Bankruptcy

POSTED: 12:37 PM EDT September 14, 2004
ThePittsburghChannel.com

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum says the future does not look good for US Airways, which is in the midst of a second filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Airways CEO Bruce Lakefield Tuesday in Washington, D.C., blames four pilots' union leaders for what he calls "single-handedly" trying to bring down the airline.

The union leaders -- two from Pittsburgh and two from Philadelphia -- blocked rank-and-file pilots from voting on a concessions package that the company offered last week, just days before filing for Chapter 11.

"You had a very small group of people from the pilots' union -- unfortunately, from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia -- who ultimately decided that they were going to take this airline down and into bankruptcy," Santorum said. ... "They've gotten their pound of flesh. The shareholders have lost everything."

In response, the Air Line Pilots Association criticized Santorum's attempts to pin responsibility on its members.

"It is categorically false that ALPA caused this bankruptcy, or conversely, could have prevented this bankruptcy," said an ALPA statement. "The company's impending pension payments -- not the lack of an ALPA agreement -- precipitated this bankruptcy filing."

But the statement did seem to agree with Santorum's feelings on the union leaders who prevented their fellow members from voting on US Airways' proposal.

"It is also unfortunate that four individuals on the pilots' governing body have dictated the terms and the progress of these negotiations," the statement said.

http://images.ibsys.com/2001/0126/435580.gifClick here to read the full ALPA statement.

Specter said much of the fault lies with executives who left US Airways and accepted a "golden parachute." He pointed to former CEO David Siegel, who resigned in April and collected a $4.5 million severance payment.

Siegel "left a lot undone, no question," Specter said.

Though Specter agreed the current situation is not good, he belives all hope is not lost.

"I would join Sen. Santorum in calling on all the parties to make every last effort to re-evaluate all positions and find a way to save this airline, because it still can be saved," Specter said.

Lakefield remains optimistic that US Airways can use the bankruptcy process to restructure itself. In a full-page open letter in Tuesday's USA Today, he appeals to the public for support and says the company will become a stronger airline with more flexibility and cheaper fares.

A judge is allowing US Airways to continue its normal business operations for now. To stay afloat, the airline will use part of a federally guaranteed $900 million loan that it obtained after emerging from Chapter 11 last year.

 

[Tripower455]

Once again, WE get the blame for years fo poor management...... Did anyone explain that the USAir guys could work for free, and it wouldn't have much, if any, bearing on the long term survival of the company?

 

[GogglesPisano]

Why are you surprised? Santorum is a Republican.


"What do they make? Look at those salaries."
-- Trent Lott, 2001

"Pilots refuse to work overtime because of their personal greed."
-- John McCain, 2001

Yet, most pilots still lapse into an apoplectic fit because ALPA endorsed Kerry. It is to laugh.



Tuesday, February 27, 2001

Pilots pay smeared in U.S. air woes outcry
By Simon Hirschfeld


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Are pilots highly trained professionals with immense
responsibility, or overpaid aerial cabbies with the airlines in their
unionized grip?

As labor battles further complicate the delay-plagued U.S. air traffic
system, some politicians have pointed to the high pay levels pilots earn as
they scrutinize the use of tactics such as refusing overtime to pressure
management.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott this month urged the Department of
Transportation to examine pilot wages and worker-related delays. "What do
they make? Look at those salaries," Lott told the DOT Inspector General.

Airline pilots take home pay is comparable to doctors, lawyers or corporate
executives -- most earn more than $100,000 -- with very senior pilots making
a quarter million or so. They require specialized training, and a pilot one
day may make a life-saving -- or fatal -- decision.

"One of the reasons why they are rather highly paid is that the flying
public and the airlines don't want a pretty good pilot flying a commercial
airliner -- they want a great pilot," said human resources specialist Carl
Weinberg, a principal at the Unifi Network division of
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Another prominent Republican senator, John McCain, blasted pilots at United
Airlines for engaging in a no-overtime campaign to "satisfy their personal
greed" that was blamed for increased delays and cancellations during
contract talks last summer.

Pilots are the most costly of airline workers, and labor is the biggest cost
for airlines. Contract negotiations between their unions and management are
often bitter.

"The fact that they've bargained for these pay levels suggests that they're
getting paid what they ought to be paid based on supply and demand,"
Weinberg said.

Last year, the contract between UAL Corp.'s United, the world's largest
airline, and its pilots ignited a new round of cost increases throughout the
industry. Several major airlines are now in negotiations with various labor
groups.

Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's No. 3 carrier, is in talks with its
pilots, some of whom have, like United pilots last summer, refused overtime
as a pressure tactic.

How much the delays and cancellations resulted from the job actions is
difficult to sort out, because of a myriad of problems ranging from limits
on airport capacity to outdated air-traffic control technology to weather.

SENIORITY LADDER

In September, McCain compared the 1998 per capital U.S. income of $20,120
with the $342,000 a year that the most senior United pilots will make by
2004. But pilots must climb a fairly rigid ladder of seniority and training
to reach those levels. Once they do so, they cannot switch over to another
airline without losing that seniority.

Pilot pay is based on the years at the airline and the type of aircraft
flown. Starting out, pilots can make less than $20,000. But by the time they
reach captain at a major airline, usually in their mid-30s, they make well
over $100,000.

A pilot usually starts at a major carrier with eight to 12 years of prior
experience, said Kit Darby, president of Air Inc., an Atlanta-based career
resource firm for pilots and other airline workers.

They typically work only 15 days a month, amounting to about 80 flight
hours, the only hours pilots are paid for. They usually spend another 80
unpaid hours on duty at airports. Add time in hotels at destination cities,
and you get 240 to 320 hours pilots spend away from home a month, Darby
said.

Pilots have always been well paid, Darby said. Pay is usually a measure of
productivity and responsibility. An airliner captain is paid based on the
size of the aircraft, an indirect reflection of the number of passengers and
cargo tonnage and the distance they are moved.

"He's got a lot going in one direction and he's responsible for that. It's a
measure of his productivity, like a ship's captain," Darby said.

A co-pilot flying a Boeing 757 or 767 aircraft with five years of experience
at the airline makes $115,392 a year at Delta now, while at United, the same
worker makes $128,712.

A 10-year captain of Boeing 737-200s makes $157,152 at Delta, and $178,152
at United. The most senior captain, with 30 years of experience, flying a
Boeing 777 wide-body, makes $248,040 at Delta, and $254,748 at United.

Delta pilots are expected to top United pilots, who now stand with the
highest pay among passenger carriers.

Delta's recent wage offer included pay increases from 7 to 17.5 percent on
May 1, depending in aircraft type, with average raises for mainline pilots
rising to 30 percent by the end of the proposed four-year contract.

 

[Cactus73]

Santorum is really a piece of $%^&.

USAirways was going to go chapter 11 regardless of a deal with the pilots. Any changes to pay or workrules usually take a few months to filter down. Management is loving this - they got the U.S. Sentate blaming labor for their own mismangement!

You guys on this board may support Bush for his "kick the worlds ass" foreign policy, but his party is doing everything they can to destroy our right to collective bargaining. Santorum represents the far right of the Republican party. This is his chance to show America how greedy labor Unions are the real blame for our economic misfortunes.

ALPA, APA, SWAPA, IBT, IAM, etc...really needs to get out front of this and put blame where blame is due - poor management.

I hope all are happy when we are begging to fly 737's for $25/hour.

Rant off.

 

[scabseeker]

"They've gotten their pound of flesh. The shareholders have lost everything."

Ewww noooo, who is going to protect the shareholders!!! They have lost everything!! I'm assuming the employees have not lost anything? But again typical republican, worried about the shareholders.

I do so love it when pilots vote for these guys. My rule of thumb is not to vote for the same guy that my CEO is voting for but that's just me.

 

[Flying the Line]

Management and Republicans think alike.


Why don't we rape the employees and give all the money this company makes to the share holders.

phuk you rick santorum.

 

[q100]

Collective Bargaining, Senate-style...

Funny, I would have thought members of Congress were uniquely unqualified to protest anyone's pay.

1) The vote on their own pay raises, usually as secretively as possible, and never take concessions!

2) Nobody ever raided or "terminated" their pensions, nor will they ever.

3) Health care? No need to worry about that either!

4) They have PACs which take in big campaign contributions to buy "access" so that their reelection is bought and paid for - no need for a strike fund there...

5) They will, if they retire, have their pick of board or lobbying positions, not having to worry about waiting seven years before collecting Soc. Security.

And, while we're at it...

Congress failed to make employers responsible for properly funding pension plans.

Congress is happy to run a 500 billion dollar deficit, adding to the already existing National Debt, while any companies that tried to do same would be shut down instantly and indictments handed down.

Congress happily and routinely defies the will of the people, just witness the lapse of the assault weapons ban which some 2/3 of Americans and just about all cops were in favor of continuing.

Well, at least we know Santorum does not engage in "man on dog" activities, I suppose that's a plus.

 

[MJG]

I say that a new bill should formally be introduced to the Senate floor. Since the current administration has seen fit to run America's credit card bill to an all time high it's going to take some givebacks from govt. employees to help pay the bill. We'll start with the salaries of all politicians and work down from there. Effective with this bill will be the immediate reduction in annual salary by 30% regardless of years of service. Also effective immediately will be the cancellation of all govt. pension plans as well as medical coverage for former govt. employees.

If this bill fails, we the people of the United States, will be forced to introduce a new bill with even deeper cuts. One way or the other the politicians have to help pay the bill, they're the ones that got us into this, they're the ones who have to get us out....

And they wonder why no one cares about the political process any more...

 

[castle bravo]

G100 is correct- complete hypocrisy spewing out of the mouths of our self-serving politicians.

 

[Trout]

http://www.spreadingsantorum.com/

 

[FDJ2]

The title of this article could just as easily have been "Executives blamed for failure."

This is whatr Senator Specter said in the article:

"Specter said much of the fault lies with executives who left US Airways and accepted a "golden parachute." He pointed to former CEO David Siegel, who resigned in April and collected a $4.5 million severance payment."

Unfortunately the editors chose to lead off with that idiot Santorums opinion.

 

[SWA GUY]

I'm a proud Republican and I don't agree with what Sen. Santorum or what most Senators say about an individual's pay. Usually in these situations they shoot their mouths off so that they can look good in front of their constituency, but do nothing as a result.

I didn't see any Democrat Senators out there defending the pilots....

HC

 

[capt. megadeth]

" My rule of thumb is not to vote for the same guy that my CEO is voting for but that's just me."

Ha.....no kidding


q100 and MJG,
CAN I GET AN AMEN?!?!?

VERY WELL SAID YOU TWO!

 

[Juvat]

I decided that rather than rant about the senator here, I will just PARTICIPATE in our democracy and write a letter to him. I think the senator is way off base, and agree that he's probably just shooting off at the mouth without thinking first. Nonetheless, he needs some instant feedback from pilots. I doubt he reads flightinfo.com, so I'm going to send him an email.

By the way, I think it's interesting to see the amount of Republican bashing going on in this thread. Why is it that nobody can identify one single Democrat in Congress who has stepped up to the plate in defense of airline pilots? Surely there must be some knight in shining armor out there for some of you hardcore lefties, don't you think?

Well, if you do a search of the Congressional Record (it's a periodical at the public library, or can be found online) and have a look at votes, you'll find that Democrats either a) could care less about us, or b) have bigger fish to fry.

Bottom line: the "Republicans favor management, and Democrats favor labor" argument is rather dated and cliche. It doesn't always hold true, especially with respect to the airline industry. Informed citizens would do well to study the facts rather than blindly subscribe to the old dogma.

 

[PCL_128]

You people all cry foul about republicans because of Santorum, yet you completely ignore the fact that another republican, Senator Specter, is also quoted in the same article as blaming the management of USAir.

 

[ATR-DRIVR]

FDJ2 is right on this one. WE all know that airline problems are NOT from the pilot groups. Problem is here is as FDJ2 points out, one of your standard, moronosphere graduate, incompetent "editors" decided to put another standard, moronosphere graduate, incompetent's opinion for the lead off statement. We should all follow Juvat's lead and send an email to Senator Santornumbnuts and 'splain' the situation to him. Hmmm..I am guessing though that the above mentioned spaz probably has a moronosphere undergraduate reading his email for him!!

 

[Flying the Line]

A look back to 1989

From flying the line Volume 2

"e knew the Bush Administration was not prolabor", Hank Duffy said. But we had no comprehension of the depths to which they would stoop to carry Frank Lorenzo's water".

...The internal politics of the republican party also damaged ALPA's chances of getting a sympathetic hearing from the Bush Administration. During his first year in office, Bush had been looking for some way to emulate his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, who during his first year had broken the PATCO strike...

Bush always on shaky ground with right-wing conservatives in his own party, saw backing Lorenzo as a risk-free way to enhance his popularity...Given the revolving door between Republican administrations and Lorenzo's business associates since 1981, Bush could have hardly have done otherwise. ALPA would later document 30 top officials who had rotated between service to Bush and employment by Lorenzo. During the 1988 presidential election campain, Lorenzo had contributed $100,000 to the republicans.

The Democats voted against cargo cabotage and the republicans voted for it. There is cargo cabotage in ANC today because the DEMOCRATS were outvoted. That is a clear example of Demorats clearly voting in favor of US based pilots flying soley within the US. Don't tell me the Democrats don't support labor or pilots.

By the way, PILOTS ARE LABOR.

Go back to the military if you want to vote Republican.

 

[Cactus73]

By the way, I think it's interesting to see the amount of Republican bashing going on in this thread. Why is it that nobody can identify one single Democrat in Congress who has stepped up to the plate in defense of airline pilots? Surely there must be some knight in shining armor out there for some of you hardcore lefties, don't you think?

I can name a few:

John Kerry. Has been very outspoken about cabotage and the protection of pension plans from bankruptcy judges. ALPA devoted a entire issue of the Air Line Pilot to Senator Kerry and his work on behalf of pilots.

Dick Durbin. Has been a fighter on behalf of the United pilots and others getting screwed in the bankruptcy process.

Diane Feinstein. You may not like her but it was she and John Mica (R) who put forth the legislation to arm pilots. The FFDO program is her doing. President Bush fought the Democrats on this but eventually caved.

Call me what you want. Lefty. Liberal.

I'm pro-labor and the Republican party isn't. Sorry I can't change this fact for you.

Can you name any Republicans other than John Mica who have championed
pilot/labor causes in Congress? The only one I can think of is the Speaker of the House. He was acually trying to help Tilton, not really the pilots.

 

[Amtram1]

Republican senator Pennsylvania. One of 100 others that just voted themselves another pay raise. He'll be makin 152,000 next year. He'll be in office until 2007.

Here's a link to his comment line. Drop him a line and let him know that he shouldnt make comments on topics that he doesnt know anything about.

http://santorum.senate.gov/emailrjs.html

Typical antiunion scumbag politician. He's probably out having sex with his babysitter in his car behind the yacht club.

 

[crazee8]

The Washington Post says:

Lakefield told the senators the reason the airline was forced to file for bankruptcy protection Sunday was that four pilots from Pennsylvania refused to allow the airline's new contract to be voted on by the union membership.
"These four individuals decided they wanted to take the airline down, and they did," Santorum said, referring to the pilot leaders who voted against taking the airline's most recent contract proposal to the membership for a vote last week.

Specter said he plans to contact the four pilots to learn why they voted the way they did and the details of their concerns.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21990-2004Sep14.html

After I picked my jaw off the pavement..... Now we know that no one but these 4 pilots are at fault. A big whatever Lakefield, if that allows you to go to sleep at night. I hope Spector DOES call them - heck, call me!!!