H
Halo_RJdriver
Skywest/ASA In The SLC Tribune
Skywest, ASA: An odd couple
Different cultures: There are disparities in the approach to labor negotiations, as well as salaries and benefits
By Paul Beebe
The Salt Lake Tribune
If SkyWest Inc.'s acquisition of Atlantic Southeast Airlines from Delta Air Lines is completed next month, it will be a marriage of two companies with opposite views of organized labor.
St. George-based SkyWest has worked hard during its 33-year history to keep unions at bay. None of its 7,800 SkyWest Airlines employees belongs to a bargaining organization.
By contrast, Atlanta-based ASA, with 5,600 workers, is more tolerant of labor unions. Its 1,700 pilots and 1,000 flight attendants are members of the Air Line Pilots Association and the Association of Flight Attendants.
What this means is that union and non-union pilots with equal training and similar jobs will work under different pay scales and unequal benefits. ASA pilots earn more than their non-union SkyWest counterparts - although the disparity is not as great as some pilots believe, according to a Salt Lake Tribune comparison of salaries. But without union-negotiated grievance procedures to protect them, SkyWest pilots will have less control over their pay rates, benefits and work rules.
Talk is already circulating that SkyWest pilots will launch another effort to unionize their ranks. Efforts in 2004 and four years earlier failed. And the $425 million acquisition of ASA could be just the event that organizers need to make their case.
The pay disparities aren't likely to disappear. Michael Kraupp, SkyWest's vice president of finance, said the company's practice of being fair to employees while maintaining tight controls on labor costs doesn't mean pay scales will be equal.
"We do not" plan to reduce the disparities, Kraupp said, adding that pay differences between the companies are "irrelevant."
"We are going to run those companies as separate entities. Each entity will do something that fits what they are doing. At the end of the day those may be different," he said.
The deal, announced Monday, will make SkyWest, which traditionally serves small and mid-sized airports in the west and Midwest, the largest regional airline in the United States. Operating separately, SkyWest and ASA will fly to cities from California to Maine and several Canadian provinces.
Although SkyWest Chairman Jerry Atkin will serve as chief executive officer of both airlines, they will be different companies with dissimilar cultures. SkyWest is known as a tightly run outfit that makes money, unlike many airlines. ASA gets poor marks for on-time arrivals and mishandled baggage, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's August air travel consumer report.
While Atkin will live in St. George, ASA's management and headquarters will stay in Atlanta. Atkin has the final say, but he will permit ASA to continue negotiations with pilots and flight attendants, whose labor contracts expired in 2002 and 2003.
"We are running the companies as separate entities, so SkyWest will not step in and interject during the negotiations. We will allow the competent management at ASA to continue the negotiations that are ongoing," Kraupp said.
Despite their union status, ASA pilots do not earn substantially more than SkyWest pilots. First-year SkyWest jet captains earn $56 an hour and ASA pilots are paid $60 an hour , or about 7 percent more, according to http://www.willflyforfood.cc, an Internet site that gathers information for pilots preparing for job interviews. After 18 years, the gap widens to about 11 percent - $93 an hour at SkyWest versus $103 at ASA.
The disparity doesn't seem to bother several SkyWest pilots, who didn't want their names printed. One pilot said his seniority is more important than pay. Another worried that SkyWest may try to play pilots at one airline against the other to win concessions - a possibility Atkin dismissed during a phone conference with stock analysts earlier this week.
A third pilot said he doesn't begrudge someone at a different airline earning more than him.
"That's the way the cookie crumbles in this industry," he said.
"I've agreed to work for the rates we're paid," another pilot said. "But if they were to strong-arm me to work for less benefits and pay, that would be wrong.
"I don't think it's likely to happen, but it's a possibility. I think the management will do the right thing," the pilot said.
ASA pilots, who have been negotiating a new contract for three years, are more open about their feelings. Bob Arnold, chairman of the ASA unit of the pilots union, said ASA pilots are "cautiously" looking forward to SkyWest after three years of fruitless wrangling over a new labor contract.
"We look forward to quickly wrapping up our efforts to secure a collective bargaining agreement that reflects our value and contributions to the success of our carrier," Arnold wrote in a statement released Tuesday.
Tom Zerbarini, vice chairman of the unit, said he'll be happy to work for SkyWest. It's a "very profitable company" with a "great management team," he said.
"It's kind of multi-faceted in what we feel. Delta going into bankruptcy is looking more likely every day," Zerbarini said. "This gives us kind of an ability to skirt that."
[email protected]
Where did we get these cheese dick pilots???? I now know why we don't have any form of a spine in our pilot group.
Skywest, ASA: An odd couple
Different cultures: There are disparities in the approach to labor negotiations, as well as salaries and benefits
By Paul Beebe
The Salt Lake Tribune
If SkyWest Inc.'s acquisition of Atlantic Southeast Airlines from Delta Air Lines is completed next month, it will be a marriage of two companies with opposite views of organized labor.
St. George-based SkyWest has worked hard during its 33-year history to keep unions at bay. None of its 7,800 SkyWest Airlines employees belongs to a bargaining organization.
By contrast, Atlanta-based ASA, with 5,600 workers, is more tolerant of labor unions. Its 1,700 pilots and 1,000 flight attendants are members of the Air Line Pilots Association and the Association of Flight Attendants.
What this means is that union and non-union pilots with equal training and similar jobs will work under different pay scales and unequal benefits. ASA pilots earn more than their non-union SkyWest counterparts - although the disparity is not as great as some pilots believe, according to a Salt Lake Tribune comparison of salaries. But without union-negotiated grievance procedures to protect them, SkyWest pilots will have less control over their pay rates, benefits and work rules.
Talk is already circulating that SkyWest pilots will launch another effort to unionize their ranks. Efforts in 2004 and four years earlier failed. And the $425 million acquisition of ASA could be just the event that organizers need to make their case.
The pay disparities aren't likely to disappear. Michael Kraupp, SkyWest's vice president of finance, said the company's practice of being fair to employees while maintaining tight controls on labor costs doesn't mean pay scales will be equal.
"We do not" plan to reduce the disparities, Kraupp said, adding that pay differences between the companies are "irrelevant."
"We are going to run those companies as separate entities. Each entity will do something that fits what they are doing. At the end of the day those may be different," he said.
The deal, announced Monday, will make SkyWest, which traditionally serves small and mid-sized airports in the west and Midwest, the largest regional airline in the United States. Operating separately, SkyWest and ASA will fly to cities from California to Maine and several Canadian provinces.
Although SkyWest Chairman Jerry Atkin will serve as chief executive officer of both airlines, they will be different companies with dissimilar cultures. SkyWest is known as a tightly run outfit that makes money, unlike many airlines. ASA gets poor marks for on-time arrivals and mishandled baggage, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's August air travel consumer report.
While Atkin will live in St. George, ASA's management and headquarters will stay in Atlanta. Atkin has the final say, but he will permit ASA to continue negotiations with pilots and flight attendants, whose labor contracts expired in 2002 and 2003.
"We are running the companies as separate entities, so SkyWest will not step in and interject during the negotiations. We will allow the competent management at ASA to continue the negotiations that are ongoing," Kraupp said.
Despite their union status, ASA pilots do not earn substantially more than SkyWest pilots. First-year SkyWest jet captains earn $56 an hour and ASA pilots are paid $60 an hour , or about 7 percent more, according to http://www.willflyforfood.cc, an Internet site that gathers information for pilots preparing for job interviews. After 18 years, the gap widens to about 11 percent - $93 an hour at SkyWest versus $103 at ASA.
The disparity doesn't seem to bother several SkyWest pilots, who didn't want their names printed. One pilot said his seniority is more important than pay. Another worried that SkyWest may try to play pilots at one airline against the other to win concessions - a possibility Atkin dismissed during a phone conference with stock analysts earlier this week.
A third pilot said he doesn't begrudge someone at a different airline earning more than him.
"That's the way the cookie crumbles in this industry," he said.
"I've agreed to work for the rates we're paid," another pilot said. "But if they were to strong-arm me to work for less benefits and pay, that would be wrong.
"I don't think it's likely to happen, but it's a possibility. I think the management will do the right thing," the pilot said.
ASA pilots, who have been negotiating a new contract for three years, are more open about their feelings. Bob Arnold, chairman of the ASA unit of the pilots union, said ASA pilots are "cautiously" looking forward to SkyWest after three years of fruitless wrangling over a new labor contract.
"We look forward to quickly wrapping up our efforts to secure a collective bargaining agreement that reflects our value and contributions to the success of our carrier," Arnold wrote in a statement released Tuesday.
Tom Zerbarini, vice chairman of the unit, said he'll be happy to work for SkyWest. It's a "very profitable company" with a "great management team," he said.
"It's kind of multi-faceted in what we feel. Delta going into bankruptcy is looking more likely every day," Zerbarini said. "This gives us kind of an ability to skirt that."
[email protected]
Where did we get these cheese dick pilots???? I now know why we don't have any form of a spine in our pilot group.
Last edited:
