United Pilots Want Talks Declared at Impasse
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...857367814.html
By SUSAN CAREY
Unionized pilots at United Continental Holdings Inc.'s UAL -1.13% United Airline subsidiary, impatient over the slow pace of contract negotiations aimed at reaching a new joint labor accord covering them and their counterparts at the Continental Airlines union, asked the Air Line Pilots Association to submit a request that United pilots be released from mediated contract negotiations.
If the National Mediation Board, the federal agency that oversees labor relations in the airline industry and is currently mediating the bargaining, decided the talks weren't fruitful, it could release the pilots into a so-called 30-day "cooling off" period, after which the pilots could strike. The NMB routinely receives such requests but doesn't honor them when talks seem to be making progress. The NMB didn't return a phone call on Monday. United, in a statement, said it is "committed to reaching agreements quickly, but those agreements must be fair to the company and fair to employees."
Capt. Jay Heppner, chairman of the ALPA leadership council representing the 6,500 United aviators, said his members "have been driven by an intransigent, out-of-touch management team that refuses to do its part in negotiating a collective bargaining agreement" that recognizes the sacrifices the pilots have made to United since its bankruptcy filing a decade ago.
Capt. Heppner, a 27-year United veteran who flies a Boeing 777, was elected last year to a two-year term as chief of the ALPA branch at United, and took office in January. In the middle of April, he warned his pilots that if United management didn't agree to complete the contract talks by June 1, he would seek an NMB release from the talks as a prelude to a possible word stoppage. The pilots and company have been in negotiations for nearly two years, with the task made more complex by the addition of the 4,500 Continental pilots as a result of the 2010 merger of the two carriers.
Capt. Heppner, who has directed the creation of a website called www.the unfriendlyskies.org., is opposed to what he refers to as the escalating "outsourcing" of United pilot jobs to regional airlines, and out "off-shoring" of United pilot jobs to foreign airlines with which United Continental has code-sharing relationships, both of which he says compromise safety.
The ALPA branch at Continental was taken by surprise by Capt. Heppner's Monday deadline for seeking an NMB release in the absence of United's commitment to reach a new deal by June 1, according to internal union documents. Recently negotiators from both pilot branches and the company agreed on a process and a timeline designed to reach a deal by mid-June.
Subsequently, Capt. Jay Pierce, chief of the Continental ALPA group, said all of the pilots at both units "are extremely frustrated with not having a joint contract," and are "deeply disappointed with the overall progress to date. He said he met with Capt. Heppner to learn more details of his plan "and are in the process of fathering additional information … to determine how best to move forward from this point."
Write to Susan Carey at [email protected]
By SUSAN CAREY
Unionized pilots at United Continental Holdings Inc.'s UAL -1.13% United Airline subsidiary, impatient over the slow pace of contract negotiations aimed at reaching a new joint labor accord covering them and their counterparts at the Continental Airlines union, asked the Air Line Pilots Association to submit a request that United pilots be released from mediated contract negotiations.
If the National Mediation Board, the federal agency that oversees labor relations in the airline industry and is currently mediating the bargaining, decided the talks weren't fruitful, it could release the pilots into a so-called 30-day "cooling off" period, after which the pilots could strike. The NMB routinely receives such requests but doesn't honor them when talks seem to be making progress. The NMB didn't return a phone call on Monday. United, in a statement, said it is "committed to reaching agreements quickly, but those agreements must be fair to the company and fair to employees."
Capt. Jay Heppner, chairman of the ALPA leadership council representing the 6,500 United aviators, said his members "have been driven by an intransigent, out-of-touch management team that refuses to do its part in negotiating a collective bargaining agreement" that recognizes the sacrifices the pilots have made to United since its bankruptcy filing a decade ago.
Capt. Heppner, a 27-year United veteran who flies a Boeing 777, was elected last year to a two-year term as chief of the ALPA branch at United, and took office in January. In the middle of April, he warned his pilots that if United management didn't agree to complete the contract talks by June 1, he would seek an NMB release from the talks as a prelude to a possible word stoppage. The pilots and company have been in negotiations for nearly two years, with the task made more complex by the addition of the 4,500 Continental pilots as a result of the 2010 merger of the two carriers.
Capt. Heppner, who has directed the creation of a website called www.the unfriendlyskies.org., is opposed to what he refers to as the escalating "outsourcing" of United pilot jobs to regional airlines, and out "off-shoring" of United pilot jobs to foreign airlines with which United Continental has code-sharing relationships, both of which he says compromise safety.
The ALPA branch at Continental was taken by surprise by Capt. Heppner's Monday deadline for seeking an NMB release in the absence of United's commitment to reach a new deal by June 1, according to internal union documents. Recently negotiators from both pilot branches and the company agreed on a process and a timeline designed to reach a deal by mid-June.
Subsequently, Capt. Jay Pierce, chief of the Continental ALPA group, said all of the pilots at both units "are extremely frustrated with not having a joint contract," and are "deeply disappointed with the overall progress to date. He said he met with Capt. Heppner to learn more details of his plan "and are in the process of fathering additional information … to determine how best to move forward from this point."
Write to Susan Carey at [email protected]
