Bitter pilots at American, United and US Airways threaten confrontation and expensive new contracts
US airline labour unions, already on the warpath over executive bonuses, have reacted to the carrier's continuing strong profits with outrage, anger and even more militant language. While no industrial action or strike is likely in the near future, passenger-deterring informational picketing is likely and the increased rancour makes clear that new contracts will be more costly - regardless of the state of the industry when deals are signed.
William Swelbar of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology International Air Transportation Centre says: "This is the beginning of the most important round of labour negotiations since deregulation. They've picked all the low-hanging fruit and now they have to find new ways of doing things. And this time, I wouldn't rule out a strike."
At American Airlines, an ambitious new model of labour/management co-operation seems abandoned as the Allied Pilots Association union leadership calls the airline's co-operation project "a cruel hoax perpetrated upon American Airlines employees". The union leaders, a slate of newly-elected militants, add it is "a classic union-busting exercise devoid of rewards for our members and lacking the basic respect and courtesy expected in a co-operative, professional relationship". The union leaders say to AMR chairman Gerard Arpey: "Enjoy your blood money and your union-busting meetings. We'll see you in court, in the newspapers, and on the picket line." Arpey would only respond that "the rhetoric is heightened throughout the industry".
At United Airlines, a new leadership team at the pilots union has vowed a more aggressive stance as the carrier continues to enjoy strong earnings. The new Air Line Pilots Association leader at United, Steve Wallach, takes over in January after winning in a campaign that promised confrontation. Wallach's team has experience in confrontation as it contains associates of former United pilot union chief Rick Dubinsky, who brought the carrier to the brink of a strike in 2000 before winning a record-breaking lucrative contract.
And at US Airways, a dissident pilot group has formally announced that it will split from the national Air Line Pilots Association, which now represents them. The pilots, on the former US Airways side of the merged airline, feel that the ALPA chapter for the carrier favours former America West pilots. Although it would take months before the proposed US Airline Pilots Association could become official, the dissension makes it all but impossible for US Airways chairman Doug Parker to achieve the efficiencies of a single contract for all the airline's pilots.
Source: Airline Business
