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MOST OF US DREAD the
experience of getting stuck in an
uncomfortable, overcrowded airport lounge
after an overbooked or cancelled flight. But
probably none of us has ever been seated on
a plane that actually left the gate ready
for take off before realizing no pilots were
aboard.
That’s basically what happened a few days
ago as Delta and Northwest airlines recessed
their merger talks. News reports indicate
the number three and number five US carriers
were right on the brink of a deal when they
cut engines and returned to the terminal.
Suddenly, it became very important to
consult pilots.
There are indeed very substantial employee
issues that every merger must deal with, but
the absence of consultations with the Air
Line Pilots Association, AFL-CIO, (ALPA) and
other labor groups has not stopped
management flying solo in the past. What’s
different now?
Investors are deeply concerned about several
costly problems still plaguing the 2005 US
Airways/America West merger.
The biggest issue at US Airways is the
nation’s 6th largest carrier’s failure after
three years to reach post-merger agreements
with its unions representing 30,000
employees. Pilots, ground crews, mechanics
and customer service employees still work
under terms of previous labor agreements
which each union desperately wants to
upgrade.
Aside from souring labor relations, the long
delay in reaching labor settlements has
largely prevented the two workforces from
being integrated into a smooth, streamlined
operation.
Flight crews, for example, cannot be mixed
until one unifying ALPA contract is
ratified.
But efficiency is not the only casualty of
the current problems at US Airways that
worries Wall St.
Last year, frustration with stalled
negotiations prompted the International
Association of Machinists, (IAM) and other
unions to play a major role in nixing US
Airways’ offer to buy Delta.
The IAM picketed at several airports with
“No Contract [at US Airways], No Delta.” The
offer to buy Delta went nowhere. Big-money
merger enthusiasts fear labor’s opposition
could also jettison today’s prospective NWA-Delta
deal.
In fact, all the major transportation unions
are dead set against repeating the mistakes
at US Airways.
For example, the multi-union US Airways
Labor Coalition recently issued a cautionary
warning strongly advising “management teams
across the industry to learn from the
mistakes of US Airways management and work
with labor before, during and after the
merger process.”
Pilot Seniority is Up in the Air
But undoubtedly the most
significant problem of past mergers that
specifically caused the current Delta-NWA
talks to break off is the issue of pilot
seniority.
In fact, despite reportedly being offered
substantial financial incentives from
management, it is the single issue that
stopped ALPA from agreeing to the Delta-NWA
merger flight plan. Seniority gaps can
result in enormous differences in rank, pay
and routes which then dramatically affects
personal lifestyle.
It is such a huge concern for pilots because
of their problematic system of seniority
integration. National ALPA has no
established policy of how to combine
workgroups from other airlines and, in fact,
almost always relies on troublesome binding
arbitration to decide each individual case.
The absence of a uniform, standard seniority
policy established by the national union
continues to cause grave problems. Pilots
know this history very well and recite it
with passion.
For example, during the 1986 merger of
Northwest with Republic Airlines, an
arbitrator awarded junior NWA pilots the
lucrative Pacific routes over the heads of
the senior Republic pilots. This is still a
sore point among veteran pilots at NWA, over
20 years later.
Controversy follows almost every arbitration
decision.
In the recent US Airways/America West
merger, both pilot groups are represented by
ALPA but both argue a different point of
view of how the two groups should be joined.
Finally, following ALPA procedure, an
arbitrator stepped in and decided to place
many junior former America West pilots in
line ahead of senior US Airways’ pilots.
Predictably, this caused a serious rift
among the 5500 pilots.
In fact, 3100 angry US Airways’ pilots
recently petitioned the National Mediation
Board to schedule an ALPA decertification
election. The election will occur between
March 20-April 17, 2008.
It is being pushed by the non-AFL-CIO US
Airline Pilots Association (US APA). This is
really a non-group without funds or
collective bargaining agreements that exists
through support by the same union-raiding
law firm that spawned the Aircraft Mechanics
Fraternal Association (AMFA).
To further worsen the situation, the US
Airways’ ALPA Master Executive Council (MEC)
filed a lawsuit against National ALPA
protesting the arbitrators decision.
Other unions avoid some of these problems by
having a seniority policy that extends
credit for all years worked in the industry
regardless of airline or union. Advocates of
this system argue that it builds solidarity
among airline workers and avoids the bitter
division that pilots usually suffer after a
merger.
The Machinists (IAM), for example, recognize
the seniority of all workers joined together
as a result of a merger from the “date of
hire into the classification, regardless of
which airline or union an employee comes
from.”
Will Mergers Leave the Gate?
The issue of seniority for the 12,000 pilots
of a potential Delta-NWA combine is not
likely to be settled soon and it’s also
unclear how all the other factors will
ultimately affect the plans of Wall St. to
join carriers.
It is very clear, however, that unions are
now taking a much tougher stand toward
mergers after the US Airways’ experience. A
recent national meeting of IAM Local
officers “unanimously agreed that any major
airline merger would be anti-competitive…”
and they “agreed to prepare their membership
for demonstrations….”
The example of Delta-NWA management stepping
back from their deal reveals nervous
investors have heard labor’s warning. But it
is likely this is only a temporary lull in
their attempts to squeeze enormous profits
from downsized carriers with fewer aircraft
stuffed with more passengers being charged
higher prices.
Unions, however, also appear better prepared
today to confidently say that mergers will
neither proceed without their participation
nor succeed by expecting more concessions
from employees.
Carl Finamore is a recently retired airline
worker. He can be reached at
local1781@yahoo.com
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