"America West/US Airways merger glow dims amid labor tension"

Monday, December 5, 2005

Merger glow dims amid labor tension 
By Dawn Gilbertson
The Arizona Republic


By most appearances, the merger between America West and US Airways has gone
smoothly in the first two months. Behind the scenes, though, labor battles
have been brewing, battles that soon will spill into the public eye and
threaten to end the honeymoon.

America West pilots have started a subtle public campaign to bring attention
to their fight for seniority fairness and widely are expected to request an
arbitrator to settle the prickly issue of who ranks where in the pilot
pecking order.

The airline's flight attendants plan to picket at Phoenix Sky Harbor
International Airport next week to protest what they say are empty promises
from management and stalled contract negotiations.  

Mechanics and ramp agents, fearing pay or benefit cuts to match the lower
levels their US Airways counterparts got after the company went through
bankruptcies, are starting to turn up the volume in their fight to retain
their union and their contract.

Picketing and hype are to be expected during negotiations and are
ever-present concerns for high-profile customer service businesses such as
airlines. Stakes are especially high in this case because multiple
negotiations are under way at once and because a smooth combination of the
two labor forces is critical to the success of the merger.

"If you look around the airline industry, even companies that aren't going
through (a merger) . . . have just experienced nightmares in labor
negotiations in terms of strikes, threats of strikes, picketing, posturing,
the whole nine yards," said John Budd, a human resources professor in the
Industrial Relations Institute at the University of Minnesota's Carlson
School of Management. 

"I think passengers are going to have to get used to a lot of posturing and
accusations flying around." 

Union tensions and general unease about the merger are causing friction
among the airline's 35,000 workers. Flight crews report occasional tussles
between America West and US Airways workers as they wait for hotel shuttle
vans on layovers and power struggles in key cities where they are working
closely for the first time, such as in Philadelphia. 

"It is starting to get a little nasty down in the trenches," one longtime
America West pilot said. "There have been actual fights break out around the
system."

Like other company employees, he asked to remain anonymous for fear of
losing his job if he talks to the media.

Executives admit that the new US Airways is not one big happy family, but
they say that's perfectly natural at this early stage in the merger. It's
not unlike members of a stepfamily getting adjusted to one other, one said.

"It's one thing to have a new stepbrother," said Elise Eberwein, senior vice
president whose responsibilities include cultural integration. "It's another
thing to share a room with him."

Jeff McClelland is chief administration officer of the combined company,
with responsibility for labor relations. He acknowledged the labor strife
and some incidents among employees but said the problem is not widespread.

"There's nothing right now, in my estimation, that we're seeing that is
really any cause for alarm, that isn't the course of a normal negotiated
process," he said.

He said the tension likely won't go away until a slew of contracts are
negotiated, the airline is truly merged, and employees know exactly where
they stand. It may take as long as two years to straighten out all these
issues.

"Until we can create certainty . . . you always think of the worst that can
happen," McClelland said.

The anxiety level appears heaviest on the America West side of the family,
which numbers more than 10,000 in the Phoenix area. There are two reasons.

First, the airline had been negotiating with flight attendants and mechanics
when the merger took place. Both groups had been in talks for about two
years but hadn't reached an agreement.

The unions are keeping up the fight for a new contract but haven't made much
progress. They say US Airways CEO Doug Parker, who headed America West, and
other top executives of the combined airline repeatedly have told them there
is no money for raises. A mediator will step into the flight-attendant talks
later this month.

"Our flight attendants feel that they have taken the back seat in this
merger," said Gary Richardson, president of the America West unit of the
Association of Flight Attendants. "They are now maybe facing years without
looking at any type of pay increase."

Andy Marshall, secretary/ treasurer with Teamsters Local 104, which
represents America West mechanics, customer service representatives and
stock clerks, is more blunt.

"Parker's not following through on anything. He's not protecting his people
the way he said he would," Marshall said. "I'm seeing shades of (former
America West CEO) Bill Franke."

McClelland said he hates the idea that employees feel like they've been lied
to, but he said the merger was necessary for both sides. The company has
gone so far as to say, in a recent employee newsletter, that bankruptcy may
have been an option for America West absent the merger.

"The reality is, this merger has been good, it's been good for both
companies," McClelland said. "We'd be in a lot different position as America
West if this merger hadn't happened, given the environment and given where
everything (in the industry) was going."

Teamsters have the added dogfight of keeping their jobs. The two airlines'
mechanics are represented by different unions, meaning only one will
represent the combined workers after a vote in the next few months.

The US Airways mechanics union, the International Association of Machinists,
is thought to have the advantage because it has more than three times the
members.

The union representing America West's baggage handlers and other fleet
service workers is in a similar position against the machinists association.
Workers in both cases fear they will be forced to accept the lower wages
and/or benefits in the current US Airways contract.

The biggest fight looms over seniority. Seniority is the dividing line
between "how desirable or how lousy their work schedule is," said Budd, the
human resources professor. It's not just about pay, as it is for teachers or
auto workers, he said.

"Seniority is much more important to the daily work lives of pilots and
flight attendants in particular, more so than just about any other
occupation in the economy," he said.

Budd said lingering fallout from seniority issues dogged Northwest Airlines
for several years after its merger with Republic Airlines. 

America West workers in just about every unionized category are scared
because the much larger US Airways has been around considerably longer.

They fear being bumped way down on the seniority list that dictates
schedules, vacations and more. That would happen if seniority lists are
merged based on date of hire.

Some US Airways flight attendants started as far back as the 1960s. America
West didn't start flying until 1983.

Faced with that reality, the flight attendants union said America West
flight attendants with the least amount of seniority have been leaving at
nearly double the normal rate for the past few months.

"That tells you everything," said Mary Cost, secretary/ treasurer of the
union.

America West pilots signed a new contract last year, so they are slightly
ahead of the other employee groups in terms of negotiations with US Airways.
Nonetheless, they worry about seniority.

JR Baker, the head of the pilots union, sent a letter to members this fall
with a luggage tag emblazoned with the words "Save Dave."

Dave is Dave Odell, the last pilot hired by America West. He joined the
airline this year from Trans States Airlines and lives in Laveen. Baker
asked pilots to attach the tag to their luggage as a "simple yet powerful"
reference to the issue of seniority.

"When people ask you what your bag tag means, be sure to tell them about
Dave Odell and that he is our most junior pilot, and his future is all of
our futures," Baker said.

McClelland said even if date of hire prevails as a way to measure seniority,
management is adamant about including provisions that won't allow floods of
employees in other cities to seek postings in Phoenix if there are no
vacancies here.

"I think there's (going to be) some pretty good protections in there," he
said.

For now, all that's falling on deaf ears. Richardson, of the flight
attendants association, is preparing for a battle.

"Our flight attendants want to send the message not only to the management
but to the flying public that there's troubled skies ahead," he said.
"Management can choose to listen to it or not, but we won't remain silent
any longer."


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************