"Pilots' new chief warns U.S. airlines"

Friday, October 20, 2006

Pilots' new chief warns U.S. airlines
By John Schmeltzer
The Chicago (IL) Tribune


In a shift that could mean labor strife for some airlines, the largest U.S.
pilots union on Wednesday ousted its longtime president in favor of a leader
who is calling for a return to aggressive bargaining to restore weakened
contracts.

Continental Airlines pilot John Prater defeated Duane Woerth, a Northwest
Airlines captain who was seeking his third four-year term as president of
the Air Lines Pilots Association.

The union represents more than 60,000 pilots at 40 U.S. airlines, including
Elk Grove Township-based United Airlines. It does not represent pilots at
American Airlines or Southwest Airlines.

The election sends "a strong signal to the airline industry that ALPA pilots
are prepared to move into a new period of strong, concerted action to
rebuild their profession," the union said Wednesday.

After five years of givebacks, lost pensions and battered work rules, pilots
may need to "return to the hard-nosed tactics of earlier years," Prater said
in the statement issued at the union's Las Vegas convention.

"The airline industry survived because of the concessions pilots and other
workers made," said Prater, who lives in southern Illinois and flies out of
Newark Liberty International Airport. "Now it is time for us to see a
tangible return on these bitter investments."

He also could lead a change in the group's official opposition to raising
the retirement age from 60 years old. The rule was imposed by the Federal
Aviation Administration in 1959. Legislation to overturn the age limit is
pending in Congress.

Prater wants the FAA to follow the lead of the International Civil Aviation
Authority and adopt a retirement age of 65.

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