UAL Team Preps for Next Round of Negotiations
With last week’s scheduled negotiations postponed due to the snowstorm that affected over nineteen states, the union language subcommittee met this week to review and edit proposals which will be passed to the Company next week. A significant amount of work was reported to have been accomplished on all of the articles which remain open and will be discussed next week when the parties convene in Chicago.
Week In Review News Items
Labor Developments
TSA has a morale problem. Administrator John Pistole knows it, and is trying to do something about it. TSA employees ranked it 220 out of 224 agencies in the 2010 annual Best Places to Work survey conducted by the Partnership for Public Service. Pistole told House Homeland Security subcommittee on Transportation Security members Thursday that granting employees the ability to vote to receive collective bargaining rights is one way he is trying to change the work environment…the union representing British Airways BAY.L cabin crew said on Tuesday it planned to ballot members again on taking strike action after saying a recent vote was potentially invalid. Cabin crew voted last month to hold further strikes in a long-running dispute which has already cost the airline some 150 million pounds.
United Continental Holdings on Monday said it would cut up to 500 jobs at the Houston headquarters of Continental Airlines, which merged last year with United Airlines. The cuts would be management and salaried positions…a meeting between the senior management of Qantas and the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) this week was followed by grim words on both sides. Qantas reaffirmed that “The international business is not sustainable in its current form and change is imperative for it to survive”. The president of AIPA, Captain Barry Jackson, said “We are perplexed by their total rejection of any commitment to job security for our pilots linked to a reduced pay claim and substantial productivity improvements.”
Legislative, Safety & Regulatory
FAA is reported to be moving closer to a pilot training shakeup similar to proposals made by the Australian and International Pilots Association to the incomplete Senate inquiry into airline safety and pilot training in Australia…airline industry officials said an increase in passenger-ticket taxes being considered by President Barack Obama would reduce travel demand and add to what the industry’s chief lobbyist called two decades of burdensome levies on carriers.
One reason airport security measures frustrate travelers is that screening procedures tend to treat all passengers the same: as potential terrorists. But in the wake of the furor last fall over pat-downs and body scanners, several industry organizations are working on proposals to overhaul security checkpoints to provide more or less scrutiny based on the risk profile of each traveler…TSA has told members of Congress that more than 15 million passengers received full-body scans at airports without any malfunctions that put travelers at risk of an excessive radiation dose. Despite the reassurance, however, the TSA has yet to release radiation inspection reports for its X-ray equipment — two months after lawmakers called for them to be made public.
Airline Industry Finances & Structure
Business travelers hopping on a plane at the last minute can expect to pay more. United and Continental airlines increased many of their high-end fares by $20 to $60 round trip on Monday. Delta and American matched the price moves on Tuesday, says Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com, who closely monitors fares. The fare increases most likely will affect corporate trekkers who want a seat in first class or need to travel right away. But it comes on the heels of a series of price increases — five since December — that are affecting leisure and business travelers alike, as the airline industry boosts fares to keep pace with the escalating cost of fuel.
Miscellaneous
Airlines' strategy to cancel flights early and often ahead of bad weather paid off in December, when not a single U.S. flight was stuck for more than three hours because of a massive post-Christmas blizzard…federal officials are poised to broaden new tarmac delay rules to include overseas carriers, closing a loophole that was exposed during the Boxing Day blizzard that shuttered New York City’s airports. The U.S. Department of Transportation said Thursday it expects to issue the latest passenger protections in April and will likely build on a controversial 2010 rule that set fines of $27,500 for every passenger on board planes operated by domestic carriers that idle at an airport for more than 180 minutes.