Airline Division News Items
Frontier Employees Ratify New Long Term Contract
The Teamsters won an appeal of a bankruptcy ruling and as a result a new agreement was negotiated and a comprehensive settlement of the company's litigation under section 1113 of the bankruptcy code was agreed to. That agreement was ratified by the membership. The mechanics and related voted 105 to 35 in favor and the material specialists voted 8 to 0 in favor. By this ratification the company will withdraw its appeal of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling which overturned the original bankruptcy court ruling.
Some key provisions are:
-a snap back agreement to return wages, vacation and holiday give backs in the new agreement when it expires in 2012.
-an unsecured claim still in effect will be settled and paid to membership upon exit from bankruptcy.
-the complete withdrawal of Frontier's proposal to outsource heavy maintenance to a foreign country.
United Mechanics Section 6 Negotiations Reach First Tentative Agreement
Negotiations with United resumed this week in Chicago. On August 17th, 18th, and 19th the Teamsters Negotiating Team met with the Company officials to continue discussions on non-economic contract articles.
This week's negotiations centered on Article XI Vacancies, which covers the many different aspects of the bidding process including the posting of bulletins, transfers, and temporary assignments, including their duration. At the end of the second day, a tentative agreement had been reached on this article. The negotiating team feels that this agreement is fair and equitable. It also more clearly defines the intent of this language in order to provide better protection for the membership. The negotiating team said. "We are hopeful that this first tentative agreement will lead to more productive discussions in these negotiations in the coming months."
The next negotiation session is scheduled for September 15th and 16th in San Francisco
Continental Mechanics Met in Newark-Progress Made
The Continental Mechanics Negotiating Committee met with the Company in Newark, New Jersey
on August 4, 5, and 62009. John Rainey, VP of Financial Planning & Analysis gave the negotiating committee a financial presentation of the current airline industry and the economic forecast for Continental Airlines. Manny Naeem, Staff VP Technical Operations Planning, gave the committee a presentation on the aircraft scheduled for heavy check. These maintenance lines include the heavy check lines at performed in house at EWR, HOU, IAH, LAX, and MCO as well as the lines outsourced.
The articles that were exchanged during negotiations included Article 3 – Covered Crafts, Classifications and Bid Areas, Article 7 – Hours of Service, Article 14 – Safety and Health, Article 17 – Overtime, Article 21 – General and Miscellaneous.
The next scheduled negotiation session is for August 24, 25, and 26, 2009 in Houston.
Piedmont Mechanics Ratify New Collective Bargaining Agreement
A long contested new collective bargaining agreement was finally completed for Piedmont mechanics and related employees. A ballot count was conducted on August 13, 2009, on the Tentative Agreement. The CBA was ratified by a vote of 135 to 46.
Republic Cuts Back-office and Administrative Jobs at
MidwestAirlines
Republic Airways Holdings, the new owners of Midwest Airlines, plans to cut about 100 jobs from the Milwaukeearea, a reduction of about 9 percent. Most of the cuts will come from Midwest's Oak Creek, Wis., headquarters and operations at Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport. The jobs that won't be touched include mechanics at Midwest's maintenance hanger, gate agents and ground crews at Mitchell International, and customer service agents.Republic also recently won the right to purchase Frontier Airlines, but no announcements have been made regarding Frontier employees. The Teamsters represent about 450 employees at Frontier.
Week in Review News Items
Labor Developments
Southwest Airlines' failed attempt to buy a major rival in the Denver market has sparked debate over whether the carrier's staff relations will impede its efforts to seize market share. After a whirlwind romance with bankrupt Frontier Airlines, Southwest finds itself jilted and facing some tough realities. Southwest's bid hinged in part on getting its pilots' union to make a deal with Frontier's, but it didn't happen. Southwest dropped its bid and let Republic win Denver-based Frontier. The loss surprised many longtime Southwest watchers. The industry's most successful airline has almost always gotten what it wanted, whether it be gates at Chicago's Midway Airport in December 2004, a negotiated end to the flight restrictions at its home airportof Dallas Love Field in 2006 or the purchase of coveted landings lots in New York last year.
Regulatory & Safety
French submarines have halted their search for the flight recorders of an Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic on June 1, killing all 228 people aboard, investigators said on Thursday. "The search has not been able to locate the wreck of the plane," France's BEA air investigators said in a statement. However, BEA indicated it had not lost all hope of finding the so-called black boxes and said a team of international experts would meet in the coming weeks to decide how best to continue the search process. And U.S. federal air safety officials investigating a collision over the Hudson River changed their account of the accident on a key point Monday saying that a helicopter struck by a small plane was not visible at first on the radar of an air traffic controller who had been handling the plane.
Airline Industry Finances
Passenger revenue for U.S.airlines in July fell 21% from the year-earlier month, the 9th consecutive month in which it has declined from the prior year, said the Air Transport Association. 4% fewer passengers traveled on U.S. carriers in July, while the average price to fly one mile fell 18%, ATA said. Internationally, the drop in premium air passengers eased slightly in June to 21.3%, compared with a 23.6% fall in May. New figures released this week by the International Air Transport Association said that the drop in economy passengers also eased from 7.6% in May to 5.5% in June.
The recession may have bottomed out, but big U.S.airlines worry that things will never return to the way they were. If thrifty consumers and cost-cutting businesses are this recession's legacies, airlines will be forced to shrink even more – parking planes, laying off workers and dropping destinations. Earlier this month, Delta Air Lines cited a gloomy revenue outlook for the rest of the year in its plans to cut more management jobs. If passengers don't return to the skies and fares don't rise, some airlines could run low on cash, raising the specter of additional bankruptcies.
Miscellaneous
New York City
has partnered with American Airlines to help stimulate domestic travel to the Big Apple. American is offering ultra-low fares from five cities if flyers book on AA.com…The road sign where the main drag ends at the western edge of Ely tells you that a long, desolate haul lies ahead. "HWY 50 — The Loneliest Road in America." The Essential Air Service program is the only reason Ely even has a commercial airport. The federal initiative was established after airlines were deregulated in 1978 to subsidize service to rural communities that airlines would otherwise abandon…Indignant letters can still get results for unhappy airline travellers, but more are finding that if you really want to vent your frustrations, you can now be loud, fast and public; at least that's the buzz on Twitter.