Airline Division Testifies Before Congressional Panel, Says Bankruptcy Reform Is Needed To Protect Airline Workers From Abuse
Joined by Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, and representatives from APA, USAPA and the IAM, Stephen Nagrotsky, deputy director of the Teamsters Airline Division, testified this week before the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law hearing, "Protecting Employees in Airline Bankruptcies." He testified that airlines received $5 billion in taxpayer money in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, reimbursement for increases in insurance premiums and billions in loan guarantees.
He further testified that in addition to that substantial public assistance, airlines shifted their pension liabilities to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation and the
He urged that Congress preclude airlines from using the bankruptcy code to get rid of their pension obligations without a process that takes employees' concerns into account. A process involving negotiation and mediation has been used successfully by the railroad industry for decades.
Nagrotsky recommended that air carriers covered by Title II of the Railway Labor Act be treated the same as their counterparts in the railroad industry. Rail carriers are exempt from two sections of the Bankruptcy Code, 1113 and 365.
"Both of these statutory provisions have been used by carriers to reject collective bargaining agreements in order to outsource skilled and highly critical jobs overseas and to terminate their employees' defined benefit pensions," Nagrotsky said.
Omni Contract Discussions Continue
Contract discussions between pilots and flight engineers of Omni Air International, represented by Local 747 of the Airline Division, and management continued this week in
The next scheduled negotiations will be held in
United Mechanics Discussions Continue In
This week the United Negotiations Team convened in
On Monday, December 14th, a Negotiations subcommittee met at SFO with Barbara Forrest, United's Airport Operations and Cargo, Managing Director for Vendor Planning, and her team. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Company's "Hub Strategies" program to "right-size" the Ground Services Equipment area. The Company's right-sizing effort comes as a result of overall reduced flight operations, resulting in a ground equipment surplus. The Company and the IBT have agreed to cooperate and collaborate with one another in order to minimize/mitigate a reduction in force, while allowing the Company to achieve necessary cost-savings to remain competitive. The IBT's position has been made clear that it will engage in constructive discussions with the Company to find solutions in these areas.
After a brief delay at the direction of the NMB due to a clerical error in the initial voting instructions that inadvertently left the Airline Division off the ballot notification and voting documents, voting has begun for the
The NMB determined that a need existed to re-run the vote earlier this year when they found "that Cape Air's conduct interfered with, influenced, or coerced employees' choice of representative in an election conducted pursuant to Section 2, Ninth, of the Railway Labor Act (RLA)"
The vote tally will occur on January 13, 2009. Cape Air crewmembers with questions for the Airline Division can email them to: [email protected] or visit the website set up for them at: www.capeairforteamsters.org
AAWW Crewmembers, Management Continue Discussions
The union negotiating committee met with management from December 8 thru 10, to resume formal bargaining. This week's agenda was dedicated to regular bargaining over various open sections of the CBA. While tentative agreements were reached on several subsections in the five CBA sections exchanged this week, there is much work yet to be done to close the gaps on open subsections and the union will soon begin preparing proposals addressing pay rates, benefits, profit sharing and retirement.
The Company and
The Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo seniority lists have already been integrated into a single list, and the National Mediation Board has already determined that Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo represent a "single carrier" for representation purposes under the Railway Labor Act. Pursuant to the Negotiation Framework for a Merged Collective Bargaining Agreement LOA, the Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo contracts will be merged into a single contract through negotiations or interest arbitration.
Their next regular bargaining session with the Company is scheduled for the week of January 12th in
Labor Developments
U.S. airline mechanics, including representatives from American Airlines' Tulsa Maintenance & Engineering Center, lobbied Congress this week regarding the threat posed by unsupervised foreign maintenance of U.S. commercial aircraft?Delta's long-standing, largely union-free status is up in the air as the National Mediation Board engages in an unusually contentious debate over changing a rule that could make it easier for airline workers to unionize–legally, there'll be no impasse in American Airlines' labor talks until the National Mediation Board decides there's an impasse. But practically speaking, the talks with American's three major unions are at a virtual stalemate.
Regulatory & Safety
Colgan Air, under fire for hiring, training, pay and commuting policies after the February crash of Flight 3407 near Buffalo, New York, is blaming pilot error for the wreck, which killed all 49 people aboard and one person on the ground–French investigators are unable to establish what caused a fatal June Atlantic plane crash but searches for the flight recorders will resume in February.
Airline Industry Finances & Structure
ATA reports domestic
International Aviation Developments
Canadian consumers can look forward to cheaper flights to Europe now that Canada has signed a new reciprocal air transport agreement with the European Union–the U.S. and Japan have reached a landmark agreement to relax limits on flights between the two countries–Japan Airlines is likely to choose Delta Air Lines as its overseas partner, ending its ties with American Airlines and the OneWorld alliance, Japan's Asahi newspaper reported on Friday.
Northwest 188
The captain of the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot its destination by 150 miles in October told investigators four days later that he was "blown away" by how long he and his first officer had been distracted from their duties, according to documents released Wednesday by the NTSB. The Northwest Airlines pilots who became so absorbed in their laptop PCs that they flew 150 miles past their destination have added to the concerns of the public, during this busy holiday travel season. This incident should also be a wake-up call to the aviation industry.
Miscellaneous
British Airways won a court ruling on Thursday to prevent a 12-day cabin crew strike that threatened to strand hundreds of thousands of passengers over Christmas–Irish airline Ryanair said it had pulled out of talks to buy 200 aircraft from Boeing and would now trim investment from 2011 to cut costs and free up cash to pay to investors–Boeing called yesterday's 787 first flight a success despite the inclement weather that cut it short, setting the stage for what the company hopes will be a smooth flight test program–this week, DOT Secretary La Hood spent a few minutes talking transportation with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.