Horizon Air Pilots Win Pay Arbitration

SurferLucas

Southern Gentleman
Horizon Air Pilots Will Receive Wage Increase
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Horizon Air and its pilots, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters APA Local 1224, today jointly announced that the neutral arbitrator responsible for choosing the 2012-2013 wage structure most appropriate for the Horizon Air pilots has ruled that there should be a 2.8 percent increase for all pilots in 2012 and an additional 1.2 percent increase for first officers in 2013, as outlined in the proposal by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), which represents Horizon's pilots. See complete decision.

“Of course, we will entirely abide by this decision, which was the product of a very fair process agreed to by both sides,” says President Glenn Johnson. “Despite our different views on compensation levels, Horizon and the IBT always agreed about one thing: the professionalism of our highly skilled pilots and the great value they add to Horizon every single day.”

In November 2010, Horizon's pilots ratified their current five-year contract, which becomes amendable December 2015. It includes a clause specifying that wages will be re-examined by the company and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) twice, once in 2011 and again 2013.

This year, Horizon and the IBT arrived at a tentative wage settlement, but it was rejected by the pilots who had not seen a wage increase in more than five years. Per the contract, both parties then presented their “last, best and final” offers to the arbitrator, who was charged with choosing one or the other (versus some combination of the two), after considering the merits of each.

“Both sides made compelling arguments in presenting a case to the arbitrator for consideration and we are very pleased with the arbitrator’s decision,” said Horizon Air Captain Mark Niles, who serves as the Executive Council Chairman for APA Teamsters Local 1224. “This small boost in wages will have a tremendous impact on the morale among our pilots. We have always been proud to be affiliated with a strong company, and look forward to working with Horizon Air to build upon the company’s continued success.”

Horizon and the IBT will return to the negotiating table by late 2013 to attempt to arrive at an agreement for 2014-2015 wages. If a tentative settlement is not achieved and ratified, the decision will again shift to an outside neutral arbitrator.

Horizon serves 48 cities throughout Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Baja California Sur (Mexico), and British Columbia and Alberta (Canada). Together, Horizon Air and Alaska Airlines serve more than 90 cities and are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK).

The Airline Professionals Association, Teamsters Local 1224 represents the flight deck crewmembers of ABX Air, Atlas Air, Cape Air, Gulfstream, Horizon Air, Kalitta Air, Miami Air, Omni Air, Polar Air Cargo, Southern Air and USA 3000.
 
Very nice!
I wonder how much the pinocolaba jcba Q400 rates helped them in this case.
 
Congratz to the Horizon guys. Always a class act. As a pax and an MVP, Alaska has the best product out there. Wish they would treat the people that make it happen (the employees) with a bit more professionalism.
 
Very nice!
I wonder how much the pinocolaba jcba Q400 rates helped them in this case.

The guys and girls at Colgan really stepped up to the plate with their latest contract which was used during our negotiations, so a big :clap: goes out to them, and hopefully we can get another in 2 years to help them get higher rates for the Q400.

2.8%? Ouch.

So less than inflation then.

It's not much, but it's still a raise. The company wanted a 5% paycut, so it was going to be our offer or theirs...no middle ground. Take into account that FO's get an additional 1.2% in year 2 for a 4% pay increase, total.

All in all, it was a win for Horizon Pilot's and for regional carriers as a whole, esp ones that might fly the Q400. Our payscale sets the standard that Colgan helped us to set, so again those of you at Colgan (esp your Exco), nice job!
 
Very nice!
I wonder how much the pinocolaba jcba Q400 rates helped them in this case.

Not much, I'm sure in setting the price they only looked at our current rates, which end up being about the same for a 5 year captain. If they had been bargaining for the term of the contract, then they prob would have looked at the contract rates over the next 5 years, which is where the 9l side will start to make more increases. Any raise is better than nothing... no raise is effectively a pay cut.

When you Co pare rates, remember that a horizon guy has one less bid period, and 5 hours less gar... which brings their current rate right in line with the 9l rate... (rough math... I'm not going to run pay differences for. 20 year longevity window)

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
 
For those who don't know, AAG wanted to push a 10% Return On Invested Capital (ROIC) from both Alaska Air and Horizon Air. Horizon was close to 8% BEFORE the CRJ-700's left the fleet, then suddenly the ROIC meter on our company page magically disappeared. Horizon management tried to use the common scare tactics of "AAG won't invest in us because our cost are too high", "We won't be their first choice for CPA lift", "We won't be able to grow and we'll become stagnant", etc.

This is from the Arbitrators letter on the final ruling:


The “problem” of increasing further the existing differential between Horizon
pilot pay rates and those at other regional carriers is tempered, to some degree, by a
number of facts relative to the type of service provided by Horizon’s pilot group. As Mr.
Johnson himself recognized, the present complement of pilots are very senior, highly
qualified, and dedicated to maintaining and improving safety, excellent customer service,
timely departures and arrivals, and supporting the overall profitability and success of the
Carrier. The Carrier’s flying includes higher proportions of flying into small airports
with short runways and under challenging and often adverse physical conditions. The
Carrier requires that its pilots be certified to perform Special Authorization Category III
approaches to take advantage of the ability to take off and land in low visibility
conditions that other turboprop pilots and regional jet pilots cannot. The Carrier’s Q-400
aircraft are also equipped with a Head-Up Guidance System to assist in low visibility
flying. The result has been significant additional savings in flight operations and through
reduced delays and cancellations. The Carrier’s Pilots have helped the Carrier earn its
high customer satisfaction, high on-time ratings, and excellent safety record (67 airports
in 3 countries, 620,000 flights, and over 30 million flown passengers over more than
10 years without any accidents), as well as contributed to the record earnings currently
being posted


The final area for discussion and analysis relates to the Carrier’s contention that,
if the requested reduction in pay rates is not implemented and if the Union’s wage
increases are adopted in their place, then the Rate of Return on Invested Capital will be
depressed to the point that AAG will not be inclined to make the capital investments in
terms of new equipment and other items needed to allow the Carrier to grow and thrive.
This is perhaps the most troubling of all of the arguments in this case. It is by definition
one that is more speculative since it involves a projection of future behavior based upon
financial performance that, at present, is unknown. The effects, however, on the Carrier
and on the Pilot group if some of the more dire predictions of the Carrier were to come to
pass could be profound.
 
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