aobt14
Well-Known Member
Well it appears that the new Pinnacle contract has set the stage for the future of regional airlines. Pay will be cut even more all across the board and I think Eagle might disappear sooner rather than later. I was considering putting in my application but this article has me worried. Does anyone think it holds any merit?
Edit: Article is below
The Air Line Pilots Association unit at American Eagle is telling its 3,000-plus members that a new pilot contract at competitor Pinnacle Airlines Inc. is pushing other regional carriers to bring down their labor expenses as well.
The Air Line Pilots Association unit at American Eagle is telling its 3,000-plus members that a new pilot contract at competitor Pinnacle Airlines Inc. is pushing other regional carriers to bring down their labor expenses as well. Pinnacle is owned by Delta Air Lines Inc.
As a result, the union’s master executive council at American Eagle has voted to negotiate with American Airlines Inc. management to see if there is an acceptable solution.
“We’re committed to finding our way through this challenge,” Dave Ryter, vice chairman of the master executive council, said Tuesday.
The demands are coming as US Airways executives prepare to take over the top jobs at merger partner American Airlines Inc. In early meetings, US Airways leaders have told ALPA officials that American Eagle needs to lower its costs to compete with Pinnacle.
Representatives for US Airways and American declined to comment Tuesday on the American Eagle negotiations.
The new contract talks are “the right course of action,” Tony Gutierrez, president of the master executive council, told pilots in a hotline message Monday.
“It is not uncommon for me to hear pilots state, ‘Tell the company that we’re done negotiating with them,’ or ‘Tell the company we already have a bankruptcy agreement.’ Although these statements may sound simple and even correct, they are not,” Gutierrez wrote.
“It is not the job of your elected representatives [the MEC] to decide whether to shrink Eagle’s flight operation into non-existence. It is their job to fight vigorously to bring pilots as many viable options as possible so that you can decide the fate of your own career,” he wrote.
The ALPA unit at American Eagle agreed to deep cuts in October 2012 as part of the bankruptcy reorganization of American Eagle, American and parent AMR Corp. However, those cuts didn’t slice as deeply as a subsequent concessionary contract agreed to by Pinnacle.
In his hotline, Gutierrez said the union understood that Pinnacle had lower costs than American Eagle and other airlines. The union considered the Pinnacle contract an “outlier and not a likely industry trend,” he stated.
However, Delta has since made public a significant point: It can reset the hourly rates it pays its regional partners to match the rate paid to the second lowest of its partners.
“As a result, Delta’s announcement made public its ability to drive all of its regional feed costs near Pinnacle by the end of 2017,” Gutierrez wrote. “Because nearly fifty percent of all mainline departures are flown by regional partners, the competitive advantage that Delta is threatening to realize is massive.”
Before its bankruptcy filing Nov. 29, 2011, AMR had intended to spin off American Eagle as an independent carrier. The bankruptcy put those plans on hold. The carrier’s future was put in further doubt after American and US Airways announced Feb. 14 that they planned to merge.
Airline officials have not made public the details of the requested concessions. Ryter declined to discuss the specifics of US Airways’ June 12 presentation. “US Airways specifically asked that their proposal stay confidential,” he said, “so I’m not at liberty to discuss it.”
Some union officials have told members that US Airways’ proposal would pay new pilots less than current pilots receive. A Miami-based union leader said in a July 1 message that the “hypothetical proposal would have limited changes to current pilots; however, all future pilots would have a lower pay rate, 401(k), and medical benefits.”
Among the things at stake is a potential order for 76-seat regional jets, which are larger than any aircraft now flown by American Eagle.
After Delta made public its arrangement with its regional carriers last month, US Airways told ALPA that “it is not willing to place the next ‘large’ RJ [regional jet] order at Eagle or any other regional airline that does not have a plan in place to trend toward Pinnacle’s cost structure,” Gutierrez told members. “And that is where we find ourselves today.”
Published reports indicate that American has been talking to Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer about an order for 76-seat jets. An American spokeswoman declined to comment Tuesday on any such discussions. http://www.dallasnews.com/business/...le-pilots-face-new-cost-cutting-pressures.ece
Edit: Article is below
The Air Line Pilots Association unit at American Eagle is telling its 3,000-plus members that a new pilot contract at competitor Pinnacle Airlines Inc. is pushing other regional carriers to bring down their labor expenses as well.
By TERRY MAXON
Staff Writer
Published: 09 July 2013 08:29 PMUpdated: 10 July 2013 10:08 AM
Pilots at American Eagle are under new pressure to accept more cost cutting, less than a year after they swallowed a concessionary contract, their union leaders are warning.The Air Line Pilots Association unit at American Eagle is telling its 3,000-plus members that a new pilot contract at competitor Pinnacle Airlines Inc. is pushing other regional carriers to bring down their labor expenses as well. Pinnacle is owned by Delta Air Lines Inc.
As a result, the union’s master executive council at American Eagle has voted to negotiate with American Airlines Inc. management to see if there is an acceptable solution.
“We’re committed to finding our way through this challenge,” Dave Ryter, vice chairman of the master executive council, said Tuesday.
The demands are coming as US Airways executives prepare to take over the top jobs at merger partner American Airlines Inc. In early meetings, US Airways leaders have told ALPA officials that American Eagle needs to lower its costs to compete with Pinnacle.
Representatives for US Airways and American declined to comment Tuesday on the American Eagle negotiations.
The new contract talks are “the right course of action,” Tony Gutierrez, president of the master executive council, told pilots in a hotline message Monday.
“It is not uncommon for me to hear pilots state, ‘Tell the company that we’re done negotiating with them,’ or ‘Tell the company we already have a bankruptcy agreement.’ Although these statements may sound simple and even correct, they are not,” Gutierrez wrote.
“It is not the job of your elected representatives [the MEC] to decide whether to shrink Eagle’s flight operation into non-existence. It is their job to fight vigorously to bring pilots as many viable options as possible so that you can decide the fate of your own career,” he wrote.
The ALPA unit at American Eagle agreed to deep cuts in October 2012 as part of the bankruptcy reorganization of American Eagle, American and parent AMR Corp. However, those cuts didn’t slice as deeply as a subsequent concessionary contract agreed to by Pinnacle.
In his hotline, Gutierrez said the union understood that Pinnacle had lower costs than American Eagle and other airlines. The union considered the Pinnacle contract an “outlier and not a likely industry trend,” he stated.
However, Delta has since made public a significant point: It can reset the hourly rates it pays its regional partners to match the rate paid to the second lowest of its partners.
“As a result, Delta’s announcement made public its ability to drive all of its regional feed costs near Pinnacle by the end of 2017,” Gutierrez wrote. “Because nearly fifty percent of all mainline departures are flown by regional partners, the competitive advantage that Delta is threatening to realize is massive.”
Before its bankruptcy filing Nov. 29, 2011, AMR had intended to spin off American Eagle as an independent carrier. The bankruptcy put those plans on hold. The carrier’s future was put in further doubt after American and US Airways announced Feb. 14 that they planned to merge.
Airline officials have not made public the details of the requested concessions. Ryter declined to discuss the specifics of US Airways’ June 12 presentation. “US Airways specifically asked that their proposal stay confidential,” he said, “so I’m not at liberty to discuss it.”
Some union officials have told members that US Airways’ proposal would pay new pilots less than current pilots receive. A Miami-based union leader said in a July 1 message that the “hypothetical proposal would have limited changes to current pilots; however, all future pilots would have a lower pay rate, 401(k), and medical benefits.”
Among the things at stake is a potential order for 76-seat regional jets, which are larger than any aircraft now flown by American Eagle.
After Delta made public its arrangement with its regional carriers last month, US Airways told ALPA that “it is not willing to place the next ‘large’ RJ [regional jet] order at Eagle or any other regional airline that does not have a plan in place to trend toward Pinnacle’s cost structure,” Gutierrez told members. “And that is where we find ourselves today.”
Published reports indicate that American has been talking to Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer about an order for 76-seat jets. An American spokeswoman declined to comment Tuesday on any such discussions. http://www.dallasnews.com/business/...le-pilots-face-new-cost-cutting-pressures.ece