Unions Furious With Exclusion of Employees in UAL Payout

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Apparently a "terse" writer
Staff member
Unions Furious With Exclusion of Employees in UAL Payout

CHICAGO, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The leaders of the three
largest Unions at United Airlines, Mark Bathurst, Chairman of the United
Chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA); Greg Davidowitch, United
Master Executive Council President of the Association of Flight
Attendants-CWA (AFA); and Randy Canale, President and Directing General
Chairman of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace
Workers (IAM), District 141, issued the following statement in response to
the decision of UAL executives, and approved by the UAL Board of Directors,
to give a $250 million special payout to shareholders:



"ALPA, AFA and the IAM, representing the overwhelming majority of
union-represented employees, are furious with the UAL Board of Directors
and management's decision to give a special shareholder payout to the
exclusion of employees.



"In every venue available, we have voiced our opposition to any
'shareholder initiative' that does not equally recognize employee
sacrifices. We have warned management that this move is wrong for the
business, wrong for the employees and ultimately wrong for lenders. These
executives have pushed through their personal agenda while ignoring serious
concerns raised by nearly every stakeholder, industry trends and the
company's financial position. This is being done with utter disregard for
the interests of employees and the long-term success of United Airlines.



"The best shareholder initiative would be one that invests in the
employees for the long-term success of United Airlines. Shareholders in the
pre-bankrupt UAL were issued new stock in the same manner as every other
constituency, including the employees, when United emerged from bankruptcy.
Today, employees who lost their pensions and work longer hours for less pay
continue to suffer the affects of the bankruptcy. Not one penny of employee
concessions has been repaid.



"Since United Airlines exited Chapter 11, UAL management has
renegotiated excessive executive compensation packages for themselves and
they have renegotiated their agreements with lenders. If they have the
ability to renegotiate their own compensation packages, if they have the
ability to negotiate with lenders, if they have the ability to negotiate
with shareholders to create another management bonus, then the have the
ability to enter negotiations with us."
 
Eh, they'll never be permitted to strike and management knows it, so there's no reason to do anything but give the employees the finger.
 
sick outs, slow downs, mel the crap out of everything, raid the liquor cabinet.... employees find a way
 
Raiding the liquor cabinet is a good way to get fired, but operating by the book is a good way to stick it to management. You know...

-Making sure you don't ever move any faster than 180 in the downwind, and if you're moving that slow make sure you've got at least flaps 9 out.

-Run the APU just in case you might need it.

-Make sure you don't taxi too fast, safety first!
 
Damn man... You are learning this airline stuff fast!

I think with a new administration in a year or so there is a very real possibility that a work group will be released. Also, although it may take a while, I think we are going to see a change to the RLA rules at some point.
 
jtrain609 said:
Raiding the liquor cabinet is a good way to get fired, but operating by the book is a good way to stick it to management. You know...
Click to expand...

Good stuff. Another one that's been mentioned within UAL ALPA is the (dis)use of single-engine taxi-out. It's all fun and games until the captain deviates on a taxi because the FO is concentrating on the temp. (Personally, Booker loves hearing "clear right?" just as the ITT is peaking.)
 
BobDDuck said:
Also, although it may take a while, I think we are going to see a change to the RLA rules at some point.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I've not seen a single serious proposal for amending the RLA. So don't hold your breath. Even the Democrats would rather shaft airline labor than risk thousands of holiday travelers getting stranded due to a strike.
 
Its so unfair that unions are so weak when it comes right down to it. You really can't pull out the "big stick" because striking is illegal unless you have permission from the government . I believe the government will rarely allow a strike because the loss of revenue from airline tax dollars and other passenger revenues. It makes the government look bad because if a strike occurs, they will be blamed for the economic down turn and they wouldn't want that. It's a lose lose for the unions. I feel the government is just not on the unions side, which is sad because there's some unions dollars that support/supported some of these elected officials campaigns.
 
Here's the question of the day.

Is the Railway Labor Act outdated?

Should we be allowed to drop trow and strike like European transportation labor can?
 
jtrain609 said:
Raiding the liquor cabinet is a good way to get fired, but operating by the book is a good way to stick it to management. You know...

-Making sure you don't ever move any faster than 180 in the downwind, and if you're moving that slow make sure you've got at least flaps 9 out.

-Run the APU just in case you might need it.

-Make sure you don't taxi too fast, safety first!
Click to expand...

That's just small potatoes. The best thing to do is writing up airplanes at outstations. That's one of the big items that the Netjets and ASA pilots did, with much success. Nothing screws up an operation more than writing up an item at an outstation that requires the company to fly in mechanics from a mx base. I once destroyed Pinnacle's entire IND operation for two straight days because I wrote up a radio at an outstation after they kept signing it off as "ops check good" the first few times I wrote it up that day. There were schedulers that wouldn't talk to me for weeks after that one. :D
 
Minnesota_Flyer said:
Unfortunately, I've not seen a single serious proposal for amending the RLA. So don't hold your breath. Even the Democrats would rather shaft airline labor than risk thousands of holiday travelers getting stranded due to a strike.
Click to expand...

The reason you haven't seen a proposal is because ALPA and other unions have specifically avoided pushing for them. ALPA has been very careful about not messing with the RLA, because McCain is still waiting to push his baseball-style arbitration bill through the system. Until we get someone extremely pro-labor in the White House to kill anything like that, we'd rather not risk getting the Congressmen and Senators talking about RLA changes.
 
Doug Taylor said:
Should we be allowed to drop trow and strike like European transportation labor can?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't go that far, but I think we need defined time limits written into the RLA about how long you can stay in each stage of the Section 6 process. For instance, direct talks for 3 months, mediation for 6 months, then a mandatory release without the possibility of a PEB or congressional intervention.
 
I'm new to all this airline, and to union talk, but can someone please tell me why didn't the unions when they took pay cuts after 9/11 didn't they say, "hey we'll cut pay now, but once the airlines start making money again, we get our pay back"??? Seems that would have made sense.
 
deek said:
I'm new to all this airline, and to union talk, but can someone please tell me why didn't the unions when they took pay cuts after 9/11 didn't they say, "hey we'll cut pay now, but once the airlines start making money again, we get our pay back"??? Seems that would have made sense.
Click to expand...

The unions didn't have the leverage to demand that. They were negotiating under bankruptcy, and the judge had the ability to impose pretty much anything and refuse the pilots the ability to strike. Management was refusing snap-back clauses, so without any leverage, the unions had no way to force it. This is why ALPA is currently working to change the bankruptcy laws to prevent this from happening again.
 
deek said:
I'm new to all this airline, and to union talk, but can someone please tell me why didn't the unions when they took pay cuts after 9/11 didn't they say, "hey we'll cut pay now, but once the airlines start making money again, we get our pay back"??? Seems that would have made sense.
Click to expand...

It seems like it makes sense...

Bankruptcy judges only do what's best for the creditors; labor doesn't really get the same consideration in court...


Kevin
 
The first basic rule of investing is that it carries with it the danger of loss. Shareholders have risked their own money with the expectation that they will enjoy a reasonable rate of return on that money should the company be successful. If the company is not successful, the shareholders lose their money. The shareholders weighed the odds and took the risk. After years of losing money, the company is becoming successful, and the shareholders are entitled to their payout.

Contrast that with the employees, who are providing their time, skills, and labor in exchange for a salary. Where is the employees' investment? Where is the employees' risk? If United went belly up tomorrow, the shareholders would lose everything they have invested, while the United employees would leave with the same skills they brought with them, plus the knowledge, experience and training that they have acquired at United's expense.

Some will argue that the employees have invested in the company via wage concessions. That is nonsense. A wage concession is not an investment. A wage concession is an agreement to take less money for services. For some unknown reason, the United employees agreed to take less money in return for shares of stock. In other words, they gave up income in exchange for risk. Why they did so is beyond my understanding.

The way I see it, the investors and shareholders were the ones who saved United by providing capital at a time when the conventional wisdom advised against investing in airlines. The employees need to remember that. You start screwing your shareholders with strikes, slowdowns and other job actions, and they may not be around the next time United finds itself in financial trouble. Then where will United be?
 
Employees invest their life in a company. You say a 15 year captain doesn't "lose" anything if he gets laid off because he still has his knowledge and skills. I say #### you to that.
 
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