US Airways president Scott Kirby said Thursday that the airline believes a merger with AMR and American Airlines will help US Airways resolve the prolonged seniority dispute of pilots at US Airways.
Responding to a question at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference, Kirby talked about the dispute between pilots of US Airways and America West Airlines after the 2005 merger about how they would combine their seniority lists.
Here is his answer at the conference.
“Yeah. It’s ironic but the solution to that issue at US Airways I think it’s probably because we’re able to get this deal done. The area that people focus on the most is USAPA, our pilots’ union. In this case there is a huge benefit for our pilots in getting the deal done. They can go to the new contract at American, which is a very large pay raise for the US Airways pilots. So as I fly around the system, as I talk to the union leadership at USAPA, they want the deal to happen and they want us to get it done and they are working cooperatively with us and with APA to get the deal done.
“As to the seniority integration issue, I think this is the way out of the box for them. For those of you that follow the industry, there has been this seniority fight between the former US Airways and the former America West pilots. And as long as that seniority dispute is happening and isn’t resolved by a court, they really can’t negotiate a single agreement with the company because they can’t agree on what’s going to happen with seniority. And they are waiting for a court to answer that question for them.
“This is a way to start over and — not start over completely, but at least have a fresh beginning. Today, you know what, the analogy I use is that they painted themselves into a corner into a room, and neither side can compromise. This is a way to start the process over in a new integration.
“There is also federal legislation, the McCaskill-Bond legislation, which will mandate binding arbitration. So the plan in this case is that our union and APA combined will have a joint contract, and we will have that hopefully on the day we close the merger, assuming we do.
“That contract will be in place and so there will be a joint contract in place. And then more than likely the seniority issue will go through a process and ultimately get to arbitration. But because we will already have a joint contract in place, that arbitration will be binding. It will just get implemented.
“In the US Airways – America West case, it went to binding arbitration but there was a requirement as part of that that the two unions negotiate a joint contract with the company, which wasn’t done yet.
“And because it wasn’t done yet, the side that didn’t like it could prevent a joint contract from getting done. And because of that, the seniority integration never happened.
Responding to a question at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference, Kirby talked about the dispute between pilots of US Airways and America West Airlines after the 2005 merger about how they would combine their seniority lists.
Here is his answer at the conference.
“Yeah. It’s ironic but the solution to that issue at US Airways I think it’s probably because we’re able to get this deal done. The area that people focus on the most is USAPA, our pilots’ union. In this case there is a huge benefit for our pilots in getting the deal done. They can go to the new contract at American, which is a very large pay raise for the US Airways pilots. So as I fly around the system, as I talk to the union leadership at USAPA, they want the deal to happen and they want us to get it done and they are working cooperatively with us and with APA to get the deal done.
“As to the seniority integration issue, I think this is the way out of the box for them. For those of you that follow the industry, there has been this seniority fight between the former US Airways and the former America West pilots. And as long as that seniority dispute is happening and isn’t resolved by a court, they really can’t negotiate a single agreement with the company because they can’t agree on what’s going to happen with seniority. And they are waiting for a court to answer that question for them.
“This is a way to start over and — not start over completely, but at least have a fresh beginning. Today, you know what, the analogy I use is that they painted themselves into a corner into a room, and neither side can compromise. This is a way to start the process over in a new integration.
“There is also federal legislation, the McCaskill-Bond legislation, which will mandate binding arbitration. So the plan in this case is that our union and APA combined will have a joint contract, and we will have that hopefully on the day we close the merger, assuming we do.
“That contract will be in place and so there will be a joint contract in place. And then more than likely the seniority issue will go through a process and ultimately get to arbitration. But because we will already have a joint contract in place, that arbitration will be binding. It will just get implemented.
“In the US Airways – America West case, it went to binding arbitration but there was a requirement as part of that that the two unions negotiate a joint contract with the company, which wasn’t done yet.
“And because it wasn’t done yet, the side that didn’t like it could prevent a joint contract from getting done. And because of that, the seniority integration never happened.
