news article:12/07/2005
US Airways' gate, reservation agents, may gain pay hike
Karen Ferrick-Roman, Times Staff
A joint contract for US Airways and America West Airlines gate and reservation agents puts raises on the horizon for many workers.
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The contract was announced Tuesday by the newly merged airline and the two unions representing agents: the Communications Workers of America at US Airways and the Teamsters at America West, said Candice Johnson, spokeswoman for the CWA national. The two unions formed a coalition to represent the agents, including about 195 in Pittsburgh.
While the pilots groups have a transition agreement in place, this is really the first joint contract since the merger, said airline spokesman Phil Gee.
The agents' contract serves several purposes.
First, it resolves a CWA grievance and lifts the airline's pay freeze, said Jim Drummond, president of the CWA local in Pittsburgh and a member of the negotiating team. In mid-October, the CWA filed a grievance, seeking about $5 an hour more for its top-scale workers because of a clause kicked in by the merger.
The company and union settled on a $1-an-hour raise for top-scale employees, increasing top pay from about $17 an hour to about $18 an hour, starting April 1, 2006, Drummond said. In January 2007, workers will get another increase of 60 cents an hour. Raises are scheduled for every year of the CWA contract, which expires in December 2011.
The agreement also ends pay differences between small stations, such as Harrisburg, and mainline operations, such as Pittsburgh. At these small stations, which had regional planes and up to four mainline jets, workers earned about one-third less, Drummond said. These 280 workers across the old US Airways system will be incrementally brought up to the mainline level, as will America West agents.
Although the Teamsters have represented America West agents since 2004, they had no contract, Johnson said.
Over the next 20 months, America West agents will be phased into the US Airways' pay scale, starting with a raise of 40 cents an hour in April 2006, Drummond said. America West agents had topped out at $13 an hour, but merit, not seniority, was the basis for raises. The Teamsters will develop a seniority list and have six months to iron out remaining issues with the company.
The contract, Johnson and US Airways Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker agreed, was an important milestone.
"That we have reached an agreement so quickly ... is indicative of the continued progress we are making at the new US Airways," Parker said in a prepared statement.
"These are groups, especially the US Airways agents, that have taken concessions and cuts over the years in order to keep the airline growing," Johnson said. "This also shows they can be a part of the new US Airways.
"Now, the new US Airways can go forward."
©Beaver County Times Allegheny Times 2005
newbie....be patient, expansion means job openings. Your DP will pull this off. Where is your faith in this man?
Done with the "AWA saved our A*#!". 
