Judge Leaves Us Airways Pay Cuts Intact

[MarkMyWords]

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtl...ss/10216120.htm

A bankruptcy judge on Thursday left intact temporary 21 percent pay cuts on some US Airways workers that he imposed last month to help the airline conserve cash and avoid liquidation.

 

[USA320Pilot]

The article to start this topic indicated US Aiways Group Inc. CEO Bruce Lakefield said he believes that strike talk is simply part of what happens during contentious negotiations, but said such talk is liable to convince some travelers to use other airlines.

"If you're looking to book a flight and you have choices, and you read talk of a strike," then it will likely have an impact on a consumer's decision, Lakefield said during a brief court recess. He said the airline has seen some drop-off in bookings recently.

USA320Pilot comments: I believe US Airways will argue in court that the CWA & AFA public comments regarding a potential strike will be used against the union's to increase their cost cut. Why? The union comments are hurting revenue, thus, deeper cuts will be necessary to support the business plan and POR. ALPA's RC4 and NC were the first ALPA leaders to negotiate an agreement worse than the company's ask. It appears the other union's are doing this too.

From my personal observation of Judge Mitchell during the proceedings, he will not take actions on the part of the company without Arnold & Porter attorney's proving that they management has: been negotiating in good faith and that management's)contractual change requests are necessary, which can be done by comparing work rules and pay rates for similar positions at the profitable companies.

The fact the that IAM refued to negotiate prior to bankruptcy has already been extensively discussed in court and I believe it did not appear to sit well with the Mitchell, whic is probaly why the IAM is now negotiating. I believe Mitchell will not just arbitrarily award the company's motion without them first justifying their requests.

For ecample, the company submitted to the court evidence that pay rates for CWA represented employees are considerably higher here as compared to comparable positions at America West.

Mitchell continues to give the company everything they have asked for so far because US Airways' attorney's have done a good job justifying their requests. Union response hasn't been much stronger than, "but we've always done it that way!", which failed the rank-and-file again today.

Respectfully,

USA320Pilot

 

[EyeInTheSky]

USA320Pilot, BALONEY! What about management's track record in the news announcing airline woes. I can assure you they have been more guilty of keeping potential passengers off US Airways planes than any of the unions combined! Get real!

 

[700UW]

What happened before bankruptcy does not mean anything in the 1113c process.

The IAM has to negotiate by bankruptcy code, if the IAM did not meet with the company it would be considered bad faith bargaining.

Something I would not expect you to know.

 

[Jennyann]

Eye in The Sky is correct. Mr B needs to quit saying the L word!!!! :angry:

 

[USA320Pilot]

Eye:

I agree -- both parties are at fault. But, any good attorney will use the loud press releases and press conferences against the defendant in a court of law.

It's a fact that strike talk hurts passenger confidence and revenue. Sure, Chairman Bronner's comments hurt too, but the union leadership keeps hurting their members and the company's proposals have gotten worse.

Does management not negotiate in good faith? No, they are not, but thy never do. What’s new about that? It's their job to extract as much of a concession as they can and it's labor's role to get the best deal possible. Guess what. Union leadership for every employee group is going to give more than their "ask".

You would have thought the other unions would have learned from the mistakes by ALPA's RC4, but they have not. The ALPA advisors batted 1000% and every other union is failing miserably.

Respectfully,

USA320Pilot

P.S. Are you surprised Mitchell ruled in favor of the company again?

 

[sfb]

From my personal observation of Judge Mitchell during the proceedings, he will not take actions on the part of the company without Arnold & Porter attorney's proving that they management has: been negotiating in good faith and that management's)contractual change requests are necessary, which can be done by comparing work rules and pay rates for similar positions at the profitable companies.

Well, if you want to speak of "the profitable companies," there are exactly two (and likely to be only one for the fourth quarter): Southwest and jetBlue. Do you think that the flight attendants, customer service staff, and mechanics would take the Southwest contracts and work rules if they were offered by the company?

America West was NOT profitable for the third quarter.

 

[robbedagain]

Eye:

I agree -- both parties are at fault. But, any good attorney will use the loud press releases and press conferences against the defendant in a court of law.

It's a fact that strike talk hurts passenger confidence and revenue. Sure, Chairman Bronner's comments hurt too, but the union leadership keeps hurting their members and the company's proposals have gotten worse.

Does management not negotiate in good faith? No, they are not, but thy never do. What’s new about that? It's their job to extract as much of a concession as they can and it's labor's role to get the best deal possible. Guess what. Union leadership for every employee group is going to give more than their "ask".

You would have thought the other unions would have learned from the mistakes by ALPA's RC4, but they have not. The ALPA advisors batted 1000% and every other union is failing miserably.

Respectfully,

well if that is the case then why has the union not used the media to an extent to say that mgmt should bare more pay cuts then the workers? i believe mgmt has been wrong more so than the workers. afterall it was dr big mouth who said that u would be better off liquidated and restarted as bama air something that i know i would never fly on. it was he and the boneheads of ccy who need to grow up and stop putting bad press in the papers and media and they also need to fix up phl something that will never happen.

USA320Pilot

P.S. Are you surprised Mitchell ruled in favor of the company again?

[post="202040"][/post]​

 

[UseYourHead]

320

I will never understand how some groups can be sooooo dunce (ours included). This is just going to cost all of the groups even more, the latest FA industrywide action is just going to add fuel to fire and hurt the airline worst off the most.

All I can say is DUH.

You would have thought the other unions would have learned from the mistakes by ALPA's RC4, but they have not. The ALPA advisors batted 1000% and every other union is failing miserably.

Respectfully,

USA320Pilot

P.S. Are you surprised Mitchell ruled in favor of the company again?

[post="202040"][/post]​

 

[USA320Pilot]

UseYourHead:

You're right. In fact, the company's latest proposal to the CWA is even worse. The pattern started by ALPA's RC4 continues for the AFA and the CWA. Take a hardline approach, negotiate with threats in the press, watch revenue go down, and witness the company's proposals get worse and worse.

US Airways' union leadership keeps hurting their members and we are now within a few weeks of "imposition", where the company's proposals will be worse than today, if history keeps repeating itself.

It's too bad, but the union leadership keeps hurting the membership.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[700UW]

That is very good that each of the company's proposals are worse, see that will be defined as bad faith negotiations.

See that happened over at UAL, and UAL did not get their way and the Judge in that case made UAL return to the bargaining table.

 

[PHLfa88]

At least one group is willing to stand up and say NO! Unlike the boneless other group that already gave!! :down:

 

[Baja4U]

320.....You keep talking about the RC4 and how wrong "THEY" were. GET OVER IT!!!! They took care of "THEIR" members. What about that do you NOT understand?????? You can't seem to get past it, every post, it's NOT the company's fault......it's the RC4. We are so much smarter than that.....

 

[WestCoastGuy]

A320..I dont see how the companies latest proposal is getting worse???? It seems to be moving more...buyouts now, wage demands getting less, 100% pay for vacations. They want to out source res that accepts buyouts, but CWA is addressing that issue. The counter proposals from the company seem to be getting better, not worse. Where is it worse than the first proposal?

 

[EyeInTheSky]

The really SCARY thing is I think management thinks this "plan" will truly save the airline. Even the expert airline analyst agree that what US Airways management is proposing is a suicide mission. Why can't they see that? As Hawk stated in another post he spent 75 hours working last week; presumably going over the AFA, CWA and IAM contracts to see where management gets the most bang for the screw; call it the "Pimp-Ho Plan."