US Airways to Ask Court to Cut Union Workers' Pay 23%

[LiviaOlivia]

NY Times
September 24, 2004
US Airways to Ask Court to Cut Union Workers' Pay 23%
By MICHELINE MAYNARD

US Airways plans to ask a bankruptcy court judge today to impose emergency pay cuts of 23 percent on its major unions, which have refused the company's demand for $800 million in contract concessions.

<snip>

US Airways told its unions on Wednesday that it would seek the cuts unless it reached agreements for contract concessions. US Airways did not announce similar pay cuts for its management and salaried staff. But a company spokesman, David Castelveter, said last night, "We have been very clear that everyone, management included, will participate" in the restructuring plan. The airline does not need court permission to impose cuts on nonunion employees.

<snip>

In a statement, the pilots' union said it would oppose the effort in bankruptcy court, but that it would continue to negotiate with the airline on permanent contract terms. The union representing flight attendants, which estimated the cuts were equal to half the concessions sought by the company, said it would try to persuade the company to reduce the amount.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents mechanics and other ground personnel, said it was asking the airline for more information and that it would fight to protect workers' contracts in court.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/24/business/24air.html

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Will management be taking a 23% cut as well?

I guessing the top level management would get stand up and go with a little less in salary too. Share the pain, gentlemen.

uh...riiiggghhhht.

[BootinUp]

5. They ought to take a 50% cut

for getting the company in this much trouble in the first place.

[The Zanti Regent]

24. But Rick Santorum blames all this on the unions

Amazing to see what shit comes out of his mouth, blaming all US Air troubles on unions.

[KittyWampus]

27. Hah! You Beat Me To It.

why doesn't CEO and management ever take it upon themselves?

[Heyo]

2. If they are bankrupt...

... and buisness isn't going wo well, you gotta do what you gotta do. But the management should take the same pay cut as the rest of the people if that's what they have to do to save the company.

Heyo

[mbperrin]

6. If they are bankrupt, MANAGEMENT is at fault,

should be fired and sued for all their worldly belongings for breaking a company that was OK when they got there.

Rank and file are never in charge and are blameless; let's face it- when things go well, who gets the big bonuses and stock options? MANAGEMENT!

Take 'em out and hang 'em up!

[wicket]

7. I agree

Management will get their golden parachutes as always.

[Heyo]

12. sometimes companies go bankrupt....

.. for reasons other than management. I don't agree with what you say. Business is business.

Heyo

[sandnsea]

13. oh pull it out man

"Business is business" and a fucking is a fucking I guess. When in the hell are people going to stop with the Reaganism and get it in their thick heads that the only way workers get a fair shake is to fight for it, and that usually means a union. Minimum wage has barely doubled in the last 30 years, executive salaries have gone up 1000% or some uncomprehensible amount. Put all management and executives in a 2 bedroom 900 sq ft apartment, then talk to me about cutting the wages of the workers. Working people just can't continue to take the fucking for the "investor" class.

[October]

25. Damn straight!

The only reason ANY worker has decent pay and benefits is because of the union movement.

Mr. Wolfe made hundreds of millions for bankrupting airlines...he walked away with full pockets, all the while dismantling companies.

Sickening profiteers.

[0007]

3. I would hope that more folks would be interested

[Krupskaya]

4. This chaps my ass.

Going to court to break a contract. Jayzus H.

[RivetJoint]

9. Hope the court rules against them and the union

refuses to take ANY further pay cuts.

[FatSlob]

31. Sure is better than the company dissolving.

Would you prefer that the workers have no jobs?

[w4rma]

8. The CEO and upper management are *extremely* overpayed and are basically

leeching this comany for all they can as they run it into the ground and take off with their money.

The union should go to court to force upper management to take a huge paycut in order to save the company, imho.

[napi21]

10. My son works for one of the other main airlines, and he's

very worried that they will be told their pays will be cut 30%. Their chairman already issued a letter stating there would have to be cuts, but hasn't released the % yet.

This situation is very serious folks! It involves ALL of the major air carriers, and several HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE!

[tom_paine]

11. Sadly, if this is a corrupt Bushevik Federalist "judge"

The case is already over.

[ccinamon]

14. USAirways hasn't liked peons for a very long time..

I worked for them until 1998 -- they are very bad about trusting in the average worker and they let upper management make the same mistakes over and over AND give them bonuses for making bad decisions. Stupid, huh???

USAirways -- give it up -- die peacefully, you'll never learn.

[Green Lantern]

15. Sounds like

US Postal Service management. Cut rural carriers pay by screwing with pay standards, then gave themselves a huge bonus.

Had $5 billion in deficits a few years ago (about 3) and gave themselves $800 million in bonuses. Let's hear it for management.

[DemoTex]

17. I'm a US Airways employee (pilot) ...

My union gave management the largest concession in the history of the airline industry ($650-million/year) two years ago. The officers (Dave Seigel et. al.) that extracted that pound of flesh (while we were in bankruptcy #1) left US Airways a few months ago.

A few weeks ago, the Washington Post had a list of the highest-paid executives in the DC area for 2003. Brother Dave was near the top of the list. He had more that $10-million in compensation for the year (2003) that he ran US Airways into the dirt at the end of a very promising runway. Three other execs scored on the list with over $4-million each.

Yesterday the company filed an 1113 with the BK court. That request is a 23% pay-cut for all employees. No, union-covered employees. Fat-cat pay remains the same. Why? Standard answer #1: You must pay the executives competitive rates to get good people.

My question: If we are paying $10-mil/per for the high guru, why the hell are we in Chapter 11?

Mac-the-Pissed

[NashVegas]

19. I've Been Following the Story

and have noticed I never see the salaries and other compensation the executives make get publicized.

the arrogance is astounding.

[DemoTex]

20. Thanks "ccinamon"

Great attitude for your former co-workers. We have enough hell without your bizarre wishes. US Airways is a sick company, not a death-row victim. I'm fighting, through my union (ALPA), to keep it alive. I've fought since my company, Piedmont, was bought by USAir. This is the 4th or 5th ( and the toughest) fight. If you really worked for USAir, and if you were a union member (or not), why are you against those of us that are trying so hard to keep the company alive?

Captain Mac
US Airways

[ccinamon]

23. DemoTex

Yes, I worked for USAirways - in IT. For the first 6 years I worked in the Flight Movement application, specifically the ACARS messages. It was the BEST job I ever had -- I enjoyed working with the pilots, system control and the avionics folks.

Based on your comments, I can see why you think I was "wishing" for the demise of USAirways, and against you for trying to save the company. However, that is the effect of my opinion, but not what I was thinking and I'm sorry that you took it that way.

My turn to explain:

I'm very much a realist, and my opinion is that as unfortunate as it would be for you and my friends to lose their jobs (especially in this climate), I think it's time to take an honest, hard look at the facts and realize, that it might be time to start over with a new company, new procedures and definitely new management.

In 15 years, this is the 5th (though I may have lost count) time they have had serious enough trouble to call for bankruptcy and/or wage concessions. It's obvious they can not learn from their mistakes -- or refuse to learn.

Is a consistently badly run company better than no company at all?

If USAirways wasn't there, someone else would fill the spot that they leave behind and I believe they would be more successful and profitable than USAirways is.

Sometimes you have to give it up, call it quits, and start fresh. You can't always make lemonade out of lemons.

If you want to continue the fight because in your opinion it is worth it, I certainly wouldn't want to stop you. And if you succeed in saving USAirways, I really hope that you and your union (and the other unions as well) have enough clout to get some decent management in place so that you won't have to go thru this again in 3-4 years.

PS I was disappointed that Arthur Andersen suggested using USAir's reservation system instead of Piedmont's -- Piedmonts was a better system overall (I was never a Piedmont employee) based on the conversions I was involved with and talking to numerous agents.

[ldf]

26. someone else would fill the spot

would the spot be filled by a new "no frills" airline that refuses to allow unions, therefore they would pay their employees a lot less?

i don't know the answer to that question, which is why i am asking.

does jetblue, and the other new airlines that are doing well, allow unions?

or is this just an attempt a union busting?

any case the US Air employees puts forward should ask for this information:

the profit/loss of the airline when the administrators were hired
the salaries of those administrators at that time
the salaries of the employees at that time
the profit/loss of the airline under these admistrators now
the salaries of these administrators now
the salaries of the employees now

it does seem like the whole idea of these crisies is to pave the way for layoffs of employees, while administrators get big bonuses for doing so, and/or to pave the way for huge wage concessions by employees, while administrators get big bonuses for extracting those concessions.

i do realize there are external factors involved in profits or losses of businesses, but are those factors the problem here, when it seems that every flight you get on is packed, or is it mismanagement and profit taking by the very management that is now screaming for the employess to make wage concessions, so they can engage in even more profit taking.

the other guilty party in these situations is the shareholders of the companies. there is no longterm expectations anymore. you have to BUILD a better, more profitable company, and that requires a good employee base with loyalty, which requires a decent wage.

if the stockholders don't see an increase in dividends every quarter, they start screaming.

shortterm, immediate gains are NEVER good for the health of a company in the longterm.

[cyr330]

16. Let Me Guess

Will the CEOs of the company take a 23% cut? My guess is NO.

[DemoTex]

18. No.

See my post.

[saigon68]

22. Good Luck in the fight Mac

In solidarity and struggle ---

Saigon--

[tedzbear]

21. The only hope for union employees in this global economy is...

...for all the union employees to strike instead of just the employees in each company. For instance, when American flight attendants vote to strike, all airline flight attendants should go out on strike. The whole industry has to be brought to a halt in order to make any kind of significant impact with management.

This is how they performed strikes in the nineteenth century. Those wild cat strikes where everyone stopped working really shook up management. The problem is too many of the big union chiefs are in bed with management and not really looking out for their members, otherwise you would see more cross the board strikes that would be successful. The supermarket strike in southern California failed because it wasn't big enough to hurt management. Now if the supermarket workers in the whole country went on strike it would have been extremely successful.

[fortyfeetunder]

29. Fear captures union members

I agree with Tedthebear that the only way unions will get any sort of leverage is to unanimously take to the streets together. However...

Union membership has declined substantially over the last 30 or so years. I think one of the biggest management coups contributing to this decline was Ray-gun vs. PATCO in 1981.

The folks who are left in unions know their management may have the upper hand, and virtually no help from the government, in particular the * adminstration.

I think union folks are afraid to take to the streets, because they fear, among other things, management can easily replace them with non-union types. Not sure what a en masse effort would do, but if nothing else, will send a message union members are not to be messed with.

[auburnblu]

30. The only hope for unions sure isn't Jet Blue

I know a lot of posters on here really like George Soros. I like how he fights for Democracy around the globe. But he's probably been one of organized labors biggest foes in recent years. George Soros and the Soros fund sure owns a heck of a lot of Jet Blue stock. When US Air liquidates, Jet Blue will step in and buy a lot of their assets. And union jobs will be lost.

I feel very sorry for airline union employees if Mr. Soros is allowed to have a strong influence on President Kerry. You think Halliburton has influenced Bush? What will George Soros expect in return for $10 million donated to moveon.org? Does $10 million buy veto approval on who is nominated to head the DOT/FAA? Hard to believe that the DOT would be less union friendly under Kerry than Bush, but George Soros didn't get to be worth billions by caring about union jobs and the families they affect. I'm sure I'll be attacked on this, but its a point that needs to be made.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/16/60II/main525810.shtml

[ElsewheresDaughter]

28. this is all part of the Newt GOP agenda and the "Cheap Labor Repugs".....

they intend to make the US look like Calcutta