Pilots at US Airways ousted their union, the Air Line Pilots Association, on Thursday, replacing it with an insurgent group, a move that raised further questions about the carrier’s ability to combine operations after its 2005 merger with America West Airlines.þþThe vote was closely watched because the issue that caused the schism at US Airways — how to merge two pilot seniority lists, which determine pay, schedules and type of plane flown — has emerged as a significant impediment to a smooth merger of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines.þþAnd any potential follow-on merger, like one between United Airlines and Continental Airlines, would involve combining seniority lists.þþNorthwest pilots, within minutes of the announcement Monday of the planned Delta merger, said they would oppose the deal, fearing that they would be disadvantaged in a combination of seniority lists and that their pay would remain below that of Delta pilots. Northwest pilots on average have more seniority.þþAs a labor group, pilots are volatile, sometimes throwing out local union leaders after failing to get a favorable contract. New leaders often make aggressive promises and then, in an industry susceptible to bankruptcies and demands for worker concessions, not deliver. þþThe US Airways labor battle has been among the most bitter and divisive. The pilots, in their election, voted to oust the Air Line Pilots Association, which is the dominant pilots’ union in the industry, and replace it with the US Airline Pilots Association. þþA spokesman for the National Mediation Board, Donald West, said that typically, the winning union would be certified the next day — in this case, Friday — and then immediately becomes the bargaining unit.þþ“It’s a sad day for US Airways,” said Tania Bziukiewicz, a pilot and an official with the ousted union’s local that represented pilots from the former America West side. She predicted “more labor turmoil” and problems for the company.þþThe new union has vowed to set aside an arbitrator’s ruling last year that many felt was more favorable to America West pilots than those from the old US Airways. The US Airways pilots have much more seniority and wanted a seniority list that took that into account. þþScott Theuer, a pilot and spokesman for the new union, was not immediately available for comment. þþIn February, he said the arbitrator’s award “enraged” pilots from the old US Airways, which went through two bruising bankruptcy periods after Sept. 11, 2001, and is known within the company as East. “The East pilots had lost so much over the years,” Mr. Theuer said. “Seniority was all we had left.”þþThe pilots from America West wanted the lists combined without regard to time employed, and partly got that.þþThe issue is far from dead. The former America West pilots have formed the America West Airlines Pilots Protective Alliance and hired a lawyer in an effort to protect the arbitrator’s award. þþCaught in the middle is W. Douglas Parker, the chief executive of US Airways, who has been waiting since late 2005, when the merger with America West closed, to combine the pilots so he can operate the company as a single airline.þþThe former America West pilots are concerned that their new union leaders, in contract talks with the company, will offer to take less money in return for management’s support for throwing out the arbitrator’s seniority ruling. þþMr. Parker and most top executives at the combined airline are from the America West side, and hostility between the two camps of employees has not faded.þþUS Airways said in a news release that it would work with the new union in hopes of negotiating a single contract with all 5,200 pilots represented, 4,300 of whom are active. It did not mention the seniority list battle.þþA US Airways spokesman declined to comment. þþ
Source: NY Times
