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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 2012)
Flying this holiday season? Look for the union label Do you fly airlines where the work- ers have union representation, or air- lines that have kept unions out? To help you know which is which, the North- west Labor Press consulted company annual reports and data from the the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and contacted airline unions. The findings: U.S. airlines range from 85 percent unionized US Airways to totally nonunion JetBlue. It’s been a wild ride for airline in- dustry workers since the Airline Dereg- ulation Act of 1978. Passed over the ob- jection of airline unions, that legislation got rid of fare and route regulation, and began an era of fierce competition, with wave upon wave of mergers and bank- ruptcies, a gradual disappearance of passenger perks, and continual pressure on workers. In the decades since it passed, PanAm, Republic, and North- west were absorbed by Delta; Conti- nental by United; TWA by American; and America West merged into US Air- ways. Today, those four surviving “legacy” companies, plus Southwest, JetBlue, and Alaska control over 80 per- cent of the U.S. market. Every one of the legacy carriers — airlines that existed before deregulation — has filed for bankruptcy at one point since then, and some more than once. And when they do, management uses bankruptcy law as a bludgeon to modify union contracts. Here are some employee relations highlights from the Top 7 airlines, start- ing with the largest: Southwest, headquartered in Dallas, PAGE 4 became the biggest U.S. airline by “rev- enue passenger miles,” after acquiring AirTran in 2011. It also has the best re- lationship with its unions, and the high- est customer satisfaction ratings. Delta, headquartered in Atlanta, has fought employee efforts to unionize for decades. When it absorbed heavily- unionized Northwest Airlines in 2010, those 17,000 workers lost their unions. And Delta is having a big impact on conditions at other companies: More than other airlines, Delta relies on re- gional airlines as subcontractors on smaller flights to smaller cities, and it has used its market clout to drive down costs and wages, in the same way that WalMart does with its suppliers. United Airlines, headquartered in Chicago, was in bankruptcy from 2002 to 2005, during which it negotiated con- cessions from its unions. It’s a major outsourcer, too, both of maintenance work, and of routes: Many flights sold by United are operated by subcontrac- tors. This year United completed a merger with Continental. American Airlines, headquartered in Ft. Worth, is the airline villain of the moment. On Oct. 3, it lost a year-long court battle to prevent 10,000 ticket agents from unionizing with Commu- nications Workers of America. CWA supporters have begun leafleting air- ports to alert customers about rampant outsourcing. American filed for bank- ruptcy last November despite billions in cash reserves, and its plans in bank- ruptcy are to cut 13,000 employees, out- source maintenance, terminate all of its pension plans, and end retiree medical coverage. This is after American’s unions agreed to major concessions in 2003 to keep the company out of bank- ruptcy. This time around, the unions have said no, but American is asking a judge to order contract changes. Pilots are fighting back with record numbers of sick-ins and “working to rule” — in- stead of helping the airline limp along, they’re writing up every equipment fail- ure. American has been in discussions NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS about a merger with US Airways. US Airways, headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, just swallowed Amer- ica West, and now is making a bid to take over much-larger American Air- lines. Its flight attendants rejected a ten- tative agreement and were scheduled to hold a strike authorization vote Oct. 31 (after this issue went to press.) JetBlue, a low-cost carrier head- quartered in New York City, is all non- union and determined to stay that way, defying an active campaign by Trans- port Workers Union to unionize flight attendants. JetBlue enters into five-year “agreements” with individual employ- ees, in which it unilaterally commits to “just cause” discipline and protection against layoffs. Alaska Airlines, headquartered in Seattle, began as a regional carrier in the Pacific Northwest. Now it’s the seventh largest airline nationally. It has rela- tively good relations with its unions, though new hires no longer get to enroll in the company’s defined-benefit pen- sion plan. One other consideration for union members — and especially for Machin- ist union members who work at Boeing — may be whether the airline operates using aircraft manufactured domesti- cally by Boeing. It turns out the most highly unionized airlines also are those with the highest use of domestically produced aircraft, while the least union- ized major carrier — JetBlue — flies no (Turn to Page 11) NOVEMBER 2, 2012
