In 2005, a merger with
America West led to a controversial seniority ruling, never implemented, that
continues to divide pilots from the two airlines because a key provision appears
to favor west pilots. Now, it appears, another divisive seniority conflict
could result from the 2013 merger with American .
Last week, talks
between the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American pilots, and
the U.S. Airline Pilots Association, which represents US Airways pilots, broke
down over the issue of the timeline for when APA takes over as the sole union
representing pilots at the new American.
No airline merger has
been more tarnished by a seniority dispute than America West/US Airways, which
led the US Airways pilots to leave the Air Line Pilots Association after 57
years, forming a new union called the U.S. Pilots Association and dragging
reluctant American West pilots along with them.
This time, the pilots
from the pre-merger US Airways, still known as "the east," are where
the west pilots were eight years ago -- in the minority. That could make their
situation more difficult. APA has about 8,800 active members, while USAPA has
about 4,400. About a third are from AWA and do not generally support the union.
The merger between
American and US Airways closed on Dec. 9, 2013. That started a 30-day clock on
negotiating a protocol agreement involving the logistics of seniority
negotiations. Two extensions were granted, which took the deadline to Feb. 18.
The conflict surfaced the next day.
An agreement between
the three parties, negotiated before the merger occurred, said the two unions
would begin seniority integration talks as soon as possible after the merger
occurred. That agreement provided that if a seniority protocol deal could not
be reached, seniority would be determined by the 2007 McCaskill-Bond statute,
which requires arbitration if negotiations cannot produce an integrated
seniority list for groups represented by two different unions.
The agreement also
said that seniority arbitration would occur after the parties agreed to a joint
contract and after the National Mediation Board finds that American and US
Airways are a "single carrier."
APA interpreted that
to mean that once the NMB finds the combined airlines have single-carrier
status, then USAPA will go away even if no seniority deal is in place, which is
something the east pilots had not expected. APA filed for single-carrier status
on Jan. 14.
The first signs of conflict
appeared in a series of pilot communications that began on Feb. 19, when the
USAPA merger committee told members that APA had changed its position. Until
then, talks had appeared to be going smoothly. However, USAPA said, the APA
merger committee demanded that APA and the airline have the option to modify
the protocol agreement once the NMB certifies APA as the sole pilot
representative. That modification could enable APA to take over before a
seniority agreement is reached.
On Feb. 20, APA wrote
to its pilots saying that despite the Jan. 14 filing, USAPA wanted the NMB to
delay single-carrier status until a new contract is signed and a seniority list
is completed. Yet "we are all already operating under a single collective
bargaining agreement," said APA.
On Feb. 21, USAPA
President Gary Hummel wrote a letter saying that with the two sides at impasse
USAPA filed with the NMB to begin arbitration on seniority integration. Hummel
said that is what the McCaskill-Bond Act contemplated.
"The company and
APA appear to be attempting to accelerate the NMB procedures for determining
the bargaining representative of the pilots in order to subvert the authority
of USAPA in the seniority integration process," Hummel wrote. "APA is
asserting that once it becomes the bargaining representative for all of our
pilots, it will have the right to control the process and the merger committee
that will represent the USAPA pilots in the arbitration."
It appears that the
next step is up to the NMB, which must choose which to honor first-- APA's
request for single-carrier status or USAPA's request for arbitration to begin
shortly. If single-carrier status comes first, then USAPA could go away before
arbitration begins.
In their
communications, America West pilots seem pleased that USAPA now appears to be
on the defensive. In fact, APA's letter to pilots cited findings by U.S.
District Court Judge Roslyn Silver in Phoenix, who ruled in January that USAPA
had not breached its duty of fair representation to west pilots and that west
pilots need not be separately represented in seniority list discussions with
APA, but who also showed disdain for USAPA in her opinion .
APA quoted Silver as
saying, "The court's patience with USAPA has run out ... When USAPA is no
longer the certified representative, it must immediately stop participating in
the seniority integration." APA added: "USAPA's continuing effort to
maintain its role in the McCaskill-Bond process even after APA becomes the
certified representative of all pilots at the 'new' American Airlines runs
directly counter to Judge Silver's unambiguous directive."
Spokesmen for APA and
USAPA declined to comment for this story. An American pilot, who declined to
speak for attribution, said APA wants to avoid litigation and does not want a
repeat of the long conflict with TWA pilots following American's 2001 purchase
of TWA.
Potentially,
arbitration offers the best path for APA, because any negotiated seniority deal
would likely result in litigation by somebody. As APA said in its letter:
"If we cannot negotiate a list, then we will arbitrate a list; in either
case, the objective of the process will be a list that recognizes and maintains
the pre-merger career expectations of every pilot at the 'new' American Airlines."
Still, some US Airways
pilots worry that after eight years stuck in a seniority dispute they are
beginning a new one in which they will suffer if USAPA cannot represent them.
"APA wants to do to us what they did to TWA," an east pilot said.
Source: Philly.com
/ The Street
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