Pilots at UAL Corp.'s (NASDAQ:UAUA) United Airlines Inc. opened a new front in their war with management on Tuesday, urging the Obama administration and Congress to delay the scheduled May 31 granting of antitrust immunity to United's partnership with Continental Airlines Inc. (NYSE:CAL) so that pilots can have a chance to voice their concerns.
United's branch of ALPA warned that the codeshare, part of Continental's entry into the international Star Alliance, "has the potential to outsource tens of thousands of American jobs" and could also "take experienced pilots off international routes."
"There has never been a more pressing time for Congress and the Obama Administration to step in to prevent even more middle-class American jobs from being outsourced," United Captain Steve Wallach, chairman of the airline's union executive council, said in a statement. "However, with its tentative approval of Antitrust Immunity for the STAR Alliance, the Department of Transportation has opened the door for more job losses and pay cuts for American workers."
Tensions between management and the union have been running high ever since the airline's more than three year stay in bankruptcy, which ended in February 2006. Pilots lost their pension plan and took pay cuts as part of that reorganization and have been fighting since then to restore what they lost.
The airline won an injunction from a U.S. District Court judge in its hometown of Chicago last November ordering ALPA not to engage in any slowdowns or other work actions against the company. The union is also fighting a United plan to partner with Irish carrier Aer Lingus plc on certain trans-Atlantic flights, and has waged a very public campaign to try to oust CEO Glenn Tilton that includes operating a
special Web site devoted to the cause.
- Lou Whiteman
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