AMR Labor Coalition Acknowledges Importance of ``Active Engagement''
With Management to Find Solutions, Criticizes Continuing Effort to
Take Away Workers' Rights
Tuesday January 21, 12:23 pm ET
Cites management's lobbying on Capitol Hill to rewrite Railway Labor
Act, impose forced arbitration on workers
FORT WORTH, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 21, 2003-- The AMR Labor
Coalition, comprised of the five unions representing American
Airlines and American Eagle employees (NYSE:AMR - News), expressed
its support today for "active engagement" with AMR management
regarding the difficulties their airlines are currently experiencing,
but also strongly criticized the simultaneous effort by management to
rewrite the Railway Labor Act.
The Railway Labor Act has governed collective bargaining in the
airline industry since 1934. In a news conference today in Fort
Worth, Texas, AMR Labor Coalition representatives pointed out that
the Railway Labor Act is well established as an effective dispute
resolution tool. During the decade of the 1990s, for example, there
were only four airline strikes in the U.S. Two of the four strikes
involved American Airlines employees--the flight attendants in 1993
and the pilots in 1997 (the White House intervened in the pilots'
strike by convening a Presidential Emergency Board).
The Air Transport Association (ATA)--which serves as the principal
lobbying organization for airline management--has been lobbying for
changes to the Railway Labor Act to institute forced arbitration at
the conclusion of negotiations, rather than permitting the parties to
engage in self-help. However, since the effort to change the Railway
Labor Act does not have the unanimous support of ATA's member
carriers, it appears that the primary lobbying responsibility is now
assigned to the so-called Communities for Economic Strength Through
Aviation, known as CESTA. CESTA was formed for the sole purpose of
lobbying for changes to the Act.
The AMR Labor Coalition is made up of the following:
Transport Workers Union, AFL-CIO (TWU), which represents the 34,500
mechanics and ground employees of American Airlines and American
Eagle.
Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents the 13,500 pilots
of American Airlines.
Association of Professional Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO (APFA), which
represents the 21,000 flight attendants of American Airlines.
American Eagle Master Executive Council, Air Line Pilots Association,
Int'l, AFL-CIO (ALPA), which represents the 2,300 pilots of American
Eagle.
Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), which represents the 1,400
flight attendants of American Eagle.
"Now more than ever, our pilots are committed to helping ensure the
future viability of American Airlines," said Captain John E. Darrah,
President of the Allied Pilots Association. "Given the magnitude of
the challenges confronting our airline and our industry, it's
critical that we work cooperatively with management. Yet that
essential cooperation will be very difficult to achieve as long as
management persists in trying to take away our basic rights in
collective bargaining."
"For the past six years, the Eagle pilots' contract has contained a
provision for mandatory arbitration at the conclusion of
negotiations," said Captain Herb Mark, Chairman of the American Eagle
Master Executive Council, ALPA. "The impact of this provision is that
our pilots have fallen steadily behind their industry peers in terms
of compensation and benefits. It removes any incentive for management
to bargain in good faith."
"After the attacks of September 11, it was the employees of American
Airlines and American Eagle that stepped in to save our airlines,"
said James Little, Vice President of the Transport Workers Union. "In
fact, the employees have always done their part in hard times. And
this is the thanks we get? In our last round of contract negotiations
with American in 2001, we reached agreement on all eight contracts
without the involvement of the National Mediation Board."
"It's interesting to note that the executives of the airlines that
are doing the best during this difficult period are not supporting
any changes to the Railway Labor Act," said John Ward, President of
the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. "Evidently those
executives are seeing firsthand the value of good employee relations,
particularly at a time like this. By contrast, the airline executives
who are lobbying for changing the Railway Labor Act are those with a
history of poor employee relations, and perhaps not coincidentally,
those having the most difficulty in today's environment."
"If management truly wants our help, they need to cease and desist in
their efforts to gut the collective bargaining process and renounce
any support--financial or otherwise--for CESTA," said Bill Hennessey,
President of the Association of Flight Attendants. "Otherwise, it
will be virtually impossible to have the open, constructive dialog--
the `active engagement' process management is calling for--that we
all agree is needed."
