Union votes may affect American's course
08:23 AM CST on Thursday, March 11, 2004
By ERIC TORBENSON / The Dallas Morning News
American Airlines Inc.'s effort to overcome years of distrust from its labor leaders and employees has a new hurdle: union elections.
Since last summer, the Fort Worth-based carrier has tried an innovative approach to healing its scarred relations with its 79,000 employees.
The results have been slow to come. But players from each side say they've built a framework in which management will work with employees to help shape the carrier's future.
Now some of those players are about to change. American's pilot union will have a new president soon, and flight attendants counted ballots Wednesday on their new officers.
Having sacrificed $1.8 billion in annual wages and benefits, employees say morale is low and the atmosphere at the world's largest airline tense.
The airline says that painful restructuring provides the foundation for something far bigger. It's held focus groups with front-line employees and established work groups with managers and rank-and-file workers to evaluate the airline's shortcomings and propose solutions.
Some candidates for a union leadership post are skeptical of management's intentions.
"My impression is that those types of activities are traditionally union-busting tactics," said Mark Hunnibell, one of the top candidates for president of the Allied Pilots Association.
His concern is that management's new approach subverts the union's role. "Communication between the sides doesn't need to be hostile, but it needs to be formal and respectful of both parties," he said.
And other pilots say that management's olive branch hasn't created visible changes.
"Captains are frustrated," said 50-year-old Bill Haug, an outspoken American pilot. "They hear management saying all these things but don't see any change in their day-to-day jobs. They need to see some results, and I think this is all coming together right now at critical time with these elections."
Airline history shows employees who have just given back wages and benefits will oust union leaders who oversee concessionary contracts.
In their place are often more militant leaders charged with squeezing management to get concessions back as soon as possible, notes Richard Gritta, a professor at the University of Portland who studies airline labor relations. He doubts American's efforts to change labor-management relations will succeed.
"I don't think they're ever going to get out of the traditional relationship," Mr. Gritta said. "I'm hopeful that the present management can reverse the abysmal relations, but then again, hope springs eternal."
American's top labor relations executive has a much brighter outlook.
"What we're trying to do here is create opportunities, and how we seize those opportunities will be slightly different based on the dynamics of the people involved," said Jeff Brundage, vice president of employee relations and policy. "One of the things we're not going to do is to expect anyone to accept what we're doing just on faith."
Mr. Brundage notes how the airline worked with its ground workers' union last year to save the most jobs when it realigned its three aircraft maintenance bases. The airline also points to its cooperation with its pilots' union in discussions regarding an expanded alliance with Alaska Airlines Inc., both steps it wouldn't have done before.
Cooperative spirit
The new cooperation is the signature element of chief executive Gerard Arpey's nearly year-old tenure. Just minutes away from a bankruptcy filing last spring, the carrier survived the turmoil over an executive bonus and pension scandal, though former chairman Donald J. Carty lost his job in the aftermath.
Early in his tenure, Mr. Arpey hired the Overland Resource Group to serve as a sort of "marriage counselor." The goal is to build trust back by communicating honestly with all employees with a new frankness not seen before, as well as to hear from workers before making big tactical decisions. Mr. Brundage said the airline is about to install the first of four work groups that include front-line employees and managers.
"We have a history of having excluded the unions and employees from decision making, and we don't expect that to change overnight," he said. "But we clearly can expect some great successes and some things that probably didn't turn out as well as we'd hoped."
The airline doesn't perceive the effort as union-busting because these new work groups won't discuss any contract issues. And the cooperation won't be based on personalities of managers, union leaders and employees, making it easier for new faces that could come from elections to fit, Mr. Brundage said.
One of the new faces could come from the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which was set to announce results of elections late Wednesday.
Current APFA president John Ward received considerable criticism from flight attendants and other labor leaders over his handling of the spring restructuring. He hasn't said publicly how much he thinks his union should cooperate with the Overland committees, and he didn't return calls.
His opponent, Tommie Hutto-Blake, said in an interview that she had plenty of ideas about how the union might work with management, but she wanted to tell Mr. Arpey about them first before talking to the media.
Rank-and-file flight attendants haven't heard much about the Overland initiative, but some say they're hoping relations improve.
"I know Mr. Arpey is trying to do something different," said 13-year Dallas/Fort Worth flight attendant Ellen Croom. "It would be really nice to have a better relationship working together because morale is certainly down out there."
Tensions on board
Others say they've never seen American flight attendants more angry or frustrated.
"I don't think Arpey sees the hostility, the despair, the exhaustion out there among us," said Barbara McGowan-McMurrey, a 32-year flight attendant in Valley View. Under the restructuring, flight attendants have to work more hours to earn reduced wages. "I know he wants us all to pull together, but I don't feel anyone reaching out to me."
The pilots union had its nominating election last week, with the race for president being cut down to front-runners Mr. Hunnibell, Ralph Hunter and current vice president Robert Ames, who didn't return calls.
Mr. Hunter says his position toward the management outreach program is that it's a better alternative.
"I think that going back to the old way of doing business is destructive, and I think most of our pilots realize this," he said in an interview. "But the jury is still out on the Overland project. Pilots believe the proof's got to be in the pudding."
New boards – also being elected by the unions – could also affect expectations for Mr. Arpey's outreach program. The pilot union's structure empowers the board to set policies, for example.
Several of the current pilot union board members have taken part in some of the Overland meetings, and have reacted positively.
It's difficult for longtime industry combatants to step out of their roles into a new way of relating, said Peter Rachleff, a labor history professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., who follows airline unions.
"These efforts are often perceived as the airline managements attempting to establish 'company unions,' and those haven't sat real well with both sides, really," he said.
Mr. Haug, the pilot, says there are good intentions with the project but not a lot yet to show for it.
"This thing started out with a grain of good faith, but it's just moved so painfully slowly," he said. "Arpey is saying all these things, but the culture's not changing."
E-mail etorbenson@dallasnews.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online at: Link
08:23 AM CST on Thursday, March 11, 2004
By ERIC TORBENSON / The Dallas Morning News
American Airlines Inc.'s effort to overcome years of distrust from its labor leaders and employees has a new hurdle: union elections.
Since last summer, the Fort Worth-based carrier has tried an innovative approach to healing its scarred relations with its 79,000 employees.
The results have been slow to come. But players from each side say they've built a framework in which management will work with employees to help shape the carrier's future.
Now some of those players are about to change. American's pilot union will have a new president soon, and flight attendants counted ballots Wednesday on their new officers.
Having sacrificed $1.8 billion in annual wages and benefits, employees say morale is low and the atmosphere at the world's largest airline tense.
The airline says that painful restructuring provides the foundation for something far bigger. It's held focus groups with front-line employees and established work groups with managers and rank-and-file workers to evaluate the airline's shortcomings and propose solutions.
Some candidates for a union leadership post are skeptical of management's intentions.
"My impression is that those types of activities are traditionally union-busting tactics," said Mark Hunnibell, one of the top candidates for president of the Allied Pilots Association.
His concern is that management's new approach subverts the union's role. "Communication between the sides doesn't need to be hostile, but it needs to be formal and respectful of both parties," he said.
And other pilots say that management's olive branch hasn't created visible changes.
"Captains are frustrated," said 50-year-old Bill Haug, an outspoken American pilot. "They hear management saying all these things but don't see any change in their day-to-day jobs. They need to see some results, and I think this is all coming together right now at critical time with these elections."
Airline history shows employees who have just given back wages and benefits will oust union leaders who oversee concessionary contracts.
In their place are often more militant leaders charged with squeezing management to get concessions back as soon as possible, notes Richard Gritta, a professor at the University of Portland who studies airline labor relations. He doubts American's efforts to change labor-management relations will succeed.
"I don't think they're ever going to get out of the traditional relationship," Mr. Gritta said. "I'm hopeful that the present management can reverse the abysmal relations, but then again, hope springs eternal."
American's top labor relations executive has a much brighter outlook.
"What we're trying to do here is create opportunities, and how we seize those opportunities will be slightly different based on the dynamics of the people involved," said Jeff Brundage, vice president of employee relations and policy. "One of the things we're not going to do is to expect anyone to accept what we're doing just on faith."
Mr. Brundage notes how the airline worked with its ground workers' union last year to save the most jobs when it realigned its three aircraft maintenance bases. The airline also points to its cooperation with its pilots' union in discussions regarding an expanded alliance with Alaska Airlines Inc., both steps it wouldn't have done before.
Cooperative spirit
The new cooperation is the signature element of chief executive Gerard Arpey's nearly year-old tenure. Just minutes away from a bankruptcy filing last spring, the carrier survived the turmoil over an executive bonus and pension scandal, though former chairman Donald J. Carty lost his job in the aftermath.
Early in his tenure, Mr. Arpey hired the Overland Resource Group to serve as a sort of "marriage counselor." The goal is to build trust back by communicating honestly with all employees with a new frankness not seen before, as well as to hear from workers before making big tactical decisions. Mr. Brundage said the airline is about to install the first of four work groups that include front-line employees and managers.
"We have a history of having excluded the unions and employees from decision making, and we don't expect that to change overnight," he said. "But we clearly can expect some great successes and some things that probably didn't turn out as well as we'd hoped."
The airline doesn't perceive the effort as union-busting because these new work groups won't discuss any contract issues. And the cooperation won't be based on personalities of managers, union leaders and employees, making it easier for new faces that could come from elections to fit, Mr. Brundage said.
One of the new faces could come from the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which was set to announce results of elections late Wednesday.
Current APFA president John Ward received considerable criticism from flight attendants and other labor leaders over his handling of the spring restructuring. He hasn't said publicly how much he thinks his union should cooperate with the Overland committees, and he didn't return calls.
His opponent, Tommie Hutto-Blake, said in an interview that she had plenty of ideas about how the union might work with management, but she wanted to tell Mr. Arpey about them first before talking to the media.
Rank-and-file flight attendants haven't heard much about the Overland initiative, but some say they're hoping relations improve.
"I know Mr. Arpey is trying to do something different," said 13-year Dallas/Fort Worth flight attendant Ellen Croom. "It would be really nice to have a better relationship working together because morale is certainly down out there."
Tensions on board
Others say they've never seen American flight attendants more angry or frustrated.
"I don't think Arpey sees the hostility, the despair, the exhaustion out there among us," said Barbara McGowan-McMurrey, a 32-year flight attendant in Valley View. Under the restructuring, flight attendants have to work more hours to earn reduced wages. "I know he wants us all to pull together, but I don't feel anyone reaching out to me."
The pilots union had its nominating election last week, with the race for president being cut down to front-runners Mr. Hunnibell, Ralph Hunter and current vice president Robert Ames, who didn't return calls.
Mr. Hunter says his position toward the management outreach program is that it's a better alternative.
"I think that going back to the old way of doing business is destructive, and I think most of our pilots realize this," he said in an interview. "But the jury is still out on the Overland project. Pilots believe the proof's got to be in the pudding."
New boards – also being elected by the unions – could also affect expectations for Mr. Arpey's outreach program. The pilot union's structure empowers the board to set policies, for example.
Several of the current pilot union board members have taken part in some of the Overland meetings, and have reacted positively.
It's difficult for longtime industry combatants to step out of their roles into a new way of relating, said Peter Rachleff, a labor history professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., who follows airline unions.
"These efforts are often perceived as the airline managements attempting to establish 'company unions,' and those haven't sat real well with both sides, really," he said.
Mr. Haug, the pilot, says there are good intentions with the project but not a lot yet to show for it.
"This thing started out with a grain of good faith, but it's just moved so painfully slowly," he said. "Arpey is saying all these things, but the culture's not changing."
E-mail etorbenson@dallasnews.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online at: Link
