United will slash 950 pilot jobs

Delta Air Lines said last week that its pilots and those of merger partner Northwest Airlines have reached a tentative agreement on a joint contract to cover their combined labor groups under a single company. The deal, still subject to approval by rank and file members of both pilot unions, includes a process for integrating the seniority lists of the two groups – a critical step in getting pilots to agree to the merger. “Achieving a joint contract and combined seniority list in advance of the closing of the merger is something that has never been done in this industry,” said Delta CEO Richard Anderson. Indeed, when US Airways and America West merged three years ago, they did so without a similar agreement between their respective pilots’ unions, and the two groups are still fighting today over seniority rights in the combined company. In other pilot-related news last week, United Airlines followed up its earlier announcement that it would ground about 100 aircraft later this year by revealing that the capacity reduction will also mean the loss of 950 pilots’ jobs, or about 15 percent of its total pilot workforce. At American Airlines, meanwhile, the Allied Pilots Association – which represents the airline’s 12,000 pilots – put up a 60-foot-wide billboard outside Chicago’s O’Hare Airport blasting the airline’s management for its “industry-trailing operational record and failure to make passengers a top priority,” the union said. It’s the latest volley by the union in its bid for an improved contract; the group also put up a website at www.TellYourAAStory.com where it asks consumers to report on their complaints about American.