WSJ is reporting that the pilots union at American Airlines has rejected the airline’s latest offer.
IMO, this was a better offer than the pilots are likely to get if a bankruptcy judge voids their contracts. I also think it’s a virtual certainty the judge will void their contracts.
So, is this good or bad for AMR?
On one hand, you could say it’s good in that they’ll ultimately end up with more labor savings by imposing more draconian terms on the pilots (and any other unions that fail to reach an agreement).
On the other hand, United is a great example of an airline (so is USAirways) that forced terms on their unions that, in large part, have lead to extremely acrimonious relationships between the unions and the respective airlines.
I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about this. I’ve always felt that AA’s employees give a damn about their customers in a way that other legacy airlines don’t. They’re not Southwest employees, but they go out of their way to help people be a bit more comfortable while they get where they’re going. I’d hate to lose that because of a bitter ending to contract talks.
That being said, some of these contract battles have been going on for the better part of the last decade. And the employees are still good to their customers.
The progress with the pilots’ union is what got all the other unions back at the table with AA on what seemed to be genuine negotiations for both sides. I’ll be curious to see if this development leads the other unions to take a harder tack. They may think there’s safety in numbers, though I suspect they would be wrong.
What do you think? What’s the ultimate outcome here?
[...] I reported yesterday that the pilots union had rejected American Airlines offer. [...]
By: An Interesting Day For American Airlines On The Labor Front « Pizza In Motion on August 10, 2012
at 11:58 am
[...] a new contract with AA) are more pissed at AA then the pilots. Yes, those same pilots who soundly rejected a new contract and continue to try and negotiate a better deal with US [...]
By: American Airlines Inching Towards Exiting Bankruptcy « Pizza In Motion on August 30, 2012
at 10:12 pm
[...] it’s members. Normally, you would say that means the agreement will get ratified. But, the last time the union sent an agreement out for a vote the members rejected it. Then they fired their union [...]
By: American Airlines Pilot’s Union Sends Contract For A Vote « Pizza In Motion on November 16, 2012
at 8:09 pm
[...] This wasn’t a huge surprise, but I don’t know that there’s anything that would surprise me with airlines and unions anymore. The reported tally was 74% in favor of the deal. Of course, they soundly rejected a deal I thought they would take the last time they put it to a member vote, t… [...]
By: American Airlines And Their Pilots Agree To A New Contract « Pizza In Motion on December 7, 2012
at 5:51 pm
[...] the thing. I’m surprised it took this long for a movement like this to surface. The pilot’s union fired their president a while back when they rejected an offer from AA. That offer was rejected by 61% of the membership. Roughly 3,000 pilots voted in favor. And, [...]
By: Some AA Pilots Start To Realize A Merger With US Airways May Not Be The Best Thing For Seniority « Pizza In Motion on December 18, 2012
at 11:06 pm