UAL Workers Protest Shareholder Meeting

Things are getting ugly in Chicago. Carrying signs with such slogans as "Fix It Now" and "We Are United, They Are Pigs," around 400 pilots, mechanics, and flight attendants for United Airlines picketed outside the Field Museum Thursday, where inside the first shareholders meeting for the carrier in five years was underway.

An event intended to celebrate the improvement in the once-bankrupt carrier's fortunes, reports the Chicago Tribune, instead turned into an open confrontation between airline executives, and the workers under them.

"It's just not fair," said United 747 captain Herb Hunter, spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, talking of the one-time stock bonuses and other perks United CEO Glenn Tilton and others took after the airline emerged from Chapter 11 last year... while employees were left with deep cuts in their pay.

Flight attendants expressed disgust that United shareholders voted to retain the 10 nominees to United's board of directors, which they say demonstrates management's favoring of their own interests over those of employees and shareholders.

"Flight attendants and other workers withheld support for the UAL BOD, but other shareholders are still hoodwinked and have yet to recognize the danger of the BOD's inaction," said Greg Davidowitch, President of AFA-CWA at United.

United pilot Margaret Freeman, an O'Hare-based 767 captain, attended the shareholders meeting with several other United employees. At one point, she asked Tilton if he had told shareholders that "today, employees are no longer behind you" -- a comment that drew applause, according to the Tribune.

Other participants told the paper at the close of the meeting, uniformed pilots dropped their hats on the ground as Tilton (right) walked by... an open show of defiance.

Such open hostilities may portend difficulties for United passengers in the months ahead, say analysts.

While United employees can't strike the carrier until their contracts come up for review -- which won't happen until 2010 -- there are ways disgruntled workers can disrupt schedules. For example, as the summer draws to a close airlines often ask pilots and flight attendants to volunteer to work extra time, to cover shifts for others who have timed out due to weather-delays and other issues. It's likely not many United employees will be as willing to lend a hand.

"Certainly, a confrontation is brewing," said CreditSights airline analyst Roger King.

"It's an industrywide problem," added airline analyst Julius Maldutis, noting American Airlines and Northwest Airlines also face similar labor strife. "The fact of the matter is that management is going to lose their ability to motivate their employees. You're going to see job actions."

Tilton responded to employee complaints throughout the meeting, often taking a defensive stance.

"We have pulled ourselves up and out of a crisis that threatened the very existence of our company, and for which we and other US carriers were ill-prepared," Tilton said, adding he doesn't intend to change the airline's practices to suit morale.

"As we went into bankruptcy, we were a happier company," he said. "We were happier all through the '90s as we were heading straight into insolvency, because we didn't tell one another the truth."

That "truth," United workers respond, is that executives at the carrier have continued to reap financial benefits, while workers have given until it hurts.

"We're mad as hell," the AFA's Davidowitch said. "Executives have shuffled titles to get raises while Tilton and McDonald re-negotiated their Contracts post-bankruptcy to grab 40% raises and other lucrative perks. Clearly, there's plenty of money to go around."

FMI: www.unitedafa.org, www.alpa.org, www.united.com