Tue, Oct 05, 2004
Leaders Meet Again Tuesday To Mull It Over
It looked like a deal. It smelled
like a deal. Hell, it even quacked like a deal. But US
Airways' ALPA pilots in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have balked at
a $300 million concession package that would take away more than
18-percent of their pay and a good chunk of the airline's pension
contributions to boot. Union leaders said they wanted more time to
study the airline's proposal.
"Clearly, there is still some resistance by the Pennsylvania
delegation to sending this thing out," Jack Stephan, a spokesman
for the pilots' union, said Sunday. He was quoted in the New York
Times.
The union's master council must approve the deal before it's
sent on to the rank and file for ratification. In spite of the
delay, the Times reported the ALPA has already scheduled meetings
designed to inform the membership about the plan. Those meetings
run between now and October 14th.
T
he once-and-again bankrupt airline
reportedly increased its demand for labor concessions from $800
million a year to $950 million. Pilots would see 18.25 percent of
their salaries evaporate immediately.
The tentative agreement, reached over the weekend, also calls
for a sharp reduction in the amount of money US Airways contributes
to the pilots' pension fund and the elimination of all health care
benefits for retirees. That means pilots, who must retire at 60 in
accordance with federal regulations, might conceivably be without
health insurance until they're 65.
Under the deal approved by the airline and union leaders, pilots
would at least be able to buy their own company-sponsored insurance
between the ages of 60 and 65.
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