Pilots Picket US Airways Headquarters

On March 14, about a dozen pilots and flight attendants in uniform marched on the US Airways' headquarters in Tempe, AZ carrying signs proclaiming "management's millionaires are pilot subsidized."

The protest centered on negotiations that have dragged on for more than a year, according to The Associated Press.

"Management needs to wake up and get this merger done properly," said Gary Richardson, president of the local council of the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents America West flight attendants. "We've been negotiating since January 2006, and they've gone virtually nowhere."

Noting the disturbing trend of long lines and delayed, rerouted or cancelled flights, the America West and US Airways pilots have urged senior management to focus on successfully merging the two airlines, according to the Air Line Pilots Association.

"We're tired of them dragging out negotiations," said Tania Bziukiewicz, a US Airways pilot and union representative. "Until (Chief Executive Doug Parker) puts the airlines together and he includes all his labor groups working together under a contract as one unified group, he's not going to capture all his synergies, he can't run a smooth operation."

The company boosted profits last year, according to US Airways President Scott Kirby. He said US Airways has "benefited from almost $1 billion in additional revenue, cost savings and other synergies."

The company distributed nearly $59 million in profit sharing to employees Wednesday, according to the Washington Post.

But, pilots, flight attendants, machinists and fleet service workers say that's not enough. They've refused an offered older America West contract, which is considered to have better terms than the former US Airways contract, but doesn't give everyone raises.

"Our (pay) rates don't even remotely keep up with inflation," Bziukiewicz said.

Across the street from the protest march, executives displayed the company's new uniforms to reporters.

Workers need to realize, said US Airways CEO Doug Parker, that management is primarily interested in keeping its salaries "competitive". If the company agreed to the current demands, "US Airways' annual costs would balloon by about $400 million."

"That's not going to happen," he added.

Despite being plagued by union problems and being thwarted in its hostile takeover bid for Delta Air Lines, US Airways will keep taking business risks that promise greater returns, Parker told Bloomberg News Wednesday.

"If you're not trying stuff like that, you're not trying hard enough," Parker, 45, said of his Delta offer. "We're going to keep taking chances like that. It invigorates us and makes us want to go out and find other things to do. Our intent is to keep growing at two to three (international) routes per year," he said.

Flights to Milan, Italy; Lisbon, Portugal; and Stockholm, Sweden were added in 2006. In 2007, service from Philadelphia to Athens, Greece; Brussels, Belgium; and Zurich, Switzerland are planned, Kirby said.

Federal approval is being sought to provide nonstop service from Philadelphia to Shanghai, China. Kirby told reporters US Airways won't be adding any additional US routes unless the market changes.

"It has to be profitable," Kirby said.

FMI: www.usairways.com, www.alpa.org