Judge Says Airline Can Scrap Labor Contract

A federal bankruptcy court Judge Thursday gave Comair permission to discard its labor contract and impose wage and benefit cuts on its 1,500 pilots.

The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the union representing Comair's pilots, has been negotiating with the company after it tossed an earlier agreement to take $17.3 million in annual cuts. ALPA says it tossed the agreement when the airline failed to meet a contingency requiring a certain level of concessions from its flight attendants. The deal flight attendants brokered last month was $1 million less than the amount the airline told pilots it would get.

The airline has asked its pilots to accept $15.8 million in annual cuts since ALPA tossed the previous deal, but it has been holding out for a better deal.

Comair, like its parent Delta, has been under Chapter 11 protection since September of last year. Company executives claim it needs to save $70 million annually under a restructuring plan to emerge from bankruptcy.

Negotiations between the airline and its pilots have continued sporadically with neither side willing to give any ground -- both have seemed willing to place all the important decisions in the hands of the bankruptcy court.

Aside from accusing the airline of dealing unfairly with it, the pilot's union says it has already given two years of concessions and wants the airline to prove more concessions are necessary.

In his order, the judge wrote, "Comair presented lengthy testimony and many exhibits proving that its pilot costs are not competitive. ALPA does not dispute that Comair's pilots have long been and are the highest paid in the industry."

Barring a negotiated agreement, Comair says it will impose concessions on December 30.

A union spokesman told the Associated Press the judge's decision doesn't change the requirement for a fair and equitable agreement between it and the airline.

The union has threatened to strike should the airline unilaterally impose cuts in pay or benefits.

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