US Airways - America West Merger: Labor's Jaundiced View | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-06.10.24

Airborne-NextGen-06.11.24

Airborne-Unlimited-06.12.24 Airborne-FltTraining-06.13.24

Airborne-Unlimited-06.14.24

Fri, May 20, 2005

US Airways - America West Merger: Labor's Jaundiced View

IAMA Leader Says US Airways Bankruptcy Was Ruse To Dump Labor Agreements

Bill Wise smells something fishy.

The US Airways mechanic and vice president of the machinists' union at US Airways' hub in Charlotte said Friday he believed the company's merger with America West was the real reason behind its second bankruptcy filing.

"Now, the real story comes out," Wise told ANN. "[Management] turned down our concession offers so they could get out of" their labor contracts. By doing so, Wise said, US Airways was able to lower salaries and benefits to a level more in line with those offered workers by America West.

"We were forced in line," he said.

In Thursday's news conference from Tempe, AZ, announcing the merger, America West CEO Doug Parker acknowledged there would be job cuts among the two companies' 42,000 workers. "But we're talking four- or five-thousand cuts and saving 35,000 jobs," he said.

Wise suggests many of those cuts will be made in Charlotte, even after Parker and Lakefield offered North Carolina lawmakers assurances that the Charlotte hub would only grow.

The machinists handle much of the heavy maintenance workload at US Airways -- a task outsourced by America West. One major contractor for heavy maintenance on commercial aircraft is Air Canada -- a company that's invested millions in the merger. Wise believes the Air Canada investment comes with a simple caveat: All heavy maintenance for the new airline will be handled north of the border.

If approved by both regulators and a Northern Virginia bankruptcy judge, the two companies plan to blend operations within about three years. Wise figures he and the other 4,000 or so machinists in Charlotte have about that much time to look for other jobs.

FMI: www.americawest.com, www.usairways.com

Advertisement

More News

ANN FAQ: Submit a News Story!

Have A Story That NEEDS To Be Featured On Aero-News? Here’s How To Submit A Story To Our Team Some of the greatest new stories ANN has ever covered have been submitted by our>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (06.12.24)

“The legislation now includes a task force with industry representation ensuring that we have a seat at the table and our voice will be heard as conversations about the futur>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (06.12.24)

Aero Linx: Waco Museum The WACO Historical Society, in addition to preserving aviation's past, is also dedicated and actively works to nurture aviation's future through its Learnin>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (06.12.24): Adcock Range

Adcock Range National low-frequency radio navigation system (c.1930-c.1950) replaced by an omnirange (VOR) system. It consisted of four segmented quadrants broadcasting Morse Code >[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 06.06.24: 200th ALTO, Rotax SB, Risen 916iSV

Also: uAvionix AV-Link, Does Simming Make Better Pilots?, World Games, AMA National Fun Fly Czech sportplane manufacturer Direct Fly has finished delivering its 200th ALTO NG, the >[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC