Rank And File To Decide On $300 Concession Package

ALPA pilots working for US Airways will vote on the airline's $300 million concession package, after the plan was initially stalled by pilots in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

"The decision is where it belongs and it is in the hands of our pilots," pilots union spokesman Jack Stephan told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

But the pilots' balloting won't come in time before Thursday's bankruptcy court hearing in Alexandria (VA), where US Airways is expected to ask a federal judge to approve immediate cuts of 23-percent in pay to all its workers, including pilots. Union and company spokesmen, however, differed on whether that request would actually be made, now that the leadership of the pilots' union has agreed to put the package to a vote.

US Airways 3,200 pilots now have until October 21st to decide on the new pact. It's part of the airline's attempt to cut $950 million in annual operating expenses, mostly from the salaries of its workers. The agreement worked out between the airline and ALPA negotiators would mean an 18.5-percent cut in pay, a big reduction in the amount the airline contributes to pilot pension funds and the elimination of health care benefits for some of its retired flight crew members.

Union leaders met in Pittsburgh Tuesday to talk about the proposal in what turned out to be an 11-hour marathon. In the end, three of the four leaders representing pilots in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia agreed to put the matter to a vote of the rank and file. The fourth abstained.

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