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Mesaba Airlines, after four months in bankruptcy, moved swiftly Friday to ask a judge to abrogate the labor contracts with its pilots, flight attendants and mechanics unions.
"Labor concessions are required immediately if Mesaba is to reorganize and successfully emerge from bankruptcy," Mesaba said Friday in its court filing. Management has been negotiating with its three largest unions over the past several weeks, but the unions have rejected the deep pay cuts and other concessions that the company wants to slash labor costs by 19.4 percent.
Mesaba flight attendants with six years of experience now earn $21,276 a year. Management wants all flight attendants to take 15.7 percent pay cuts.
"We would be the lowest-paid flight attendants in the industry," said Carla Rogat, vice president of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA). Many flight attendants already hold second jobs. Rogat predicted that many would simply resign if management prevails.
In addition to the pay cuts, Mesaba wants its employees to pick up 50 percent of their health care costs.
"We are seeing a lot of disbelief and general shock" coming from Mesaba employees, Rogat said.
"The management team very much wants to restructure our union contracts through negotiations and consensual agreements with each bargaining group," Mesaba President John Spanjers said Friday in a letter to employees.
However, he added, "We must prepare for the possibility that those negotiations will not succeed before time runs out."
Mesaba filed for Chapter 11 because Northwest Airlines has said it will cut Mesaba's fleet in half and Northwest has failed to make $38.7 million in payments due to Mesaba, the carrier said. Mesaba does not have aircraft of its own and all of its flights are operated for Northwest.
Mesaba's pilots union has argued that it is premature for Mesaba employees to be taking deep cuts.
"To gut our contracts when you don't know what the future fleet plan is going to be is irresponsible," said Tom Wychor, chairman of the Mesaba branch of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).
Mesaba had 100 airplanes when it filed for bankruptcy, but Northwest has said it will remove all 35 Avros jets from Mesaba's fleet. In addition, Northwest has pulled back on its allocation of new 50-seat Canadair Regional Jets (CRJs) for Mesaba.
Mesaba wants Saab captains and first officers to take 15.12 percent pay cuts. But union leaders said many Mesaba pilots would see their compensation fall dramatically. Those moving from Avro to Saab captains would get pay cuts averaging 39 percent.
If the pilots contract is nullified in bankruptcy court and Mesaba's terms are imposed, "we will have no choice but to strike," Wychor said.
The unions and Mesaba management are expected to face off in court on Feb. 24 in Minneapolis before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gregory Kishel. That date is set for the kickoff of the labor trial, which allows management and the unions to present expert witnesses to testify about the company's financial condition and labor proposals.
A six-year mechanic earns $36,447 and is facing a pay cut of 17.8 percent.
» Mesaba Employees Vote 'No Confidence' from TheAirlineHub
I had talked about how Mesaba employees would have to take a significant pay and benefit reduction if management was able to get the courts to over turn labor agreements. Well now Mesaba Employees voted "No Confidence" in their manageme... [Read More]
Tracked on: February 7, 2006 5:05 PM | Permalink to Trackback