ALPA Seeks Scope Changes As Talks Begin

As American Eagle and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) begin a 90-day negotiating session to amend the carrier's 1997-era contract, the pilots would like to see some competition eliminated.

The American Eagle pilots want the contract language cleaned up so that three regional airlines - Trans States, Chautauqua and Corporate Express - will not be competing directly with American Eagle for routes.

As the ALPA unit and American Eagle negotiators begin their talks, the union intends to take up scope clauses, compensation, scheduling and retirement issues. The 16-year labor pact can be adjusted every four years. During this initial 90-day session, all issues can be put on the table. However, the two sides must reach an agreement on the most contentious issues during this period because not every thing can be forwarded to the second phase - mandatory arbitration, said Lisa Bailey, a spokeswoman for American Eagle. There are three issues that cannot be carried over to an arbitration phase - scope, compensation and contract duration. As part of the process, each side will select five priority issues to forward to an arbitration panel, which is tentatively scheduled to begin in early December, said John Perkinson, an ALPA spokesman.

Since the contract was last amended, American Eagle's parent, AMR Corp. [AMR], purchased TWA and barely avoided bankruptcy.

As a result of the TWA merger, American gained the services of Trans States, Chautauqua and Corporate Express. The trio had been known as Trans World Express (TWE) carriers and now is dubbed American Connection carriers. The Eagle pilots under the contract were to do express flying for American mainline, Perkinson said, but that arrangement was negated with the TWA merger. The three regional carriers, he said, are viewed as code-share partners, not express level carriers. The union has filed grievances to clarify the relationships and route responsibilities.

As the Eagle pilots view the situation, Perkinson explained, if American wants to increase flights out of St. Louis, for example, using 50-seat regional jets, they might try to use one of these three carriers instead of Eagle. "If American has multiple options, they can whip saw one carrier against another and drive down costs. [The pilots] want clear language for what regional or express level flying for American means. Ideally they would like the TWE partners to go away."

American Eagle and ALPA are limited by the scope clause in the American-Allied Pilots Association (APA) contract. The regional carrier can fly no more than 50 70-seat regional jets. American pilots would fly any additional jets on American routes flying as American airliners, not American Eagle or American Connection aircraft. "Certainly American Eagle pilot negotiators would love to negotiate for more 70-seaters," Perkinson said, "but it is not a top priority. There are other players involved, obviously APA and AMR, have some say in what happens there."

A year ago as American and APA negotiated wage concessions from the mainline pilots in an effort to avoid bankruptcy, furloughed APA pilots gained rights to fly the Bombardier [BBD] CRJ 700 as captains (CRAN, May 5, 2003). The move would displace ALPA-represented Eagle pilots and prevent them from moving up to captain. Despite a request to be a part of the talks, ALPA was excluded from the negotiations.

Bailey did not have an immediate reaction to the union's desire to clarify the scope language. It was not a topic the management had anticipated, she said.

Neither side would disclose what would be sought in the talks in terms of compensation.

"We are sitting down and looking at all the issues they want to address and see where we can make progress over the next several weeks," Bailey said.

While the contract provides a yearly raise based on a peer comparison index, Bailey said the airline is looking to remain cost competitive as it enters the talks. "If we have learned anything over the last couple of years, it is that we have to lower our costs to remain competitive. We are now seeing the pressures that have been put on the mainline carrier are being pushed to the regionals. We really need to stay cost competitive to grow."

"We see this is an opportunity to make some positive changes for our pilots," said Capt. Herb Mark, chairman of the union's master executive council. "Our present agreement does not take into consideration the major changes or the considerable expansion that have taken place at our airline over the last seven years. These days, Eagle is a major player in the industry and flies over 1,400 daily flights to more than 130 cities. We need a contract that will help us recruit and retain the best pilots in the industry, if we are to maintain this level of success."

Perkinson said the Eagle pilots want their 401(k) retirement program improved. An increasing number of the 2,500 Eagle pilots are spending their entire career at regional airlines. The contract had anticipated that the pilots would move up to American and qualify for its more generous pension plan. Instead of "flowing through" to American, he said, American pilots are now "flowing down" to American Eagle.

>>Contact: Lisa Bailey, American Eagle, (817) 963-1602; John Perkinson, ALPA, (703) 481-4440.<<