American Pilots Union Counters Management Contract Offer

Source: Wall St J

By SUSAN CAREY

Ignoring a Saturday deadline agreed by both sides for a conclusion to contract talks, American Airlines Group Inc. and its 15,000 pilots continued to negotiate terms for a new, five-year labor agreement, with the pilots asking for big raises to compensate for the profit-sharing deal enjoyed by pilots at Delta Air Lines Inc.

The Allied Pilots Association, which represents 10,000 American pilots and 5,000 aviators from merger partner US Airways, late Friday countered American’s proposal made a week ago by asking for a 10% pay raises instead of American’s previous offer of an average of a 3% increase over Delta’s current pay rates. The APA contends that in the absence of a profit-sharing plan, its members should get bigger raise.

Delta pilots, already slightly better paid in hourly wages, are in line to receive 15% of their annual earnings this year based on their airline’s financial performance and are preparing to negotiate a new labor agreement, expected to contain more pay increases.

American and APA, according to a postmerger protocol, had agreed to end the talks Saturday, with any outstanding items of contention going to an arbitration panel. According to the earlier agreement, American pilots would receive no economic improvements to their current contracts, bumped up after American and US Airways merged last December.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/articles/american-pilots-union-counters-management-contract-offer-1416161662