Top airline's pilots protest against outsourcing

Pilots at the world's largest airline are stepping up their protest against outsourced flying in what could emerge as a key stumbling block in the merger of United and Continental, reported Dow Jones Newswires.

Flight crew will start "informational picketing" today against what they view as efforts by management to expand the use of regional partners for commuter flights, a move the pilots' union said violates their existing labour contract with Continental Airlines.

United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL), the parent of the merged carrier formed on October 1, is trying to forge new collective bargaining agreements by the end of next year with unions representing staff at the legacy carriers.

Pilots from both airlines have taken a bold stance against outsourcing, which has become common practice in the US industry as carriers sought to cut costs.

While talks with management continue, flight crew representatives said the merged airline was violating the Continental pact by seeking to put its "CO" code on services flown from its Houston and Newark hubs using 70-seat planes.

Continental has one of the industry's most restrictive pilots' deals, effectively barring it from operating regional jets with more than 50 seats, while the legacy United is able to outsource flying of larger 70-seat aircraft.

"We have no reservations about using the full range of legal methods available to bring resolution to this issue and ultimately prevent the outsourcing that we strongly believe violates the Continental pilots' contract," said Jay Pierce, chairman of the Continental pilots unit of Air Line Pilots Association, International, which represents flight crew at both carriers.

"We would hope management isn't attempting to circumvent the bargaining process," said Pierce.

United Continental executives have avoided negotiating in public, but have voiced concern about the 50-seat rule. "We have been hampered and competitively disadvantaged," said chief executive Jeff Smisek on a post-earnings' call last month.

Flight crew at United have already rallied against outsourcing, despite their less restrictive agreement. A trial that sees Aer Lingus operate a service between Madrid and Washington DC riled flight crew and led to similar picketing by pilots that drew support from colleagues at Continental and Deutsche Lufthansa, a fellow member of the Star airline alliance.

"It is no secret that the issues of scope and outsourcing are paramount in our current negotiations for a joint collective bargaining agreement that will eventually cover both Continental and United pilots," said Wendy Morse, chairman of the union's United unit.

The new deal hammered out with pilots will be key in determining the future size and shape of the merged airline.

The companies' pilots have proposed bringing all flying in-house over a period of years following their merger, a move that would distinguish it from other US network carriers.

US network airlines have outsourced large parts of their domestic networks to an array of regional airlines over the past 20 years in a bid to cut costs, though the amount is capped by "scope" clauses in their pilots' collective bargaining agreements.

Only Continental's mainline pilots can fly jets with more than 50 seats, and the airline contracts ExpressJet, which has just been acquired by SkyWest to fly more than 200 smaller Embraer aircraft on its behalf.

United has more flexible work practices that enable it to fly more than 150 70-seat regional jets. Rising fuel costs have made 50-seat jets less economic, while the emergence of new aircraft in the 70 to 130-seat range have made airlines look to loosen the restrictions of existing scope clauses.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)