As mechanics for United Airlines ratchet up the pressure for a new contract, Dick Durbin, the state’s senior senator, is again extending a hand to help settle a labor dispute at his hometown airline.
He played the same role during the summer of 2000, when 26,000 flights were canceled and thousands more delayed by United pilots who were angry about the pace of negotiations on their contract.
The airline’s 13,000 mechanics are preparing to strike at 11:01 p.m. Tuesday unless agreement is reached on a new contract. Earlier this week, mechanics overwhelmingly rejected the proposal of a Presidential Emergency Board that offered them a 37 percent raise but also required them to share in any concession plan negotiated with the airline’s other unions.
In letters to United and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents its 13,000 mechanics, Durbin called on the two sides to “work around the clock to reach a solution.” He said he stood ready to help, if needed.
“The traveling public deserve the peace of mind that there will be no service or job disruptions,” he said.
Seeking to trade seats: Just as United’s pilots and mechanics believe they had to beat their heads against a stone wall to get anything accomplished, nearly 2,000 of its flight attendants feel they have been slamming into a similar wall.
The attendants, many of whom have years of experience, have been asking the airline to allow them to volunteer for a furlough, a move that would allow for the recall of nearly all the flight attendants who were involuntarily furloughed. In other words, they’re telling the airline they are willing to be laid off to let their brethren return to work.
It’s the single biggest issue being talked about on the discussion board–nearly 3,000 messages have been posted–maintained by the Association of Flight Attendants. United, however, has been unwilling to open the door.
“They just won’t give us a reason,” said one flight attendant about United’s refusal to allow the working attendants to swap places with their non-working friends.
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Last fall, United laid off 2,700 flight attendants, most of whom had been flying for little more than a year, as part of an overall cost-cutting move. Another 2,400 attendants took voluntary leaves, lasting from 90 days to 18 months.
Since then, 800 of those laid off have been called back, leaving some 1,900 still off the job.
“The problem is a cost problem,” said Jack Creighton, United chairman and CEO, who said the airline recently extended another 90 days of travel benefits to the attendants on involuntary leave.
Under the union contract, United would have to continue paying benefits to the attendants on voluntary leave, while it doesn’t have to pay for benefits to those on involuntary leave. United executives say it could cost $10 million to allow the swap, money that financially troubled United would like to keep for other uses.
But Linda Farrow, president of United’s flight attendant union, said that could be changing. “We are hoping to hear Friday that the company will bring back another large group on involuntary,” she said. In addition, she said United has shown willingness to talk about those still wanting voluntary leaves. “We’re still pushing,” she said.
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E-mail jschmeltzer @tribune.com