The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.8           March 1, 1999 
 
 
Fight By American Airlines Pilots Is Boost For Others  

BY BETSEY STONE
CHICAGO - When American Airlines pilots carried out their mass sick-out in mid-February, the big-business media made every attempt to turn public opinion against them. News articles and TV coverage focused on the numbers of passengers inconvenienced by the cancellation of more than 6,000 American flights. The concerns of the pilots were not explained clearly and their high pay was mentioned often, trying to present them as unreasonable and greedy.

Nevertheless, many working people were inspired by the pilots' fighting spirit in the face of company's attack and their defiance of a judge's back-to-work order.

Dave Lee is a baggage handler at Northwest airlines in Chicago. Like most workers in the airline industry, Northwest workers have been hit by a company drive to impose concessions. "Many of my co-workers were really picked up by the boldness of the action of the pilots," Lee said. "We have been discussing that this is the kind of fight we'd like to see our union carrying out."

The pilots, who are members of the Allied Pilots Association, are fighting an attempt by American Airlines to introduce a two-tier structure by paying pilots from Reno Air, a small airline American bought in December, less than American pilots. They are also demanding that those American pilots who are being upgraded to captain's jobs because of the addition of Reno planes and flights be immediately paid the higher wages corresponding to their new positions.

The company has insisted that the higher pay scale be instituted slowly over the course of the 18 months it will take to "integrate" Reno into American. Currently Reno pilots make about half of what American pilots do.

Rick Walker, a ramp worker and member of the Transport Workers Union at American Airlines in Miami, said most of his co-workers take the side of the pilots against the company, but many lack information on the true concerns of the pilots and the stakes involved in the fight.

"This is a struggle that was provoked by company attacks on the union contract," Walker explained. "The pilots have eliminated the two-tier wage scale from their contract. They also have a clause in the contract saying that all planes owned by American or a subsidiary must be flown by American pilots. The Reno pilots are now American Airlines employees and, according to the contract, should be paid equally."

"This is a big issue for all airline workers," Walker added. "The companies are always trying to find ways to put in a two-tier, to divide workers, to pay some less for the same job."

American Airlines was the first to introduce the two-tier system (known as the B scale) into the airlines and it continues to have one of the worst two-tier wage spreads in the industry. "We can be sure they'll try to impose the lowest wages they can on workers handling the baggage on the Reno planes," Walker commented. Walker also stressed the need for unionists to speak out against the intervention of the federal court into the pilot's fight.

On February 10 Judge Joe Kendall of the Federal District Court in Dallas ordered the pilots back to work. Kendall, a former cop, unleashed a tirade of attacks and slanders against the pilots and their organization. He charged, "The radical element that appears to be in control of the Allied Pilots Association seems determined to fly American Airlines into the side of the mountain, taking themselves, the company, their co- workers, and their customers with them."

After the back-to-work order, pilots showed their determination and rejection of the judge's action by calling in sick in greater numbers than before. On February 12 the judge then cited the union for contempt of court and fined it $10 million.

In a dangerous precedent for the whole labor movement, Judge Kendall then ruled in favor of the company's demand that that the union pay for the financial losses of the company during the sick-out. Hearings have begun in Dallas to determine how much money this is. The judge has declared, "What a federal judge can do, and what I will do, is to make people pay for what they break. So if the activity and consequent damages continue, when all the dust clears, all the assets of the union, including their strike war chest, will be capable of being safely stored in the overhead bin of a Piper Cub."

The current fight is the latest in a series of conflicts between American pilots and the company. In the mid-l980s, a two-tier scale was introduced, which paid new hires less. The pilots later fought successfully to get rid of the two-tier. In the early l990s, American employees experienced layoffs and cutbacks. In l997, the pilots went on strike against company demands that jeopardized job security. President William Clinton ordered them back to work after just four minutes, under the antiunion Railway Labor Act. Many pilots are still angry about concessions they were forced to accept by the Presidential Emergency Board Clinton then imposed.

After American's purchase of Reno Air, the company and the union negotiated for five weeks before the pilots, angry at the company's intransigence, began calling in sick.

Under threat of the large fines, most pilots are now back at work. Negotiations with the company have begun again and the struggle continues to get the company to honor the contract and to get the fines dropped. Many of the pilots are organizing to keep the pressure on American by refusing to work overtime and strictly enforcing work rules.

Betsey Stone is a member of the International Association of Machinists.

 
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home