BY EDWIN FRUIT
PITTSBURGH - On May 8, USAirways (formerly USAir) announced that it was closing a flight crew base in Los Angeles, ending jet service to nine cities, grounding 22 planes, and laying off 103 pilots. The company also said it would shut maintenance bases in Roanoke, Virginia, and in Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This would affect approximately 1,400 mechanics who are represented by the International Association of Machinists (IAM). The IAM, with 14,000 members at the airline, is currently in contract negotiations with USAirways.

William Scheri, transportation secretary vice president of the IAM, charged that USAirways CEO Stephen Wolf "has become the Frank Lorenzo of the '90s." Lorenzo spearheaded a union-busting concession drive at Eastern Airlines; he was pushed out of the industry and Eastern was forced to shut down in 1991 as a result of a successful Machinists strike.

In the previous weeks, USAirways, the nation's sixth largest airline, with some 42,000 employees, has undertaken an all-out campaign to force the unions to negotiate concessions. Wolf and company president Rakesh Gangwal conducted a series of meetings around the country with USAirways employees. Speaking in front of a large screen filled with graphs, charts, and statistics, the two bosses painted a bleak picture of the future of the airline if the unions refused to accept take-back contracts. "You have a choice," they repeated over and over again. "Either we achieve cost competitiveness and become a "global airline of choice" or we downsize and become a regional carrier."

USAirways claims that in just the past year, Southwest, Delta Express, and Valujet have added 390 daily departures and 318,000 seats that compete with USAirways' structure, including flights into the northeast. The airline's labor costs represented 43 percent of its total costs in the 12- month period ending in September, compared with the average 37 percent for major carriers in the United States.

USAirways wants to put on line a regional airline, dubbed US2, that would pay pilots about a third less than on the main line. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) is proposing the low-cost part of the airline represent no more than 20 percent of the flying time, while the company wants as much as 40 percent. The company also wants the pilots to take a 12.5 percent pay cut. The pilots association says it will make concessions, but not that much. At the annual shareholders meeting held in Philadelphia on May 21, some 50 USAirways pilots picketed outside, handing out informational flyers.

While unionized employees took wage and work rule concessions in the early 1990s, more drastic cuts were imposed on non-union workers. The baggage handlers and caterers in USAirway's fleet service voted for the IAM to be their union representatives in August 1994 after being several years without any union at all. After almost three years, they still do not have a contract.

Pete Dutkovich, a ramp worker in Pittsburgh, explained a sentiment which many of his co-workers share. "I've worked here for nine-and-a-half years and I'm still part time. When we were without a union the company made us second class citizens. Some of us have to pay $3,000 a year to get health insurance for our families. We don't get paid time-and-a- half for holidays, can't bank sick days, and have an inferior pension plan to the mechanics. We want parity with the mechanics on the property. After that we can talk about concessions."

USAirways has also tried to renegotiate its contract with 7,800 flight attendants represented by the Association of Fight of Attendants (AFA). According to an AFA brief to union members, the company is demanding numerous concessions, including separate pay scales for those flying US2 with reductions ranging from 7 percent to 40 percent, benefit cuts, and less vacation time and sick leave. The AFA says the company also wants to save cuts by having flight attendants clean planes, take tickets in airports, and sell tickets on airplanes.

Wolf said that USAirways loses money on the majority of its 5,000 daily flights. Nevertheless, the company said it earned a record $152.7 million the first three months of the year, historically its worst quarter. Revenue also hit a record $2.1 billion compared to $1.9 billion in 1996.

On May 20, USAirways Groups Inc. said it plans to repurchase about a quarter of the USAir stock held by its former alliance partner, British Airways, for $126.2 million, according to the Baltimore Sun. The article date described this action as "a signal that the airline has the financial muscle to use cash for financial management rather than operations."

Edwin Fruit is a member of Local Lodge #1976 of the IAM and works for USAirways at Pittsburgh International Airport.  
 
 
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