At least someone's union stood strong

[Doug Taylor]

Comair Can't Reject Attendants' Contract
Wednesday April 26, 9:02 pm ET
By Lisa Cornwell, Associated Press Writer
Judge Says Comair Can't Reject Flight Attendants' Contract


CINCINNATI (AP) -- A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge on Wednesday denied Delta subsidiary Comair's request to reject its contract with its 970 flight attendants so it can impose pay cuts the regional carrier says it needs to stay in business.
Judge Adlai Hardin in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York said requirements of the bankruptcy law that would allow the rejection of a collective bargaining agreement were not met.

Hardin said Comair failed to meet the good faith standard in its negotiations to change the contract because it has said its demand for $8.9 million in concessions from the flight attendants wasn't negotiable.

"The impact on the flight attendants of the very large percentage reductions in compensation will affect the flight attendants more severely than the pilots, mechanics, executives and other more highly paid Comair employees," the judge wrote.

Comair said it needs the concessions as part of a plan to cut $42 million in annual costs. Without that cut, the carrier has said it will have to cease operations.

Comair, based in Erlanger, Ky., near Cincinnati, filed for bankruptcy protection along with Delta last year. Comair is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc., and has 6,400 employees. It operates 871 flights daily to about 108 cities.

Hardin said Comair and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents the flight attendants, must return to the bargaining table. Hardin said if the two sides are unable to resolve their differences, his decision would not prevent Comair from filing a second motion to reject the agreement.

Comair President Fred Buttrell called the judge's decision a tremendous setback.

"Comair does have to restructure to be a viable entity, and I think the judge makes that pretty clear in his opinion," Buttrell said in a telephone interview late Wednesday.

The company would talk with the union about the issues brought up in the ruling, he said. "But commercially -- whether we like it or not -- we are going to have to have our costs lower than our revenue base in order for us to emerge from bankruptcy," Buttrell said.

Joe Kolshak, Delta's vice president of operations, said Delta could contract with other regional carriers.

Washington-based Teamsters spokeswoman Noa Oren said the union has been waiting for the company to bargain in good faith and doesn't believe Delta will switch from Comair to other regional carriers.

The flight attendants had given their union authority to call a strike if Comair invalidated the contract and imposed new terms.

Lynn Dziad, an officer with Teamsters Local 513, said flight attendants are relieved that they won't have to strike and happy the judge agreed they had cause to reject Comair's proposal.

"We think now that we can at least get a living wage, which is not what the company has been asking us for," she said.

Unions representing pilots and mechanics have agreed to concessions, but those deals are contingent on the flight attendants accepting cuts as well.

Hardin noted that both sides seemed far apart on the issues and had notified him April 17 that they had ended negotiations. He also chastised the parties for raising the possibility of the union striking and Delta switching regional carriers.

Comair: http://www.comair.com

[CapnJim]

Damn.
Well, some days you get the bear, and some days the bear gets you.

[Doug Taylor]

In mother Russia, man nags wife.

[Tokyo007]

I wish I could have seen the presidents face when he gave his ruling..

"DOH!"



glad they stuck together and won this round

[mtsu_av8er]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

In mother Russia, man nags wife.

[alphaone]

F ya

[bike21]

To da 'Man': (Comair management)

Boooyyyaaahhh!!!

[MQAAord]

DALPA, oh DALPA are you listening? Are you watching this? Present a case to a judge and you can show them the demands that are being made of you are unreasonable!

Ah, nevermind. They're too busy examining their ankles.

[flyover]

Originally Posted by MQAAord

DALPA, oh DALPA are you listening? Are you watching this? Present a case to a judge and you can show them the demands that are being made of you are unreasonable!

Ah, nevermind. They're too busy examining their ankles.

Uh, here's the problem:

The judge in the Comair case simply said that management had to negotiate in good faith before he could rule in their favor. That's been part of bk law since the reforms after Lorenzo.

In the Delta case there was already a process, agreed to by both sides, that included using an arbitrator. So the bk judge is going to take whatever comes out of that process.

[MQAAord]

My point exactly. Instead of presenting their case to the judge (what was her name Prudence or something? The one who ended up going out on sick leave?), DALPA agreed to the arbitration.

[Chris_Ford]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

In mother Russia, man nags wife.

You're a hack.

Stealing my material. Hmph.

[pilot602]

Lets see 871 daily flights, eh? Ok lets assume an average of 40 folks per flight (accounts for variance in size of aircraft and unfilled flights and this "overcapacity" problem) that comes out to 34,840 passengers per day. 34,840 passengers per day times 365 days in a year comes out to 12,716,600 passengers per year. If you need $42 million dollars why not raise the ticket prices $4.00 which would bring in $50,866,400. Not a single person would EVER notice a $4.00 ticket price increase. Hell lets cut the passengers per flight to 20 the ticket price goes up a whopping $8.00.

But I forget, silly me, these "bankruptcies" are really about bankruptcy, not destroying unions and resetting debts for free. I mean a bankrupt company has no business in raising prices so they can break even lest turn a profit. No, a bankrupt company has only one option to get itself out of bankruptcy and that is to cut wages and hire more managers.

[casey]

Originally Posted by pilot602

If you need $42 million dollars why not raise the ticket prices $4.00 which would bring in $50,866,400.

great plan, but realize that comair does not sell tickets and has no concept of ticket prices, delta handles that. Check out CPA and fee for departure operations.

[skydog]

The difference here is that we're talking about Flight Attendants at a regional airline. If they make 20K, it's been a good year. It's not too hard to go out and get another 20K/year job if you lose the first one. When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose. Pilots, even at the regional level, lose big time if the company liquidates.

[tonyw]

Originally Posted by skydog

The difference here is that we're talking about Flight Attendants at a regional airline. If they make 20K, it's been a good year. It's not too hard to go out and get another 20K/year job if you lose the first one. When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose. Pilots, even at the regional level, lose big time if the company liquidates.

Because it's so hard to find another $18K a year job, right?

[pilot602]

Originally Posted by casey

great plan, but realize that comair does not sell tickets and has no concept of ticket prices, delta handles that. Check out CPA and fee for departure operations.

And therein lies the problem with ALL regionals. As long as mainline is paying the bills they're A-OK. Mainline decides they don't like something and the given regional is up ##### creek without a boat, let alone a paddle.

[Doug Taylor]

Originally Posted by Chris_Ford

You're a hack.

Stealing my material. Hmph.

Sure did!

[skydog]

Originally Posted by tonyw

Because it's so hard to find another $18K a year job, right?

No, but it is tough to go right out and find another 60-70K a year job

[B767Driver]

It was a technical win only for the CMR FAs.

Read the ruling. The judge grants an expedited 1113 ruling once CMR complies. The problem now for CMR is that they may have to go back and negotiate new agreements with the pilots and mechanics to comply with the judges request. That could be a mess.