The Associated Press is reporting that US Airways pilots are asking for mediation in their contract negotiations, a step which is one of several on the path to going on a strike ultimately.   No, this doesn’t mean a strike is imminent.  I suspect that a federal mediator is going to be held off until the courts decide who actually represents the pilots. 

US Airways pilots have been in a dispute between the former America West pilots and the former US Air pilots since the merger of the two airlines.   Former US Air pilots refused to recognize a binding arbitration ruling that integrated the seniority lists and ultimately they held an election to de-certify their original union and create their own in the model of American Airlines pilots.   Originally, the two groups were represented by different branches of ALPA originally and the former America West pilots have refused to recognize the new union and have so far won court battles against the new union. 

Now each group is awaiting an appeal to be heard by the  9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the legacy US Air pilots are hoping to see the original ruling against them overturned.    The central issue at stake is that the legacy US Air pilots favor merging the pilots’ lists strictly on seniority.  This move would favor them because most of those pilots (legacy US Airways)  have considerably more seniority based on hire date than the former America West pilots.  The America West pilots favored a “blending” of the seniority lists with some jobs and opportunities fenced off for each group and that is basically what the binding arbitration ruled for.  Since that date, US Airways has been unable to completely merge their operations because each pilot group has been working under a different contract.

It’s my guess that the National Labor Relations Board will wait to assign a mediator until the 9th Circuit Court rules on who actually represents the pilots and under what conditions.  My suspicion is that the 9th Circuit Court will in fact rule in favor of the former America West pilots again mostly because the arbitration between the two groups was legal and binding and won’t want a precedent which allows for nullifying an agreement and changing unions if you don’t like the result.   In some ways, I’ve been surprised that US Airways hasn’t gotten involved in this dispute if only because it keeps their potential savings from fully integrating the two airlines from being fully exploited.  Given that this conflict has been going on for almost 4 years, I would think that the company would have lost patience by now.

Ordinarily, a company would not want to be involved in such conflicts because they’re a bit like getting in between husband and wife during a domestic dispute.  They’ll both turn on you.  However, enough time has passed that the company could legitimately advance the argument that they are being materially harmed by a group of employees who are advancing their own interests against both the companies as well as the other pilots.    There is no doubt that there is “economic harm” at this point. 

This situation is precisely why many airline executives view mergers unfavorably at this point.  Pilots’ unions hold the most power of any labor group and obviously  hold the power to severely impact a company’s ability to operate profitably to the detriment of every other  interested party.  A problem that has existed since the 1960’s really and a problem that should be solved if this industry is to find a way to thrive in competition.

Even if the 9th Circuit Court does find in favor of the former America West pilots, it is likely that the legacy US Air pilots will file an appeal with the Supreme Court.  However, that case is unlikely to be heard and most likely will get settled quicly with the Supreme Courts refusal.   Unfortunatley, the legacy US Air pilots have harmed their case at every turn with rash behavior.  First they rejected binding arbitration, then they filed suit against their national organization and when it appeared they may lose, they then de-certified their union and established a new one to represent their interests by holding a company wide vote in which they were the numerical majority in hopes that that would resolve the issue.   Courts don’t really like venue searches like that. 

What is certainly also sad is that both groups of pilots have been operating under old contracts and have had no opportunity to enter into contract discussions with management.  This has, so far, been to the management’s advantage in that if those discussions had been held 4 years ago and a contract in place 2 years ago, they would likely have seen raises and not had to negotiate under the cloud of the worst economic recession in decades.  No one won here and a pox on all three houses for not settling this 2 years ago. 

I’ll add a personal note by saying that I think the worse part about this is the US Air pilots refusal to even acknowledge that without the merger they would likely have gone bankrupt a third time.  So far, no airline has survived a 3rd bankruptcy and given the dire straits that US Airways was in prior to the merger, a third bankruptcy would have almost certainly meant liquidation and the loss of pensions and other benefits for all the employees.  It is never nice to admit that you were in a weak position to begin with but sometimes its necessary for succeeding in the future.   The only people in sympathy with them are themselves and their families.

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