USA Today/AP has THIS story about Frontier mechanics who are represented by the Teamsters union going to court to enforce a contract.  Republic wants to move maintenance to Milwaukee (home of the other branded airline they purchased, Midwest) and it has offered to move mechanics from Denver to Milwaukee to do this maintenance.  The mechanics and their union claim their contract specifies the maintenance will be done in Denver and they’ve gone to court to see who is right. 

The worst part of this isn’t the move in my opinion.  The worst part is that Republic has apparently told the mechanics that anyone who moves to Milwaukee won’t be in the union.  Why is this bad?  Well, for one, even the courts aren’t fond of union busting via mergers and bankruptcies.  Another is that Milwaukee is, itself, a very unionized city still.  I’m not sure you want to get a reputation for being anti-union in such a city where you’re still attempting to court customers as the “home town” airline. 

Republic may even get away with this move but it also attracts the attention of unions and they may now face unionizing attempts at their “core” airline unit(s).   While unionizing attempts aren’t nearly as successful as they once were, they continue to be a bit more successful in the airline world which is heavily unionized and where those belonging to a union almost universally do better with respect to pay and benefits.   Yes, Delta is somewhat the exception here but I fully expect them to become much more unionized in the future as well.

Are unions inherently bad?  No, they aren’t.  Bad union contracts are bad.  Antagonistic relationships with unions is generally bad.  And in the political and economic climate that many workers exist in today, unions really don’t look so bad anymore. 

A couple more moves like this and I’ll move Republic onto my death watch.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax