[PEN-L:33604] lowering unit labor costs............

["Ian Murray" <seamus2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

Airlines Aim To Make Strikes More Difficult
Industry Lobbies to Revise Labor Law

By Sara Kehaulani Goo and Kirstin Downey
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 7, 2003; Page E01


Airlines, which lost more than $9 billion last year, are asking Congress
to rescue the industry by rewriting the federal law that governs airline
labor relations to make it harder for unions to strike, according to
officials representing major carriers.

The Air Transport Association, the industry's largest lobbying
organization, is urging lawmakers to revise the Railway Labor Act of
1926, the federal law that regulates the industry's labor relations.
Airlines, which have been struggling to regain profitability, say labor
expenses are their biggest costs. If their employees' ability to strike
is limited by the federal government, it could make it easier for
carriers to attain wage cuts and work-rule concessions.

The effort is a shift in tactics for the industry, which failed last
year in its effort to get Congress to pay for certain security costs and
to eliminate some taxes. Lawmakers were reluctant to provide more funds
for carriers after approving a $15 billion bailout for the industry
after the terrorist hijackings in 2001.

Transportation unions said they were outraged by the effort and accused
carriers of using their financial crisis to weaken unions. "It's about
getting the upper hand on their workers," said Edward Wytkind, executive
director of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, which
represents 35 transportation unions, including all the airline unions.
Airlines are one of the most unionized industries in the United States.

Last year Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced a measure that would
have changed the federal law by requiring that a panel of arbitrators
quickly resolve disputes, effectively curtailing workers' ability to
strike. Michael Wascom, a spokesman for the airline lobbyists, said the
association and many carriers liked the measure, which did not pass.

With Republicans now in control of the Senate and McCain chairing the
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, airlines are
hopeful that they can get the federal transportation labor law
rewritten. McCain has scheduled a hearing Thursday on the state of the
airline industry. His staff declined to comment on whether he would
reintroduce the measure. But union spokesmen said they were told he
would do so next month.

Not all airlines have endorsed this effort, according to industry and
union sources. Some carriers, such as Delta Air Lines and American
Airlines, are aggressively pushing for a new labor law, while a few,
including Southwest Airlines, are unenthusiastic. "We're totally,
incredibly uninvolved" in the lobbying effort, said Ed Stuart, a
spokesman for Dallas-based Southwest. "Historically our negotiations
have gone very well, and we're the most unionized airline in the
industry."

The association's effort has been joined by a newly formed coalition of
airlines, chambers of commerce, and state and local economic development
and tourism agencies, who fear that airline cutbacks will hurt their
communities. The group calls itself the Communities for Economic
Strength Through Aviation, and its sole mission is to help airlines get
more favorable labor rules. The group is headed by former New York
representative Susan Molinari (R).

The airline industry's labor relations are governed by the 1926 Railway
Act, which aimed to prevent railroad strikes that could hurt commerce
and the national economy. When airlines began to grow as an industry,
they were included under the measure. The law mandates a series of long
cooling-off periods.

Some airlines say this cooling-off period leads to lengthy negotiations
that hurt the airlines. When threatened with strikes during this period,
some airlines say they feel compelled to accept contracts that hurt them
financially.

The legislation that McCain offered last year would eliminate the long
cooling-off periods and require that labor disputes be referred to a
small panel of arbitrators, which would have 30 days to select the
proposal of the union or the company. The decision could be appealed
only in limited cases and would be binding on both parties.

This process would require the arbitrators to consider the financial
condition of the carrier and its need for a "reasonable profit."
Molinari said this would help stop the common practice of labor unions
forcing airlines to accept favorable contracts negotiated at other
carriers.

"Compensation packages and wages have been excessive," said Michael
Wascom. "In times like this, you cannot sustain these levels of costs."

Molinari has recruited former transportation secretaries Neil
Goldschmidt and James Burnley IV, former senators Slade Gordon and
Charles S. Robb, and former representatives Vic Fazio and Vin Weber to
lobby for the new group.

Wytkind and said unions are upset that the airline industry is spending
large sums to hire lobbyists while telling workers about their dire
financial conditions. "It's become clear these 'broke' airlines who are
pleading poverty and are trying to extract millions in concessions from
their workers' wages have found the resources to hire a number of very
high-profile lobbyists to lobby for this bill," he said.