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Pilots' union sets terms for American to fly to Beijing: Easing rules would allow carrier to take on new route from D/FW
(Dallas Morning News, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Nov. 17--The union for American Airlines Inc.'s pilots laid out a series of demands Thursday that it wants met in exchange for the union's approval of the extra-long workdays needed to fly between Dallas-Fort Worth and Beijing.
American is among four U.S. carriers competing for a single route between the United States and China.
The U.S. Department of Transportation expects to pick from the applications of American, United Airlines Inc., Continental Airlines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Inc. by next month.
Flights on the D/FW International Airport-Beijing route are expected to exceed the 14 1/2-hour limit in the union contract for scheduled flight times and the 16-hour limit for time on duty.
The union says that a majority of flights for American's Chicago-Shanghai route have also exceeded those limits, and union officials filed a grievance last month over that route.
"We want to do that flying," union spokesman Gregg Overman said. "But recognize we're in a negotiating situation, and our pilots rightfully expect to get value for value."
American spokeswoman Sue Gordon said the airline had received the union's proposal.
"As with every proposal we receive, we'll take our time to carefully study it and communicate our response back to the APA," she said.
The union said it wanted the airline to promise to pay pilots for the entire sequence of flights they're scheduled to fly, even if their ability to pilot the flights is disrupted by flight delays, cancellations or other problems.
The union also said that pilots who are "deadheading" to augment a crew on an international flight should be given a first-class seat to get to work and at least a business-class seat on the way home. Deadheading is the practice of traveling to another city to begin work or traveling home after completing work.
At all times, pilots should be at the head of the line, in front of other airline employees, when they're seeking seats to deadhead to and from work, the union said.
In addition, the union wants off-duty pilots to have the right to sit in a crew jump seat if one is available.
And the union wants the airline to set up a procedure to warn pilots when "solar events" like major solar radiation storms are going to occur.
"If American Airlines truly wants to go to China, then APA has provided it with the contractual means to do so," the union leadership stated.
Union negotiators presented their management counterparts a proposed letter of agreement that would cover both the Beijing route and the Chicago-Shanghai route, which began service in 2005.
The letter, signed by president Ralph Hunter, vice president Sam Bertling and secretary-treasurer Jim Eaton, said the China route application gives the union a unique opportunity to negotiate some gains.
"The responsible use of this leverage demands that we employ it while it is available for the maximum benefit of the pilots, rather than bemoan its absence when it has expired," they wrote.
E-mail tmaxon@dallasnews.com
Copyright (c) 2006, The Dallas Morning News
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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