general

Last year, pilots at Delta and Southwest overwhelmingly rejected proposed contracts and then elected union leaders who led them through earlier contract scuffles. The message was loud and clear: It’s time for payback after years of sacrifice. After pilots at American, the largest US carrier, agreed to a long-term deal with hefty raises a year ago, some 34,000 pilots at the three next-biggest carriers moved to collect a larger part of now-record profits flowing into US airline coffers. That strategy, based on pattern bargaining that unions have used for decades across many industries, is now taking shape. “We’ve made some good strides, but they’ve not been enough,” said John Malone, chairman of the Delta chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). A Boeing 767 captain based in Atlanta, Malone took office in September, assuming the role he held more than a decade ago. Across the US, the most senior pilots earn, on average, $209,000 per year, while new first officers make an average of $55,000. Their unions want double-digit raises. Delta pilots consider their last true wage increase as dating back to May 2004, under the final contract negotiated before jet fuel prices spiked and the financial crisis sent the industry tumbling. Ultimately, United, Delta, Northwest, and American all filed for bankruptcy, triggering tremendous financial pain for employees, not to mention a wave of airline consolidation. That was then. Today, the remaining four large airlines are posting robust profits, despite tepid US economic growth and a drop in average domestic fares. Pilot wages have returned to levels not seen since the peak earning years of 2000-2001—though minus roughly 15 years of inflation, said Kit Darby, a consultant who tracks pilot pay.<br/>

Guatemala's main airport reopened to passengers and workers on Wednesday afternoon after civil aviation authority employees had blocked the main doors to La Aurora in Guatemala City in a protest over pay and layoffs. Union leaders and authorities entered into a private meeting to discuss their concerns. For about three hours the workers had not been allowing anyone to enter or leave the terminal building, causing long queues of stranded passengers. Airlines did not suspend any flights, representatives said.<br/>

Boeing and its engineering union have reached a tentative agreement to extend the contracts of more than 20,000 workers. The union said workers would soon receive ballots to vote on the six-year extensions for engineers and technical workers. The agreements provide "market-leading wages, continued retirement benefit growth, a choice of comprehensive medical plans and enhanced job security language," the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace said. “These negotiations were possible because SPEEA and Boeing decided not to let our areas of disagreement prevent us from making progress on items where we do agree,” said SPEEA Executive Director Ray Goforth. Boeing, which has long had a contentious relationship with its production line workers, welcomed the deal.<br/>