Release #06.031
July
14, 2006
Delta Connection Union Pilot Leaders Present Unified Front
CINCINNATI—The
pilot union leaders of the airlines that make up Delta Connection, the operation
that provides feed for Delta Air Lines, announced yesterday that they will work
together to ensure that their compensation, work rules, and quality of life are
not sacrificed, despite current pressures to drive down costs.
Pilot
leaders from Chautauqua Airlines (NASDAQ:RJET),
Atlantic Southeast Airlines (NASDAQ:SKYW),
Mesa Air Group (NASDAQ:MESA),
and Comair (Other
OTC: DALRQ) met yesterday in
Cincinnati, for the first time, to develop strategies, express support for one
another, and discuss shared goals for promoting the collective quality of their
jobs and trade unionism among their respective pilot groups.
Speaking
for the four groups, Capt. J.C. Lawson, chairman of the Comair pilots’ Master
Executive Council and an Executive Vice President of the Air Line Pilots
Association, stated, “Our managements often play us against one another by
asking for concessions in exchange for additional aircraft or flying from
mainline code-share partners. These
are marketing decisions and should not be based on pilot pay.”
Regional
carrier pilots are under increased pressure from their managements to provide
pay and benefit concessions and relax working rules, despite the fact that, in
most cases, these airlines are posting profits.
“It’s
a classic tactic to use the threat of fleet deployments and flying to divide and
conquer us at the expense of our livelihoods,” said Capt. Lawson.
“This practice is detrimental to our careers as well as the general
quality of commercial air travel, and it must stop now.”
Chautauqua
Airlines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. and the
Chautauqua pilots are represented by the International Brotherhood of the
Teamsters Local 747.
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ALPA CONTACT:
John Perkinson, (703) 481-4440 or media@alpa.org