American Airlines Pilot’s Union Sends Contract For A Vote

Sorry for the break in blogging over the last few days.  StarMegaDO4 has been occupying all my time.  I’ll be posting more about that over the weekend and next week, but I wanted to post a quick update about the current state of negotiations between American Airlines and it’s pilot’s union.

The union has officially sent the contract to all it’s members.  Normally, you would say that means the agreement will get ratified.  But, the last time the union sent an agreement out for a vote the members rejected it.  Then they fired their union president.

Ultimately, I do think they will approve the new contract.  As Gary pointed out on View From The Wing, it appears this is a document largely crafted by the pilot’s union in response to AA’s last proposal.  As AA’s bankruptcy process winds down, they’re clearly running out of options.  It’ll be interesting to see if the rumored terms are correct (and if the pilots “got more” then their fellow workers).

All of this comes amidst new information that seems to indicate a higher likelihood of a merger between American and US Airways.

I’ll certainly welcome labor peace at American.  Still not sure if I welcome a merger with US Airways.  Plenty more to see before things are back to status quo.