Airline Travelers Eye United's Labor Issues Friday May 13, 12:57 am ET By Dan Caterinicchia, Associated Press Writer Wary of a Strike, Airline Travelers Keep Close Eye on United's Labor Woes
CHICAGO (AP) -- Salesman Matt Hewitt flies at least once a week, and he usually travels on United Airlines because its routes are the most convenient for him. But with three employee groups threatening to strike, Hewitt said he is concerned about booking future flights on the carrier and not being able to take advantage of the bonuses he's accumulated.
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"I'm spending all my frequent flyer miles as soon as possible," Hewitt said Thursday after flying to Chicago on United from Sacramento, Calif.
Threats of strikes, while rarely carried out, are powerful bargaining chips in the airline industry. The hint of a strike can be costly to an airline in terms of lost bookings, and if workers walk for any length of time, they can put carriers out of business.
While trying to emerge from bankruptcy, United -- the nation's second-largest airline -- is seeking approval to replace existing contracts with mechanics and machinists with its own lower-cost versions.
In addition to those two groups of workers, the flight attendants' union has threatened to strike over the latest round of labor givebacks, particularly the elimination of traditional pensions.
United is based in Elk Grove Village, just beyond O'Hare International Airport, where Franca Bukowski, a retired social worker from DeKalb, was waiting Thursday to accompany her husband on a business trip to Boston.
"It had no effect today, but we are worried once we get there that we'll be able to get back," she said. "And I don't blame the United employees. I think it's terrible that they're losing pensions and having to take pay cuts. I'm a pensioner so I can appreciate what they're going through."
The situation looked more hopeful, however, for United on Thursday, when its ramp workers' and mechanics' unions intensified contract negotiations to settle their differences before the ruling of the bankruptcy court.
Travel agents said there hasn't been any groundswell of concern expressed by their customers, nor do they expect any, unless the unions actually strike or if workers begin to disrupt operations in less organized ways.
At Carlson Wagon Travel Inc., the world's second-largest agency behind American Express, managers who handle corporate accounts said clients are booking trips on United as usual, according to spokeswoman Laurie Alexander.
"For now, they're monitoring the situation and don't feel the need to make any abrupt changes," Alexander said. "We have contingency plans in place in case there is a strike."
In a research note, Standard & Poor's airline analyst Philip Baggaley suggested that travelers might not have much to fear.
"A full-scale strike by any major union would be financially devastating and could lead to liquidation of the airline," he said. "For that reason, it appears that the unions will instead seek to use that threat, but not follow through, in an effort to win better terms in the replacement defined contribution plans and overall labor contracts."
While Baggaley said he could not rule out less formalized "wildcat" strikes, travel agent Richard Copland of Hillside Travel in New York said travelers have become somewhat inured to bad news coming out of the airline industry.
That was a sentiment evident in the dry humor of Paul Cummings, a manufacturing company manager, as he waited at O'Hare to check in for a flight to Toronto.
"United is my bankrupt airline of choice," he said. "Until such time as they stop flying, I'll probably stay with them."
AP Business Writer Brad Foss in Washington D.C. contributed to this report.
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