CHICAGO – The pilots of United and Continental, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l will be conducting informational picketing in Newark and Houston, the site of major Continental Airlines hubs, on Nov. 22 and 23 and in Chicago, home of United Airlines, on Dec. 1 to reaffirm their stance against management’s plans to continue and expand the practice of outsourcing flying to other airlines. The airline intends to use the CO code on flights from Continental hubs, using outsourced 70-seat jets, a practice the union believes is in violation of the Continental pilots’ current contract.
“The pilots of Continental and United are unified on the issue of protecting the jobs of our pilots, and to stop the outsourcing of our flying,” said Capt. Jay Pierce, Chairman of the Continental pilots unit of ALPA. “We have no reservations about using the full range of legal methods available to bring resolution to this issue and ultimately prevent the outsourcing that we strongly believe violates the Continental pilots’ contract.”
“It is no secret that the issues of scope and outsourcing are paramount in our current negotiations for a joint collective bargaining agreement that will eventually cover both Continental and United pilots,” said Capt. Wendy Morse, Chairman of the United unit of ALPA. “Management’s concept that outsourcing is the only viable solution is based on outdated business models that simply fail to recognize that the business of an airline is to fly – not to outsource flying to the lowest bidder or to merely act as a ticket agent.”
Capt. Pierce added, “We would hope management isn’t attempting to circumvent the bargaining process. It would serve the new United well to establish a productive labor-management relationship, and concentrate on reaching an agreement over scope rather than willingly violate our existing contract by introducing regional jets to markets where Continental pilots should be flying.”
“No issue impacts our pilots more than the protection of our jobs,” added Capt. Morse. “Scope is at the center of the current negotiations with the company. The ultimate success of this merger requires that management focus on reaching agreement with its pilots in the Joint Collective Bargaining process — on this and other issues. The sooner management abandons its practice of outsourcing our flying, the sooner United will reap the rewards this merger was promised to bring.”
