Midwest suspends plans to rehire flight crews
By Tom Daykin of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Mar. 18, 2009

Midwest Airlines Inc. has suspended plans to rehire laid-off flight crews to operate regional jets the carrier began using last fall.

In September, Midwest hired Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc. to operate Midwest Connect flights previously flown under the Midwest Airlines name. The move came after Republic agreed to provide up to $25 million in financing to Midwest, which helped prevent a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

In hiring Republic, Oak Creek-based Midwest laid off 240 employees, including union pilots and flight attendants. Midwest said it would rehire the flight crews after they're trained to staff the Republic jets, but only if they accepted substantial pay cuts.

The unions have balked at that demand, so Midwest has suspended plans to train the pilots on flying the Embraer 170 jets, company spokesman Michael Brophy said. Those wage cuts are needed for Midwest to compete effectively, he said.

"Given the state of the economy, and the fact that we have not been able to secure a market-competitive cost structure, we have elected to stop the process," a recent memo to employees says.

The pilots union doesn't agree with that decision, said Brian Jandorf, spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association's Midwest chapter. He declined to comment further.

An official from the Association of Flight Attendants couldn't be reached.

The unions have requested mediation in their contract talks with Midwest. No further contract talks have been scheduled, Jandorf said.

Arbitrators ruled in January that Midwest's hiring of Republic did not violate the company's labor agreements with the pilots and flight attendants unions.

Republic flies a dozen Embraer 170 jets, each with 76 seats, under the Midwest Connect name. Midwest Airlines also contracts with St. George, Utah-based SkyWest Inc. to operate a dozen Bombardier CRJ200 50-seat regional jets under the Midwest Connect name.

Midwest Airlines operates nine 99-seat Boeing 717 jets.