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Airlines

Teamsters' Airline Division Says It Removed
Local From Representing Pilots at Cape Air

BOSTON-:-The Airline Division of the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters says it has removed
one of its locals from bargaining with a small
Massachusetts-based carrier because of "unacceptably
substandard representation."

In an unusual move, the international issued a press
release March 27 in which Airline Director David
Bourne said that he is replacing Teamsters Local 747 as
the bargaining agent for pilots employed by Cape Air,
Inc., who are now in mediation. The division will take
over representation directly and decide later on assignment
to another local, he said.

But officials from Local 747 responded with a flurry
of letters contending that the local is not the bargaining
representative of the Cape Air pilots, defending their
conduct, and urging IBT President James P. Hoffa to retract
the press release.

A spokeswoman for Cape Air said that negotiations
for a first contract to cover approximately 120 active pilots
have been continuing for some time. She declined
to comment on the union dispute. Cape Air, based in
Hyannis, Mass., says it is the largest independent regional
airline in the country, serving Cape Cod, New
York state, the mid-Atlantic, the Florida Keys, the Caribbean,
and Micronesia. Cape Air pilots voted for IBT
representation in 2006.

Bourne, the director of the Airline Division, told BNA
April 1 that he removed Local 747 in response to complaints
from Cape Air pilots that they were "not getting
the representation they needed." An election to replace
IBT with the independent Cape Air Pilots Association is
scheduled for later this month, Bourne said, and pilots
at other carriers are seeking to leave the union because
of poor service from Local 747.

Pilots at Great Lakes Aviation are now voting on
whether to replace Local 747, and decertification drives
at "three or four" other carriers are under way, Bourne
said. Local 747 represents about 5,000 pilots at 12 airlines,
according to the local. According to the National
Mediation Board Web site, ballots cast by pilots at Great
Lakes on representation by IBT or the United Transportation
Union will be counted April 8.


Local 747 President and General Counsel E.E. Sowell
called the press release "a fabricated attempt to undermine
the local." In a March 29 letter to Hoffa, he said
that the local "does not now, nor have we ever, represented
the pilots of Cape Air, Inc."

Sowell explained that the former Airline Division Director
Don Treichler had agreed to continue as chief
bargainer after his replacement by Bourne last year and
that Local 747 had agreed to fund the negotiations until
a 'first contract was settled, at which time the pilots
would become part of Local 747.

Local 747 had refused to accept the Cape Air pilots
because it could not afford to adhere to a policy of not
collecting dues until a first contract was reached, Sowell said.
A spokeswoman for the local, Ashley B. Marsh, said
April 1 that pilots at Cape Air were dissatisfied because
the IBT Airline Division "dropped the ball" in negotiations.
"They were never under our umbrella," she said.

The decertification petition at Great Lakes stems
from a takeover of an airline where pilots were represented
by the UTU, which is seeking bargaining rights
at the successor carrier, Marsh said. Local 747 is not
aware of dissatisfaction at any other airline, and "we
have been receiving letters of support" from pilots since
the dispute became public, she said.

Several other Local 747 officials also wrote to the international,
questioning why the airline division would
publicly attack a local and arguing that an airing of the
dispute would strengthen union opponents.
But Bourne said "it doesn't help anybody" to keep
the controversy secret and that it was important to let
pilots and airlines know that the international is working
to address complaints.

By RICK VALLIERE
4-2-09 COPYRIGHT © 2009 BY THE BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS, INC. DLR ISSN 041S-2693