United and Continental Announce Transition Agreement in Principle With Their Pilots


HOUSTON and CHICAGO, July 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAUA) and Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today announced they have reached an agreement in principle on a transition and process agreement with the pilots of both companies.
The agreement provides a framework for pilot operations of the two groups until the carriers' operating certificates are combined.
"This is an important step forward that reflects the hard work and collaborative dialogue required to reach this transition agreement that is in the best interest of our new company and our pilots," said Glenn Tilton, United chairman and chief executive officer, who will serve as non-executive chairman of the merged company.
"We are pleased to have reached this important agreement at such an early stage of the integration planning process, as it is a key first step in building a long-term, productive relationship between the combined company and our pilots," said Jeff Smisek, Continental's chairman, president and chief executive officer who will serve as chief executive officer of the combined carrier. "We will continue to focus on working together with all of our work groups to reach agreements that are fair to our employees and fair to the company."
The companies expect to close the merger in the fourth quarter of 2010.

 

Agreement in principle - which means no final language has been drafted. We'll see if the spirit of the negotiations make it into the contractual language that results in an agreement.

Both management teams have a reputation of being uh.... "less than forthright" when it comes to interpreting any contract. I wouldn't hold my breath on this one.

Trust but verify, was the battle cry last decade (and we all saw how well that worked out). FUPM is perfect for today's environment, show me the improvements in pay, work rules, and time off.

 

Transition agreement only. Not even a foothold on a JCBA.

 

Spot on......nothing more than the tip of the spear.

Transition Agreement = The crawl that's required before the run on the JCBA

 

Crawling is still better than laying there drooling all over one's self.

I am glad to hear progress is being made, even if it seems small.

 

Am I missing something? I guess I thought it was a given that somebody would come up with an agreement, or they would start fireing people until some one was willing to. I've read the press and the union stuff. Aside from some union back slapping, "I would like to recognize the leadership role that the CAL MEC and UAL MEC portions of the Joint Negotiating Committee took in navigating the path to a resolution." just don't see how anyone has moved forward here.

 

You have moved forward.....you have a transition agreement. Transition agreements set the stage for the initial merger process and hopefully secured the status of all currently on the property as well as those not on the property.

Have no idea what it says as it hasn't been released. You have, however, "moved" on to the next step of a JCBA.

Since that is required before SLI, you are one step forward towards achieving what I hope is a beneficial result to both UAL and CAL pilots.

I'm a voluntary UAL furlough btw. Don't plan on returning but won't bypass a good deal if it is offered and on my terms.

Lee

 

A transition agreement is not required under the draconian RLA. So it was not a given. The company(s) could have just continued to refuse to negotiate the TA and just come out with their JCBA openers. The transition agreement will include some important protections for the UAL pilots that were already in the CAL's scope section as well as once its done and signed, if the company doesn't stick to the negotiating principals its ammo for a "bad faith" argument with the NMB.

The positive note is that the JNC didn't cave to the company(s) childish temper tantrum at the table. If that translates to anything down the road we will see.

It seems to me though that the company(s) did get the message that we won't cave to their BS. So they'll just try another angle, I'm sure.

The latest propaganda on the CAL side is our VP of flight ops discussing how well UsAir is doing even without an SLI and the pilot synergies. (Bluffing that we don't have any leverage in hopes that we'll believe it.)

 

Well now those are some valid points especially when held in comparison to LCC.

I am always however caught slightly flatfooted when no matter how injurious to the pilots the airline's actions are, there is always some core group of pilots, usually very vocal pilots, that think we need to just go along with the new deal because the company needs what ever "it" is.

 

Has there been any positive move by management in the way of incentive to make this happen in a positive, meaningful method? Any progress in the way of a joint collective bargaining agreement? Inquiring minds wanna' know.
Chuck