Merger: UAL pushes mediocre pay for employees, while rewarding executives, shareholders, even cities
The shareholders of both Continental and United have voted to go forward with the merger of the two airlines as originally outlined.
This means the Continental shareholders were paid a premium for each share they owned, and United shareholders end up owning 55% of the new airline.
Executives of both companies will begin receiving their portions of the hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and future stock set aside on their behalf by the Boards of Directors either as bonus payments for staying with the new airline or as parting gifts for leaving. Even the State of Ohio is now in line to receive $20 million if and when the new United downsizes the Cleveland hub operation.
Almost everyone involved in this transaction has enriched themselves,
with one notable exception – the employees.
There are still several steps that must be completed before the merger becomes a functional reality and it is expected to take most of next year before a fully integrated operation is complete. While none of them threaten to overturn the shareholder action, the speed with which they are completed will impact the corporation’s ability to truly become the world’s largest airline with the greatest revenue. If their objective is to become the world’s greatest airline with the largest revenue , the new airline must rely on the employees.
Mediated Talks
Negotiations among all groups continue, especially the IAM. We have again been meeting with the Company’s negotiators this past week hoping to push these talks closer to a conclusion. While the discussions were extremely serious and dealt with the issues most important to our members – improved compensation, benefits, and job security – no progress was made. Neither side has modified their positions on any issues.
The IAM’s goal of achieving an industry leading agreement has not changed.
The company’s position that a new contract must be “competitive” (average)
with other carriers has not changed.
The recently announced tentative agreement between Continental and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is an indication that when both sides determine to reach an agreement it can be done. The improvements or changes to their existing contract are issues only the Continental IBT members can determine are acceptable and will be decided by their votes for ratification or rejection. The value this agreement should have for us at United is to see that our issues are the same as Continental employees’ concerns – wages, benefits, and security. As we move towards an integrated workforce that is important to understand.
We will continue our discussions with United during the coming week.
Organizing
District 141 and the Transportation Department of our International recently met at the Winpisinger Training Center to continue discussing and formulating plans to successfully address the employee issues created by this merger. The main focus has been to develop a communication program specifically for the IAM members at United. Representatives from across the system from all work groups and station size are working on this. In addition, we have included District representatives from USAirways in these meetings so that the full force of our District is focused on our membership. The Merger Team will be reaching out to each station’s leadership – the Local Lodge Officers, Local Committees, and Stewards, to become active participants in this work. They, in turn, will be looking for additional help from members not currently active in our Union.
Convention
Our mandated annual convention will be held the last week of September. We are looking forward to this opportunity to bring union activists from all airlines and locations in our District together to work on the necessary collective action needed by us all for the next year. A full report of the actions generated by the delegates will be given in the Messenger.