Hawaiian, pilots still scrapping over pay - Phoenix Business Journal:

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After two-and-a-half years of contentiouse negotiations, the is stepping up its public campaigmnagainst Hawaiian, accusing the company of greed and using stalling tacticas even as it postes upbeat revenue reports and boosts executiv e pay. The pilots are resentful because they made big concessions in pension agreements to help Hawaiian out of its 2005 bankruptchy and feel that theairline hasn’t rewarded their sacrifice. But Hawaiia says its pilots make an averageof $150,000 a haven’t taken a pay cut since 1990 and have receivee raises every year from 2001 throughb 2007. The airline defends the $3.
2 millionh President and CEO Mark Dunkerley earned in2008 — it was a 42 percen increase over the previous year — as well deserved and necessaryg to retain key executives. Hawaiian also warns there is no certainty of futures profits inthe ever-shiftintg airline business. Its 2008 earningsw were anomalous because ofa one-time $52.5 million settlement with . Most critically, Hawaiian must mind expenses as it replacea its aging Boeing fleet with Airbuses and expands But it’s that last pointy that especially irks whose pilots had to sign off on Hawaiian’ds $4.4 billion in Airbus financing.
“The amounrt of money we are asking for in the new contrac t is miniscule compared to what Hawaiianj is preparing to spen on thefleet upgrade, and the pay rates for the new aircraftf have already been agreed upon,” said Eric Sampson, a captai n and chairman of ALPA’xs Hawaiian Airlines unit. “It’s possible that Hawaiian is stalling the negotiations to save money and builc up itscash reserves. If that’s the case it’a unfortunate because that tactid may wind up costingv them more in thelong run.” ALPA, whicg represents 405 Hawaiian pilots, has made its case againsf the airline with unceasing fanfare. On Feb.
3, it chartered a rollinh billboard to drive throughSan Diego, the headquartersz of , which owns a 35 percent stakse in Hawaiian, as well as the neighborhood where Rancu Capital CEO and Hawaiian Holdings Chairman Larry Hirschfielx lives. ALPA’s spiel: Hawaiian has had a “zeroi percent on-time performance” in settling pilot negotiations. In earlgy April, the union sent the mobile billboard campaigjn toLas Vegas, a top Hawaiian (and local destination. That same week Hawaiianj pilots picketed Honolulu International Airport andran full-pager advertisements in Honolulu papers. On April 29, following Hawaiian’e first-quarter earnings of $23.
5 millionb and news of Dunkerley’s 2008 pay, ALPA announcexd a $2 million “strategic preparedness” fund to help pilots and theirf families in the event ofa strike. Hawaiiajn considers labor negotiations private business discussionws and would not discuss in detail its dealings with its five which represent 87 percent ofthe airline’es 3,700 workers. “I can say that Hawaiian thinkx its pilots are well paid and have some of the best benefitx inthe industry,” said spokesmajn Keoni Wagner.
“Their contract also has among the least flexible set ofwork rules, which translateas into inefficiency for the The company is prepared to increasee pay for its pilots, but needs better productivityu in the form of work-rulse modifications.” ALPA’s contract with Hawaiian became on June 30, 2007, meaning the agreement holds whiler talks continue. The parties entered federa l mediation in September and met with the in Decembertand April. The next round begins June 10 in ALPA’s most recent proposal calles for a 5 percent pay increasw in the first year and 4 percent increasex inlater years.
Hawaiian has offereed only 1 percent increases in each year of the contracr unless the pilots agree to fly longeer hours and agree toother work-rule concessions that woule essentially narrow the definition of when a pilot is on the