councilor.org
| Source | Dave Anderson |
| Date | 99/05/01/21:58 |
| /* Written 8:03 PM Jul 19, 1998 by jshell@netcom.com in igc:labr.all */ /* ---------- "IAM Picks Up 19,000 at United Airli" ---------- */ ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 18:09:34 -0600 (MDT) From: ANDERSON DAVID July 18, 1998 Passenger-Service Workers at United Airlines Vote to Unionize by STEVEN GREENHOUSE In the biggest unionization victory in the private sector in two decades, about 19,000 reservations takers, gate agents and ticket sellers at United Airlines will become members of the International Association of Machinists, federal officials announced Friday. Federal labor officials announced that a majority of United's passenger service workers had voted to unionize, following a year-long campaign in which the machinists emphasized that United's profits had rebounded while the country's largest airline had maintained a wage system in which thousands of its 93,000 workers earned less than $15,000 a year. The organizing drive was unusual in its scope and logistics because it involved campaigning in 16 reservations centers and a total of 113 cities. Union leaders said the triumph demonstrated that labor's stepped-up recruiting efforts were paying off and that service sector workers and white-collar workers were fertile territory for organizing. Martin Malin, a labor relations specialist at Chicago-Kent Law School, said, "Obviously, it's a tremendous boost to organized labor particularly in light of the AFL-CIO's big emphasis on organizing more employees." The unionization vote was also unusual because it came at a company that is often described as the nation's largest employee-owned corporation -- employees own slightly more than half the shares. The employee stock ownership plan was set up in 1996 by management with the cooperation of the pilots and machinists unions, with the goal of solidifying United's finances and increasing workers'job security. But the employer stock ownership plan left many nonunion passenger service workers fuming because they received fewer shares than the unionized workers and because the plan created a three-tier wage system, with the lowest tier, more than 40 percent of employees, receiving fewer vacation and sick days and a less generous health plan than other workers. "The most interesting thing about this story is that the ESOP created an appetite for union representation," said Christopher Mackin, president of Ownership Associates, a firm in Cambridge, Mass., that advises companies on employee stock ownership plans. "This is a lousy deal that was cut. These passenger-service workers had a sense that we own a substantial amount of this place, and everybody else is represented, and we're not." Officials at United, a Chicago-based company that is a subsidiary of UAL, insisted that they did not oppose the unionization drive. Nonetheless, many United workers said their supervisors argued against the union, although these workers acknowledged that United, perhaps because it is largely employee-owned, did not fight the union with nearly as much vigor as most employers. "We applaud the IAM for an effective campaign," said John Edwardson, the president of United Airlines. "Now that employees have made their choice, we will work with the IAM closely and cooperatively to negotiate a fair and equitable contract." The Railway Labor Act governed the unionization effort and required that more than half of all the passenger-service workers mail in ballots supporting unionization. There were 17,938 eligible voters and 9,485 cast their ballots for the machinists and 34 for other unions. Union officials said 1,000 other workers hired since March 21 will be part of the bargaining unit. According to statistics compiled by the AFL-CIO and the National Labor Relations Board, the machinists victory is labor's biggest private-sector victory since 19,000 workers at the Newport News, Va., shipyard voted to unionize in 1978. "This win is a great harbinger of labor's new vitality and appeal," said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO. "It shows that even in an employee-owned company, workers need unions to ensure they have an effective voice in dealing with management." The most enthusiastic voices in favor of unionizing were workers in the lowest-paid tier, who usually start at around $6.50 an hour and can climb to a maximum of $8.60, without ever being able to reach the $18 an hour earned by experienced first-tier reservations takers and gate agents. The third tier applies to workers hired after the stock ownership plan went into effect in July 1994. "The union will mean better wages and better health insurance," said Marie Scott, a reservations agent in Denver. "The pay scale is ridiculous. In June, I was the highest-generating revenue-person in my department. I made $685 in sales in an hour, and I was making just $6.65 an hour. It's a joke." Many experienced first-tier workers also backed the union, often saying they feared that without a union contract, United might cut the pensions and health insurance promised them after retirement. Many first-tier workers also complained that their job was made far harder by the high employee turnover generated by the low pay the third-tier workers receive. As Sweeney has prodded the nation's unions to do more organizing, they have looked for large pools of workers who would respond tot heir message, and, not surprisingly, many unions have focused on the passenger-service workers. They are the only part of an industry that is not already unionized. In addition, the passenger-service workers have often lost their jobs or seen their benefits reduced as a result of downsizing, mergers or an airlines' financial squeeze. "These workers are so concerned about the volatility of this industry that it made unionization extremely possible," said Tom Juravich, a professor of labor relations at the University of Massachusetts. "It's a real victory to succeed in a multi-site organized drive like this. It's very difficult to do, even if the employer isn't fighting you all out." The machinists sought to unionize the passenger-service workers in 1991, but failed in that effort. Labor leaders and experts said the machinists won this time around because they threw more organizers and money into the effort, because workers have warmed up to organized labor and because nonunion workers have grown more disenchanted. "For a while, unions had a bad rap but it's starting to change," said Eileen Oberg, a $8.02-an-hour reservations agent in Suisun, Cal. "The union will even the playing field and give everybody a chance to make decent wages. It's not fair that I sit next to a person who makes $17 an hour and we do the same job and I have the same work ethic and I have no chance of reaching that salary range." Last year, Communications Workers of America succeeded in unionizing 10,000 workers at U.S. Airways, and they are confident they will soon unionize 15,000 such workers at American Airlines. The communications workers began trying to organize the United workers last year, but the machinists outhustled them. copyright 1998 The New York Times Company |
Copyright (c) 1998, Joongpil Cho