Hawaiian Airlines' pilots yesterday became the second of three major unions to agree to concessions when 81 percent of its members voted to accept $8 million in labor cost reductions. Hawaiian pilots OK giveback
By Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.comThe Air Line Pilots Association, which ended five days of voting, said 72.3 percent, or 279, of 386 eligible crew members participated with 226 casting ballots in favor of the agreement. The voting period followed three weeks of negotiations with the company and five days of informational meetings with the pilots.
Capt. Ron Hoopai, master executive council chairman of ALPA's Hawaiian unit, said the size of the concession request met a lot of resistance.
"Hawaiian management came to us asking for $8 million in concessions, or 53 percent of the total relief package that they were seeking from all the labor groups," Hoopai said "As pilots account for only 28 percent of the airline's labor payroll, it was difficult for us to come to terms with the fairness issue. While management would not budge on this figure, our negotiators were able to work out creative solutions that minimized the pilots' pain to the degree possible. Unfortunately, pilots are still being furloughed, vacation days have been cut, and pilots will be working a lot more to earn their livelihood."
The concessions didn't include any cuts in the pilots' current base pay, but affected their wages in other ways besides reduced vacation. Additional givebacks were in areas such as reserve staffing, which is how reserve pilots are scheduled for flights, and days off after training.
ALPA said the contract modifications will go into effect April 1 and the amendable date will remain unchanged as June 30, 2004.
Hawaiian captains can earn up to $155,610 a year, or $155.61 an hour, for flying a Boeing 767-300ER wide-body aircraft on long-haul routes. A Hawaiian captain flying a Boeing 717-200 aircraft interisland can earn up to $144,090 a year, or $144.09 an hour. The Federal Aviation Administration restricts pilots to no more than 1,000 flying hours a year. Since captains generally log about 90 percent of those hours, Hawaiian pilots' salaries might top out at about $140,000 and $130,000, respectively.
First officers with seven years seniority earn two-thirds of the captains' salaries, or a maximum of $103,636 and $95,964, respectively, for the long-haul and interisland routes. A first-year pilot can earn up to $36,000 a year, or $36 an hour, for either route. Hawaiian permits its pilots to fly up to 100 hours a month, but only allows 90 hours to be billed in any given month. The remaining hours can be banked for months in which the pilots don't reach that 90-hour threshold.
A Forbes magazine survey last year listed airline pilots' jobs as one of the best-paying occupations in America, with a national median of $110,940, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hawaiian's pilots already make significantly less and have stricter work rules than many other pilot groups, ALPA said.
Hoopai challenged Hawaiian's management "to make good use of employee sacrifices and improve the airline's operation to better position it for future growth and financial stability."
Hawaiian has said it needs $15 million in labor costs reductions and $15 million in leasing concessions from Boeing Co. in order to return to profitability. Two weeks ago, about 300 mechanics and 1,400 clerical workers of the International Association of Machinists agreed to accept $3.8 million in concessions.
The Association of Flight Attendants, which represents 900 Hawaiian union members, has been voting since Saturday on its concessions and will announce the results Monday. The amount of concessions they are being asked to take hasn't been revealed.
Without the concessions, the airline has indicated it may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.