United, Continental pilots angry over RJ deployment at Continental hubs
Pilots are targeting the end of this month to resolve their dispute with United management over the continued outsourcing of mainline jobs to regional airline counterparts.
- Pilots at United are protesting the outsourcing of mainline jobs to regional airline counterparts.
- The dispute arose after the merger between United and Continental, when regional jets were redeployed to Continental's hubs, breaking the 50-seat regional jet cap.
- The pilots and management have agreed to accelerated arbitration to resolve the outsourcing issue before addressing salaries and scope in a joint collective bargaining agreement.
- United argues that the outsourcing is allowed under the current contract and is necessary for profitability on certain routes.
- The pilots are waiting to address scope and salary issues until all other matters are resolved.
- As part of the negotiations, United offered Continental pilots the opportunity to fly on United's abandoned Chicago-Fort Lauderdale route and United pilots the Houston-Lima, Peru, service.
See related report: US regional aviation outlook: More than posturing to eliminating regionals
They protested the move made by the new company immediately after the 1-Oct-2010 merger on the redeployment of regional jets to Continental's hubs essentially breaking the 50-seat, regional-jet cap that has hampered the company and its regional operations for years. They are assuming United is attempting to get as many RJs into Continental's hubs as possible before the issue is brought into the collective bargaining negotiations.
The two sides have agreed to accelerated arbitration in order to resolve the outsourcing issue before they tackle salaries and scope in a joint collective bargaining agreement for the two pilot work groups. Pilots and management are continuing to negotiate a joint agreement but the idea, from the United pilot perspective, is to wait until the two sides solve all other issues and then deal with scope and salary issues.
United countered pilot protests against outsourcing to larger regional jets to Continental's hubs by saying that it is allowed, under the current contract, adding that some routes - Houston-Aspen - could not be profitable otherwise. Finally, it said the company was redeploying the jets to meet market demand.
United offered Continental pilots flying from its abandoned Chicago-Fort Lauderdale route and United pilots the Houston-Lima, Peru, service.