Between the years 2000 and 2010, many employees in various industries lost their jobs while others had major cuts in their salaries. The trend was no exception for airline workers in America. However, airlines have started recording profits and as a result, their employees have started to demand a pay increase. Through employee unions such as The United Airlines Unions and The Association of Flight Attendants, they have launched negotiations that they hope will lead to an increase in their wages. Even though negotiations between the Unions and airlines have been known to belong, the union of the United and Continental airlines promises to hasten the negotiations (Mouawad, 2010).
Despite this, experts have warned the employees not to expect their salaries to be fully restored yet. Airline industries are barely out of the recession and it is normal for them to still maintain the salary cuts. During the recession, the airline industries lost approximately $60 billion forcing the management to reduce their employees by 197,000. However, Mr. Garfinkle, who is an expert in aviation management, says that in due time, the employee’s wages will be increased (Hanks, 2010).
The United Airlines managers are trying to quickly finish their negotiations with the pilots before they merge with Continental airlines. Currently, the pilots have agreed on only a quarter of what is on the contract. The major issue in this contract is; the limitations that have been imposed on the pilots. The pilots are only allowed to fly to certain destinations or areas. This means that their jobs will be outsourced when flying into other zones. The pilots are not happy about it and they are in a stalemate with the Airline (Bloomberg, 2010).
Delta Airlines is also faced with labor issues. The airline has the least organized employee unions and they blame their airline for that. Flight attendants and mechanics have been trying to join the employee union without success. Shortly, flight attendants will vote on whether they wished to be associated with the Association of Flight Attendants or not. The same goes for luggage handlers and the customer care department. On the brighter side, Delta Airlines has agreed to share its profits with the employees and has also raised some of its employee’s salaries (Brown, 2010).
References
Bloomberg. (2010). Delta May Lead Airlines’ Profit With More Fliers, Fewer Seats. Web.
Brown, D. (2010). Delta employees were fired. Web.
Hanks, E. (2010). United Airlines. Web.
Mouawad, J. (2010). Airline Unions Seek a Share of the Industry Gains. Web.