Pilots' union takes new tack with airline

DALLAS, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Some members of the Allied Pilots Association, which is initiating "consensual bargaining" with American Airlines, are irked over the APA's new approach.

Responding to studies showing that American's pilots are the least productive in the industry as well as the anemic state of the industry as a whole, APA President Ralph Hunter initiated talks with the carrier on improving productivity, the Dallas Morning News said Wednesday.

That drew the ire of some union members, appalled that a union would initiate "concessionary" bargaining.

"The end result of concessionary bargaining is value destruction for at least one of the participants," said Hunter in a message to the union's 12,000 members. "By contrast," he said, "your APA leadership is advocating consensual bargaining, creating value for both."

Industry consultant Mike Boyd of the Boyd Group called Hunter's approach "brilliant." And Jerry Glass, a labor consultant who worked with US Airways Group, said, "To think of those talks as 'concessionary' seems like the old way of thinking."