This information is no longer current - it is for reference only. It is an archive review of events that took place during United Airline's Chapter 11 Bankruptcy from December 9, 2002 - February 1, 2006.
About the Union Coalition
United Airlines Union Coalition
The United Union Coalition includes representatives from AFA, Air Line Pilots Association, International Association of Machinists, Transport Workers Union, representing the Meteorologists and Operations Specialists, and Professional Airline Flight Control Association. All members of the Union Coalition agree that there has to be a Viable Business Plan in place before any concession is to be contemplated.
The Union Coalition is coordinating labor’s response to the previous management’s plan for concessions. The six Unions at United are meeting to do the work that the airline’s recently replaced management team failed to do -- lay the framework that will provide United with a strategic plan for the airline’s return to its former status as the premier air carrier in the world. While we’re not responsible for the former management’s bad business decisions that have put our airline in this difficult position, the Union Coalition will clearly be a part of the solution. The financial analysts and advisors who represent each of the Unions will continue to meet to review economics of the airline and provide information to the Union leadership.
We will continue to meet with the other labor groups at United and the new management team until we have solved our airline’s short-term and long-term problems. The United Master Executive Council passed a resolution on September 5, 2002 which included the following language: “Fairness and equity must be the basis for any talks with both management and the other labor groups. Flight Attendants will no longer accept the inequities of the past.”
History of the United Airlines Union Coalition
In 1989, three labor groups joined forces in an attempt to buy the airline. This extraordinary action was initiated to save the company from falling into the hands of corporate raiders who had put the nation’s second largest airline in play. Later, all three Unions at United were facing difficult contract negotiations in the wake of the collapsed ESOP negotiations in 1990. It was at this time, the three unions recognized the benefits of increased communication, solidarity and cooperation amongst each other.
Since then, the Coalition has facilitated communication on many issues, which affect all United employees. This has resulted in Coalition action on Employee Travel policies and the development of an Infection Control/Clean-up Kit for ground and inflight crews. As United’s aggressive global expansion continued throughout 1992, the Union Coalition reached out to Unions representing United employees outside the U.S. The exchange of information has been very beneficial to organized employees around the world.
Today, in 2002, the United Airlines Union Coalition is an organization comprised of representatives of the original three major Unions at United Airlines, including the Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO; Air Line Pilots Association; and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Districts 141 and 141-M. Also added to the coalition are the Professional Airline Flight Control Association; and the Transport Workers Union of America representing the Meteorologists and Operations Specialists. The main goal for the coalition is cooperation to avoid a bankruptcy reorganization of the airline.
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