Labor-management tensions still present at Allegiant

Observers who may have thought Allegiant Air’s record quarterly profits and a subsequent pay raise for pilots announced last week eased labor-management tensions at the Las Vegas-based airline were mistaken.

As the Airline Professionals Association Teamsters Local 1224 and company management near two weeks since U.S. District Judge Andrew Gordon wrapped up court hearings for the two sides to make their case for whether pilots have the right to walk off the job, union officials are angrier than ever at Allegiant CEO Maurice Gallagher.

“It was misleading for Maury (Gallagher) to pass this off as everything is over or soon will be over,” union President Dan Wells said.

Wells was referring to Gallagher’s remarks during the company’s quarterly earnings call Wednesday.

Allegiant Travel Co., Allegiant Air’s parent company, announced an 89.8 percent increase in earnings from 2014’s first quarter. The company’s profit margins triggered an automatic pay raise of between 5 percent and 7 percent for pilots as part of a variable pay band structure that will kick in on Friday.

In the company’s earnings call with investors, Gallagher made no introductory remarks and when industry analysts were invited to ask questions, the potential for a strike was the leading topic.

Gallagher said he was confident Gordon would rule in the company’s favor and that a strike would be averted and both sides would return to collective bargaining this week.

Wells, one of the witnesses for the pilots in the three days of court testimony that concluded April 16, doesn’t see it that way.

“It is truly arrogant and disrespectful to the law that he so confidently stated that the judge would rule against the pilots,” Wells said in an interview. “From my perspective, that’s morally repugnant thinking. We feel that we put on a good case and we’re respectfully awaiting the judge’s decision.”

At issue is whether Allegiant failed to return to status-quo work rules that Gordon ordered in July 2014. The pilots argue that the company deployed a new trip bidding system that moved pilot scheduling away from a seniority-based preferential system to a line system that gives the pilots less say on when they fly.

The pilots say the alleged violation of status-quo work rules allows them to strike. When the union issued the strike threat April 1, Allegiant filed for a temporary restraining order that resulted in the court hearing for a permanent injunction. Gordon said he would rule expeditiously when he ended the April 16 hearing.

“It’s the company’s core arrogance that causes so many problems,” Wells said. “Labor is just one of them.”

Wells said that if the judge rules in the pilots’ favor, they would be able to strike, but he suspects the company would try to block them again.

The two sides are scheduled to meet in mediated contract negotiations this week in Washington. Wells said the union is seeking a release from mediation, stating that talks are at an impasse. If the mediator grants that, it would start the clock on a 30-day cooling-off period after which the pilots could strike.

“And the pilots are just the first work group seeking a contract,” Wells said. “The airline’s flight attendants and dispatchers also are represented by unions.”

He said the pay raises that will occur starting Friday were already written into the pilots’ work agreement.

“It may sound like they’re being magnanimous, but they’re not,” Wells said. “If he thinks that’s going to buy off the union, he’s truly out to lunch.

“The bottom line is we’re nowhere close to having all of this behind us as Gallagher says,” Wells said.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter @RickVelotta