Continental Airlines' board of directors is meeting Wednesday

Continental Airlines' board of directors is meeting Wednesday to review a potential merger with United Airlines, and the carriers are expected to decide within a matter of days whether to combine operations, say people close to the situation.

As in 2008, when the carriers came close to completing a deal, United's quarterly financial results may sway the deliberations, observers said. Spokeswomen for United and Continental declined to comment on any aspect of the merger reports.

United likely bolstered its case for a merger by posting its strongest first-quarter results in a decade Tuesday, topping most of its peers and beating analysts' estimates, though the company reported a net loss. That result is in contrast to two years ago, when directors of Houston-based Continental decided to end talks after United posted poor financial results, sources said.
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But United's robust showing may complicate the carriers' efforts to wrap up a deal. United's shareholders could balk at any transaction that doesn't pay a hefty premium for the Chicago-based carrier, said analyst Hunter Keay of Stifel Nicolaus.

"We believe shares of United are undervalued, and we envision pushback from United equity holders should management propose a no-premium stock-swap transaction below $27 per share," Keay wrote in a research report Tuesday. United's stock closed at $20.51 Tuesday, down 8 percent on a day when Wall Street saw a broad decline. Keay said he thinks United shares are worth $33, with or without a merger.

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Horizon Mechanic Talks Continue

Talks between Horizon mechanics, represented by the Teamsters and Horizon management continued this week in Portland, Oregon. Among areas discussed were Sections 13, 18, 20 with progress reported in all areas discussed and a Tentative Agreement reached on Article 21.
The next scheduled meeting with management will be June 1st through 4th in Portland.

US Airways breaks off merger talks with United

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- US Airways Group Inc. said Thursday it has broken off merger talks with UAL Corp., an announcement that led shares of United Airlines to a strong rebound from session lows.

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Strong Language is Key

We all are waiting on the day when we get that pay raise but if there is no job protection language, then that raise might not help in the unemployment line.

Teamsters have won a big decision out of Wisconsin all based on strong “Scope” language. Pease read the article and check out the Judges ruling..
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Judge rules Frontier jobs must stay with union workers

A federal judge in Milwaukee ruled Tuesday that Frontier Airlines and its parent company must restore all mechanic and stock-clerk work to union- covered employees.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters filed a request for an injunction against Frontier and Republic Airways in March, claiming Republic officials abrogated a collective-bargaining contract with Frontier mechanics and stock clerks.

Rest of the article click here and here is the Decision.


By Ann Schrader
The Denver Post

Meger Mania

Hubs
Continental: Newark, Houston, Cleveland,
United Airlines: Chicago O’Hare, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington Dulles
US Airways: Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington National


Mechanics
CAL 4,090
UAL 4,678
USA 2,900

Fleet Size
Continental 343
United Airlines 365
US Airway 348

Negotiations Update

April 15, 2010
Bargaining continued on April 13th, 14th, and 15th. The Teamsters Negotiating Team met with the Company officials at Teamsters Local 856 in San Bruno, CA. The parties began the week by clarifying and consolidating into one list “tentatively agreed upon” “conceptually agreed upon” and “open” items. This was a productive process, as it gave both sides gave a good overview of where things stand at this point in the negotiations.

Transportation
The parties reached a tentative agreement on the Transportation Article (Art. XVI), which covers pleasure pass travel as well as passes for Union representatives travelling on Union business.

Payroll Practices
The bargaining parties also discussed various issues relating to payroll practices and reached agreement on several of them.

Inspection
The bargaining parties also discussed Article IV – Classifications of Work, specifically Inspector issues. SFO Inspector Kevin Sloan participated in the discussions and provided valuable assistance to the Union Negotiating Team. The entire Union Negotiating team would like to thank him for providing his expertise in these talks.

Upcoming Negotiatings:
Negotiations will continue the week of May 3rd at a location as yet to be determined.

In Attendance for the IBT: Clacy Griswold - Airline Div. Rep., Ed Gleason- IBT Attorney. Negotiating Team: Roger Apana, Rick Barnes, Dion Cornelious, Kevin Giegoldt, Ramon Gonzalez, George Graham, Dominic Gulley, Ken Meidinger, and Harvey Wright. Business Agents: John Hennelly, Paul Molenberg, and Richard Petrovsky.

Field Service Sub-Committee Meets in Chicago

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, the United Negotiations Team, “Field Service” sub-committee, convened at the United Airlines Operations Center, in Elk Grove Village, IL. The Sub-Committee continued the process of bargaining in a joint session with the Company laying out the conceptual framework for what will become the new “Field Service” article in the next contract. The areas of “Field Service” lists, selection process, eligibility, charging of overtime, military charters, CRAF, and Global Emergency Maintenance (GEM), were among the areas discussed. Much progress was made and positive steps were taken in the development of the new article, but some work still remains to reach tentative agreement with the Company. The “Scope” sub-committee meeting was postponed, due to Company Negotiations Team availability, but scope discussions will continue next week.

Upcoming Negotiation Dates

The next bargaining session will be held next week in San Francisco; April 13th, 14th and 15th.

Negotiations Update April 1st, 2010

SCOPE Discussions
Airline Division Director David Bourne, Clacy Griswold and Ed Gleason met with UAL senior management last week in Chicago to further discuss the Union’s scope proposal. After several hours of candid discussion, both sides recognized that the new contract’s scope proposal must include provisions that address three critical issues: (1) work and job preservation; (2) work recovery; and (3) new work opportunities. Both sides agreed to prepare bullet-point proposals for use in refining these concepts and for eventual incorporation into a new contract.

Upcoming Negotiation Dates
The Field Service and SCOPE sub committees will engage the Company in discussion on those issues next week in Chicago. Talks with the Company are expected to continue during the week of April 12th in San Francisco.