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Aviation Week & Technology
Air Transport
Failed Talks Prompt Pointed Exchanges Between AirTran Exec And Union LeaderAviation Week & Space Technology03/27/2006, page 49
James OttCincinnati
Failed contract talks prompt pointed exchanges between AirTran executive and union leader
Printed headline: Hot E-Mails
AirTran pilots have never had it so good--at least in terms of information about their contract with the company.
The 1,400 pilots last week received sometimes scorching e-mails comprising a thread between Steve Kolski, senior vice president of operations, and Allen Philpot, president of the National Pilots Assn. The subject: the fractured attempt to settle on a tentative contract outside mediated talks.
Kolski sent the entire package of e-mails to the pilots, saying he wanted to keep the matter straight. He challenged Philpot to take a lie detector test so that pilots could learn the truth about what had transpired. Philpot replied that such a step by Kolski might be good theater, and he wanted to know if he could ask a pointed question.
Philpot dispatched the e-mail thread, with comments, to the pilots including some who had not received the communications.
Most of the exchanges were harsh and accusatory in contrast to the conciliatory tone at the start of the voluntary, non-mediated talks in early March. The two sides have been negotiating since prior to the contract's amendable date in April 2005. They are in recess from mediated talks under National Mediation Board member Mike Tosi.
In one heated exchange, Kolski wrote that a Philpot e-mail represented "the biggest bunch of crap you have ever put together."
"Steve," the union leader wrote, "you can't even share the correct amount of YOUR proposal."
A key dispute has to do with procedures set down before the talks began. Kolski says he suggested that union negotiators put everything they wanted on paper. They later decided to simply check off those items that they both could approve. Kolski says they assented to "tear up all documents" if there wasn't full agreement and to start anew under mediation. Philpot responds that he never approved of that method and, in any case, he wanted to keep valid any changes they had previously accepted.
Philpot says the basic problem is that AirTran has "vowed to make mediation painful." Kolski says the dispute over procedures is a phony issue. He says the heart of the matter is that Philpot exceeded his authority when he agreed to negotiate while the mediated talks were in recess and that his board of directors didn't like what happened.
Tosi has scheduled a mediation session Apr. 4 at a yet-to-be-determined site.
Air Transport
Failed Talks Prompt Pointed Exchanges Between AirTran Exec And Union LeaderAviation Week & Space Technology03/27/2006, page 49
James OttCincinnati
Failed contract talks prompt pointed exchanges between AirTran executive and union leader
Printed headline: Hot E-Mails
AirTran pilots have never had it so good--at least in terms of information about their contract with the company.
The 1,400 pilots last week received sometimes scorching e-mails comprising a thread between Steve Kolski, senior vice president of operations, and Allen Philpot, president of the National Pilots Assn. The subject: the fractured attempt to settle on a tentative contract outside mediated talks.
Kolski sent the entire package of e-mails to the pilots, saying he wanted to keep the matter straight. He challenged Philpot to take a lie detector test so that pilots could learn the truth about what had transpired. Philpot replied that such a step by Kolski might be good theater, and he wanted to know if he could ask a pointed question.
Philpot dispatched the e-mail thread, with comments, to the pilots including some who had not received the communications.
Most of the exchanges were harsh and accusatory in contrast to the conciliatory tone at the start of the voluntary, non-mediated talks in early March. The two sides have been negotiating since prior to the contract's amendable date in April 2005. They are in recess from mediated talks under National Mediation Board member Mike Tosi.
In one heated exchange, Kolski wrote that a Philpot e-mail represented "the biggest bunch of crap you have ever put together."
"Steve," the union leader wrote, "you can't even share the correct amount of YOUR proposal."
A key dispute has to do with procedures set down before the talks began. Kolski says he suggested that union negotiators put everything they wanted on paper. They later decided to simply check off those items that they both could approve. Kolski says they assented to "tear up all documents" if there wasn't full agreement and to start anew under mediation. Philpot responds that he never approved of that method and, in any case, he wanted to keep valid any changes they had previously accepted.
Philpot says the basic problem is that AirTran has "vowed to make mediation painful." Kolski says the dispute over procedures is a phony issue. He says the heart of the matter is that Philpot exceeded his authority when he agreed to negotiate while the mediated talks were in recess and that his board of directors didn't like what happened.
Tosi has scheduled a mediation session Apr. 4 at a yet-to-be-determined site.
