Magic Carpet Airlines

On October 22nd, 2001, the Industrial dispute between QANTAS and its employees was initiated with the offering of a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. This proposed an 18-month wage freeze for employees plus a sliding scale profit share scheme. Ten out of twelve unions under QANTAS accepted the terms of the agreement, barring the unions of manufacturing employees (AWU and AMWU). They were holding out for a 4-6% pay rise. On the 8th May 2002, some ten months later, the dispute was resolved when QANTAS agreed to an across the board 6% pay increase. This essay provides an in-depth analysis into the dispute, including causes, the resolution process, the role of stakeholders, and costs and benefits for all concerned.

Magic Carpet Airlines (MCA) was a regional airline company that established operations in 1961. Over a span of 26 years, MCA grew from servicing flights in two cities to 18 cities. In 1987, MCA purchased another regional airline, River City Airlines (RCA), and merged the two operations. With the merge of the two regional airlines, the company became a small “national” airline until 1988 when MCA entered into a marketing agreement with a major national carrier to become a “feeder” airline for the carrier.

4. How did the deregulation of the airline industry in the late 1970s influence labor relations at Magic Carpet Air?

Its importance role of providing a platform for unions to negotiate and bargain with their respective airlines has minimized or prevented the extent of the damages strikes have on the airline industry. Strikes, such as the one by ALPA, have been proven to be disastrous with regard to public interest. RLA’s role cannot be taken lightly as an absence of such an act would be extremely detrimental to the airline industry and ultimately, United States’ commerce.

Over 35 years ago, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher decided to create a different type of airline. They began with the simple notion: If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time and at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline. They were right (Southwest Airlines, 2004)!

The union will need to engage in intra-organizational bargaining in order to reach a greater consensus as to what is essential to our workers. By going through this process away from the bargaining table, we can come to the table with a firm and unified stance. We indent to do this in a number of ways. First, we can educate workers about how in actuality, their interests are aligned because a victory for the union is a victory for all members. For example, an improved pension plan does not only benefit older workers, but also younger workers because of the precedent that this proposed pension plan will set for their future pension plans. The same is true for job security. We will ensure the workers that we as their union are their agents in their desire to improve their wages and working conditions. This emphasis on unity will increase our relative power and aid us when it comes time for zero-sum bargaining.

The last change is the differences in the unions. Both airlines have different unions for their employees. United pilots are under ALFA, flight attendants are under AFA, maintenance is under IBT, mechanics are under IBT, ramp is under IAM, dispatcher are under PAFCA, engineers are under IFPTE, pubic contract employee are under IAM. Continental pilots are under ALFA, flight attendants are under IAM, maintenance is under IBT, and ramp is under IBT. As you can see some of the unions are the same for both airlines, however the pilots have reached an agreement and both under the ALFA union. They are working on the other unions contracts. ("united-continental-pilots-ok-joint-union-contract," 2012)

adamantly opposed any recognition of the union. Thus, the union members decided to strike over wages, safety

Through interviews with PATCO workers, government officials, and archival sources, McCartin provides us with an objective view of the PATCO strike events in the same way as Northrup. McCartin agrees with Northrup that the Reagan administration did make generous offers to PATCO which were refused. While McCartin’s ideas reflect those of Northrup, this book presents a view of the PATCO/government relationship thirty years after the strikes and show developments and new insights that were not available to Northrup in 1983. Overall, McCartin says that the PATCO strike results permanently altered the state of labor relations in the United States and put the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in a position of

The airline industry has been divided into labor unions which include several types of unions such as the Flight Attendants' Unions, the Machinists' Unions, and the Pilots' Unions. The majority of the employees are part of such unions which has led to an increase in labor costs for the entire airline industry. TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS Fuel efficiency is increasing. Aircrafts that are more fuel efficient are being developed and the engines are being redesigned to cater to this change.

Delta airlines first started off in 1924 as the world’s first aerial crop dusting organization. It was first known as Huff Daland Dusters. This was formed due to the weevil which is a beetle that was destroying the cotton crops. If this were to never have happened in history then we might not have had the company Delta as we know it today. The company first started out in Georgia but had a very unsuccessful first season due to the lack of cotton crops in the area. The company was forced to move its headquarters to Louisiana where more of demand of the industry was located. (History of Delta Airlines, n.d.)

King launched their Survival plan— “tough, unpalatable and immediate measures” to stem the spiraling losses and save the airline from bankruptcy. The radical steps included reducing staff numbers from 52,000 to 43,000, or 20 percent, in just nine months; freezing pay increases for a year; and closing 16 routes, eight on-line stations, and two engineering bases. It also dictated halting cargo-only services and selling the fleet, and inflicting massive cuts upon offices, administrative services, and staff clubs.

The United States economy has been able to grow steadily after the 200 recessionand because of this, most businesses have been able to also grow effectively. The airline should therefore invest heavily in refurbishing its aircrafts and also investing in projects that will attract employees. To fully take advantage of this project, the United airline should embrace good marketing startegies and also provide competitive prices to its customers.

Delta Air Lines began in the early 1920’s as a crop dusting operation, known as the Huff Daland crop dusting company, and was based out of Macon, Ga. This was the first agricultural flying company in existence at the time and grew into the world’s largest privately owned fleet of aircraft (18 planes) by the mid 1920’s. At the turn of the decade, co-founder C.E. Woolman lead a movement to purchase Huff Daland and re-branded the company as Delta Air Service, named after the Mississippi River Delta region the company would navigate.

In the last decade, Continental Airlines has had a spotty track record. The airline twice filed for bankruptcy, realized diminished performance culminating in a $613 million loss in 1994, and was ranked dead last in industry indicators such as on-time performance among the major carriers. During these years, employees at Continental had undergone several series of layoffs and withstood both wage cuts and delayed wage increases in an effort to slash Continental’s costs. The result of these efforts was a demoralized workforce and a corporate reputation that put Continental near the top of Fortune’s list of “least admired” companies.