The Guardian 22 March, 2006
United Airlines hits turbulence
United Airlines has been threatened with widespread industrial action if it fails to meet a Tuesday (March 21) deadline to withdraw plans to sack 150 staff in Sydney and Melbourne. United Airlines plans to hire two non-union contractors to handle reservation calls and airport work in Australia. It also plans to outsource call centre services to TeleTech Holdings Inc of Englewood, Colorado, to provide the call centre services starting in June, and Australia-based Patrick Corp to provide bag handling and other airport ramp work, United said in a statement last week.
The plan is part of the move to cut $7 billion in annual costs by 2010. The airline, based in Elk Grove, Illinois, only exited bankruptcy last year.
The Australian Services Union (ASU) Assistant National Secretary, Linda White, issued a list of demands to management at United Airlines and gave them until midday Tuesday to withdraw its plans.
The ASU’s Michael Flinn said United’s plan would see only 20 current workers remain employed. Workers want guarantees that there will be no limits on redundancy entitlements for those who leave, and that current working conditions will be kept for those who stay, he said.
Mr Flinn said the workers will consider strike action if the conditions are not met by Tuesday, and they will also be refusing to do overtime until then. "What that means is that if they reach the end of their shift and passengers have not been checked-in, then they will not proceed to check the rest of that flight in", he said.