Airline merger details emerging
By Susan Hooper
Advertiser Staff Writer
A week after the announcement of the historic planned merger between Hawaiian and Aloha airlines, more details are beginning to emerge about the direction in which turnaround expert Greg Brenneman intends to take the new company.
These include possible new Mainland destinations, a $3 million incentive payment to be shared by all unions if they merge their seniority lists by a certain time, and payroll-trimming options such as voluntary furloughs and sweetened early-retirement packages.
As union leaders for both airlines review the information Brenneman shared with them last week, they said yesterday that they still have many questions about the effects of the planned merger on their members.
And while support from the pilots' unions of both airlines came the day after the merger announcement, the union representing more than half of the two airlines' combined work forces said it is too early for it to take a position on the deal.
Union leaders said yesterday the task of merging employees and unions of two former competitors is likely to be tough, in part because they have so many questions about the new airline.
But they have already begun what they expect will be a challenging process of finding answers in time to make the spring 2002 deadline Brenneman has set for the merger.
The need for more information about the Hawaiian-Aloha merger has led the Hawai'i unit of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to delay taking a position on the deal.
Instead, the union — which represents more than half of the airlines' employees — has sent documents about the merger to officials at its international office in Washington, D.C., asking them to review the information and report back to Hawai'i.
"We've got so many members involved," said Randy Kauhane, assistant general chairman of District Lodge 141 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the chief spokesman for the machinists' union for both Aloha and Hawaiian airlines. "We just can't make a rash decision as to how this thing will play out."
IAM members account for between 3,400 and 4,000 workers in the airlines' combined work force of about 6,000.
Chief on labor leaders' minds is how to preserve jobs for their members when two work forces are combined into one.
Some workers will lose jobs
Last week Brenneman, the former Continental Airlines executive who will be chairman and chief executive of the new carrier, said that "less than 600" of the two airlines' 6,000 employees likely will be laid off initially. And he also said last week that he hopes to be able to re-hire those employees as the airline grows. Among the expansion dreams he shared with union members are new flights to Mainland cities not served by either carrier.
Brenneman also said possibilities to lessen the pain of layoffs could include voluntary temporary furloughs and retirement incentives, union leaders said yesterday.
Seniority is likely to play a large part in determining the order of names on the merged employee lists, with newest employees at greatest risk for being furloughed or losing their jobs. But other factors that have yet to be decided, including the flight schedule of the new carrier and the type of aircraft used, will determine how many employees are needed.
"There are a number of possibilities, and because we haven't been presented with any complete information or informed of any final decisions, the staffing levels cannot be determined," said Karen Nakaoka, vice president with Aloha Airlines' master executive council of the Association of Flight Attendants.
Nakaoka said she has spoken only with Aloha flight attendants about the merger. "I think that naturally there is some apprehension about the merger; however everyone I have spoken to is trying to remain very positive and very hopeful that this will be a good thing. ... "
"All that we can hope is that everybody is able to work together and cooperate to make the transition as smooth as possible, if it happens," she said.
The $3 million incentive offered by Brenneman at union meetings last Thursday may help promote that spirit of cooperation. The money will be given if unions successfully coordinate on merging their seniority lists by a certain time, a spokeswoman for Brenneman said — an action that is necessary for the merger to move forward. The total will be divided among the unions according to a formula, she said.
While it's unlikely dissatisfied unions could completely stop a merger, past airline marriages suggest that union cooperation will be crucial to make the new carrier a success.
Seniority lists crucial
Union representatives said yesterday that the timing of the merger announcement — six days before the Christmas holiday — has added to their initial confusion.
"This is something that got thrown at us right before Christmas and everybody has agreed that we will wait until the second week of next month to meet," said Tim Wheeler, vice chairman of Hawaiian Airlines' master executive council of the Air Line Pilots Association, the union representing the nation's commercial pilots.
Hawaiian's pilot representatives are compiling a list of their approximately 460 members, their dates of hire and their birth dates, Wheeler said.
The Hawaiian pilots' union merger committee expects to meet Jan. 7 to review that information before meeting with Aloha's merger committee, Wheeler said.
Wheeler, who has been with Hawaiian for 17 years, said he was upbeat about the chances for the pilots' unions to work together on the merger, in spite of the hard work ahead and the looming deadline to close the deal.
"I'm optimistic that we can work out a good merger between the pilot groups, and that this would be good for not only the employees of Hawaiian and Aloha, but also the state," he said.
Reach Susan Hooper at shooper@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8064.
