Editorial
Aloha's furlough plan should not be dropped

It's a shame that an apparent level of distrust between unionized workers at Aloha Airlines and its management has derailed an innovative plan to save jobs and keep people on the payroll.

The plan amounted to a proposal that unionized airline employees take an extra two days off each month without pay. The savings would be enough, the airline said, to bring back some 250 people from furlough.

The union, however, says it isn't convinced that all the layoffs were warranted. It wants a more complete financial plan from the airline before members — in effect — donate two days pay to its bottom line.

There have been accusations that some companies around the nation used the Sept. 11 events as an excuse to move ahead with cutbacks that had already been planned or anticipated. There's no evidence that this is the case with Aloha, so it should be relatively easy to demonstrate to the union's satisfaction that the cutbacks were needed.

The two sides should continue talking. Aloha officials should be able to produce financial information that shows the extent of the losses they have experienced and their plans to rebuild.

The beauty of this proposal is that it keeps paychecks coming to all the airline's employees. It creates taxpayer savings because the furloughed workers will not be pursuing as many public benefits. And it keeps a work force intact for the day when business returns to something closer to normal.