Aloha Airlines employees study pay-cut proposal

By Susan Hooper
Advertiser Staff Writer

Aloha Airlines has extended to Nov. 1 the deadline for employees to decide on the company's proposal that most workers take off two days a month without pay as a means of bringing back the 250 employees furloughed in September.

If employees agree, the plan would go into effect Dec. 1, a spokesman for the airline said yesterday.

Aloha Airlines made its proposal earlier this month. At that time, the company was hoping for a decision by employees in mid-October, in order to put the plan into effect by Nov. 1.

The company needs the approval of all of its employee groups to go ahead with the plan. These include unions representing ground workers, flight attendants, pilots, dispatchers and others.

The deadline was extended "because the employees are taking more time to evaluate the proposal," said Stu Glauberman, an Aloha Airlines spokesman.

"We made the offer in good faith and we're waiting for the employee groups to respond, and if they need more time, we will give them more time," he said.

Representatives of unions for ground employees, flight attendants and pilots could not be reached for comment yesterday. On Monday, Conrad Waggener, chairman of the master executive council of Aloha's chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, said he would not comment on the progress of his union's decision on the company proposal.

Before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Aloha Airlines had about 3,000 employees. Like other airlines across the country, Aloha saw a sharp drop in business following the attacks, which involved the hijackings of four commercial jets and the deaths of thousands of people.

Aloha reduced its flight schedule by 26 percent and furloughed about 8 percent of its work force to compensate for the loss of business from wary travelers.

Under the company's proposal for time off without pay, the payroll savings would equal those of the furloughs, the company has said.

All but about 740 of Aloha's employees would be asked to take off two days a month without pay. Those 740 employees are contract service personnel who work with other airlines under agreements with Aloha.

In setting the new deadline, the company also revised the limits of its plan.

If accepted, the plan will be in place for three months, at which time it will be re-evaluated, Glauberman said. When Aloha first proposed the plan, the company said it would return to former staffing patterns when its business returned to "pre-crisis" levels.

Glauberman said the company modified the limits of the plan because of suggestions by employees.