Airline union offers merger plan

Advertiser Staff and News Services

The union representing hundreds of workers for Hawaiian and Aloha airlines has offered a plan to reduce layoffs if the announced merger is approved.

The proposal by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents nearly 3,600 mechanics, clerical workers, reservations agents, baggage handlers and other employees at both airlines, calls for an enhanced early-retirement package for eligible union workers age 55 or older.

Eligibility requirements include a certain minimum number of years of service with the company.

Randy Kauhane, assistant general chairman of the union's District Lodge 141, said yesterday that 384 workers at both airlines are age 55 or older, but not all may qualify under the terms of the proposal. He would not disclose eligibility details.

"We're looking to see how we can minimize the layoffs," he said of the proposal.

Keoni Wagner, a spokesman for Hawaiian Airlines, said union officials and representatives of Hawaiian and Aloha airlines met yesterday to discuss the union's proposal.

"No conclusions were reached, but the parties are committed to further meetings and continuing to work together to find the right solutions," he said.

Stu Glauberman, an Aloha spokesman, said Aloha officials would not comment on the specifics of yesterday's meeting.

Kauhane could not be reached for comment after the meeting.

Greg Brenneman, the executive leading the merger, said when the deal was announced last December that less than 600 of the combined work force of about 6,000 employees could lose jobs as a result of the merger.

Recently, he said about 400 could lose work provided the machinists' union and the Association of Flight Attendants accept furlough-protection offers made in January by Brenneman's firm TurnWorks.

That offer requires the merging of seniority lists and acceptance of most terms of the Hawaiian Airlines union contracts by the date of the merger.