Fears of a possible airline strike during the Christmas holiday eased yesterday when US Airways ground employees agreed to take 13 percent pay cuts to help bail out their employer.
The union representing 6,000 reservations and gate agents at US Airways said workers voted by a 60 percent margin to take the cuts and avoid a shutdown of the carrier.
The deal, which will shrink paychecks until 2011, is expected to save the airline $137 million annually. US Airways said the sacrifices will help the airline get back on its feet and out of bankruptcy intact.
The carrier says it will be forced to liquidate in coming weeks unless it gets savings from all its other employees.
The reservations clerks, members of the Communications Workers of America, are the second union group to take cuts. Pilots have agreed to similar pay reductions that would save $1.85 billion.
US Airways is now turning its energies to getting cuts from two remaining unions representing flight attendants and machinists.
The airline originally sought 34 percent pay cuts from its passenger service crews.
The airline has also asked a bankruptcy judge to cancel the collective bargaining agreements with the CWA, the Association of Flight Attendants and the International Association of Machinists, if those unions don’t reach voluntary agreements with the airline.
The flight attendants have reached a tentative agreement on a new deal, but union leadership is taking a neutral stance and is not recommending approval.
The proposed deal would slash pay by 9 percent for the company’s 5,200 flight attendants, and save the airline about $94 million a year. The results of their ratification vote will be announced Jan. 5.
Negotiations with the machinists are continuing, but no deal has been reached. The union has said if it doesn’t reach a deal, it will submit management’s final offer to membership for a vote before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Mitchell rules on the airline’s request to cancel the contracts.