Say Agreement Would Axe 10,000 Jobs, Slash Competition
The head of the world's largest pilots union called a DHL/United
Parcel Service proposal to transfer all DHL flying from ASTAR and
ABX to competitor UPS "One Bad Deal" for workers, air express
competition, and the US economy in testimony before the US House
Judiciary Committee Tuesday.
"The proposal is bad for pilots, bad for ASTAR, bad for
competition in the US air express industry, bad for southwestern
Ohio, bad for American workers, and bad for the US economy," said
Capt. John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association,
Int'l (ALPA), after his testimony. "Congress must meticulously
scrutinize this proposal and ensure that it is thoroughly reviewed
by the antitrust authorities before it goes forward."
As ANN reported, in May DHL parent company
Deutsche Post announced it was negotiating to transfer all North
American flying currently performed by ASTAR and ABX to UPS. The
German company asserted the move was necessary, if DHL had any
chance at all to be profitable in the US market... where it faces
near-overwhelming competition from cargo giants FedEx and UPS.
ALPA
claims that although it held a 49 percent stake in ASTAR and had
two representatives on the airline's board of directors, Deutsche
Post did not inform ASTAR or its employees that it had been
negotiating with UPS for six months. At the same time that Deutsche
Post was cutting the deal with UPS, ASTAR was negotiating a
collective bargaining agreement with ALPA.
"The agreement stems from once-secret discussions between UPS
and DHL, which were deliberately hidden from affected companies,
employees, and public officials," continued Prater. "In ALPA's
case, the secrecy was clearly intended to deprive ASTAR pilots of
the chance to protect themselves, in both bargaining and
litigation."
ALPA says the central issue in the most recent contract
negotiations between ASTAR and ALPA was job security. While DHL was
making demands with respect to the job security provisions of any
agreement between ASTAR and ALPA and requiring settlement of the
ALPA-DHL litigation, DHL and its parent, Deutsche Post, were
negotiating to hand over all ASTAR flying to UPS.
Prater was joined at the hearing by dozens of the 525 pilots
ALPA represents at ASTAR Air Cargo, who have flown cargo for DHL
for more than two decades. "This backdoor deal would spell
financial disaster for thousands of families across Ohio who are
already reeling from hard economic times," said Capt. Pat Walsh,
chairman of ALPA's ASTAR pilot group. "We need Congress to act
quickly to put the brakes on this proposal."
"It is hard to see how the proposed DHL/UPS alliance would
benefit US consumers," added Prater. "We urge the Judiciary
Committee to ask the parties not to implement this deal until and
unless it has been reviewed by the Department of Justice or the
Federal Trade Commission."