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Airlines, Healthcare Targeted by Organized Labor as Strikes Renew
The coming months are shaping up to be a long, hot summer as far as labor relations go.
Employee relations at Spirit Airlines have sunk in recent days over a pilots’ strike and the temperature isn’t much better at Minneapolis hospitals where disgruntled nurses have also gone on strike. And labor observers believe Delta Airlines may be next while casting a wary eye at Navistar International where the union is mounting a campaign against proposed cuts to retirees’ prescription benefits package.
Corporate managers across America need to prepare now for further aggressive organizing efforts aided by the tacit approval of a sympathetic public tired of what they view as corporate irresponsibility from Wall Street to the Gulf of Mexico. As Patterson Partners predicted when Barack Obama was elected president in 2008 with heavy union backing, labor organizers, particularly in the healthcare and service industries, would be infused with new zeal when the administration took office, looking for wins from appointment of union sympathizers to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and ending secret ballot elections through card check. Recently, Obama used his executive prerogative to make two controversial board appointments during congressional recess—Craig Becker, a former Service Employees International Union (SEIU) lawyer, and Mark Pearce who has earned a reputation for defending corrupt union officials who embezzled money from union members.
As a government entity of the Executive Branch, the NLRB is responsible for supervising union elections, interpreting the National Labor Relations Act and investigating unjust labor practices. Its chief duty is to settle labor disputes in an impartial and judicious manner. With the appointments of Becker and Pearce to the NLRB and pro-labor, Congresswoman Hilda Solis of California to the position of US Labor Secretary, the situation going forward for corporate America and the public sector looks very challenging.
Airlines
At Spirit Airlines both sides are digging in. The discount airline which operates 150 flights flying 5.2 million passengers annually cancelled all of its flights through Wednesday. Spirit’s 450 pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), struck on Saturday when negotiations with management broke down over pay differences. In May, the National Mediation Board granted a 30-day “cooling off” period which gave the pilots the right to strike. Notably, the airline industry has gone five years without a strike. The last one was at Northwest Airlines when mechanics walked out. Meanwhile, if the unionization drive to increase salaries at Delta Air Lines is successful, its annual labor costs are expected to soar by $1.2 billion.
Healthcare
June 10, 2010, 12,000 nurses in Minneapolis-St. Paul went on a 24-hour strike to protest proposed cuts to their pension and health benefits. Faced with rising unpaid patient bills and cuts in public programs, a dim growth outlook and no relief in sight until federal health reform is fully implemented in 2014, the hospitals claim they are in survival mode. Excluding 2009, the hospitals lost money in 2008 and had to cut 1,700 jobs.
At Navistar International, proposed cuts to pension and health benefits is raising the ire of the United Auto Workers. The truck and engine manufacturer is attempting to cut costs for retiree benefits and lessen its exposure to additional federal taxes by shifting coverage for Medicare-eligible retirees’ prescriptions from the company’s insurance to the Medicare Part D Program starting July 1st.
Strategic Positioning
"Management must become much more pro-active in their ongoing relations with employees and the community than what they have done in the past," said CEO James Patterson of Patterson Partners, Inc.
Proposed changes to national healthcare, an economy that is experiencing deep recession, record home foreclosures and hundreds of thousands of job losses due to foreign competition, are recipes for major labor unrest—and stronger unions. A detailed and well-executed employee and community relations plan is critical to company success. Two-way dialogue using traditional and social media are important tools in implementing strategic communications plans that explain facts, open new channels of communications, protect a company’s good name and its brand.
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