Seeking new pact, U.S. Airways pilots picket in Philadelphia

The picket signs demanded better pay and a new contract. Those carrying them outside Philadelphia International Airport's International Terminal on Wednesday were not garden-variety protesters.

They were 150 US Airways Group Inc. pilots, spiffily uniformed and walking in silence to express frustration that five years after the America West Airlines-US Airways merger, the 5,200 pilots and 6,700 flight attendants at the combined carrier still don't have a joint collective-bargaining agreement.

Philadelphia's dominant airline operates essentially two airlines, with separate aircraft, crews, and flight schedules based on old US Airways and former America West routes.

"We've been trying to negotiate a contract with this company for five years," said a pilots' union spokesman, Capt. James Ray. "They pass garbage across the table to us. We're tired. We're frustrated. We want to see some results."

A US Airways spokesman said Wednesday that talks were continuing with the pilots but that they needed to resolve seniority issues among themselves.

Pilots who went through US Airways bankruptcies in 2002 and 2004 say they lost half their pay and their pension. Now, the carrier is on an even keel - with top executives collecting millions in stock options - and it's time for employees to get a just contract, they say.

"We sacrificed to keep the company flying, and to keep our jobs," said Mike Flores, president of US Airways' East Coast Association of Flight Attendants, who joined in the pilots' march. "There comes a time you expect that loyalty to be reciprocated."

Although US Airways flight crews work under 2004 contracts that are "25 percent below the industry average," said Ray, the dispute is more complicated.

Pilots have been embroiled in litigation over seniority and integrating seniority lists of the predecessor airlines.

The scenario might have played out differently had pilots in 2007 accepted a binding-arbitration decision that put 571 US Airways international pilots at the top in seniority, ahead of other active pilots with less experience.

But controversy arose over 1,600 pilots on furlough in 2005 who were put at the bottom in seniority, even though their dates of hire were earlier than those of some active pilots.

The decision, which the union and company had pledged ahead of time to abide by, rankled pilots from the East - the old US Airways - who contended that America West pilots had less experience and should not be ahead of them.