September 1, 2000, Honolulu, HI —Hawaiian Airlines pilots will conduct informational picketing on Monday, September 4, 2000, at five major airports using the observance of Labor Day to spotlight their protest of management’s stalling in contract negotiations. The pilots have been without a new contract since February 2000. The 450 pilots at Hawaii’s oldest and largest carrier, have been in direct negotiations with management since November 1999, and have yet to reach agreement on all major economic items affecting compensation and work rules.

Last month, airline management unilaterally filed for mediation, despite the pilots’ strenuous objections. The pilots asserted that bringing a federal mediator to the table at this juncture could delay the scheduling of negotiations. "We are concerned that management’s request for mediation could indicate that it is posturing for more confrontation and less cooperation in the future," said Kirk McBride, chairman of the Hawaiian pilots’ branch of ALPA.

As long as management continues to deny all employees of Hawaiian Airlines equal pay for equal work, and continues to pursue every possible avenue to circumvent its responsibility to negotiate fair contracts with the employees who sacrificed to  save this airline from bankruptcy, labor unrest will prevail at this airline," McBride said. "

By stalling at the negotiating table, and by making the self-serving proposal to abandon the negotiating process in favor of an unjustifiable and untimely plea for federal intervention, management demonstrated its unwillingness to recognize and respect the pilots for the role we’ve played in the success of Hawaiian Airlines.

Management didn’t hesitate to come to us, and every other employee group, when the airline needed relief, but now that the airline is prosperous, it treats us like a problem, not a partner," McBride said.   (Honolulu International Airport (HNL)