Unions will wait before trying to organize new LV airline

Airline industry unions don't expect to immediately unionize the work force of a new Las Vegas airline starting operations early next year.

But officials with unions that represent pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, gate agents and ramp personnel say it's only a matter of time before their committees will come calling and may seek representation votes at National Airlines.

A spokesman for the airline, which announced last month it would begin operations to four cities from its Las Vegas hub, said unionization isn't likely because the core managers at National will continue an open-door policy they had in place when they worked at America West Airlines in Phoenix.

Dik Shimizu, director of corporate communication at National, said the union activity that has grown at America West occurred after Michael Conway, a co-founder of that airline and National, left the company. Conway was ousted by America West's board of directors at the end of 1993.

"We are by no means anti-union," Shimizu said. "Unions play an important role, they normally balance the scale at airlines."

But Shimizu said it has been his experience that there was no successful union organizing at America West during Conway's tenure because employees generally were happy.

"A large part of that is open communication within the company," Shimizu said. "It was felt that you can satisfy the passengers's needs if you take care of your own first."

Shimizu said he started as a clerk at America West but always felt he had access to the top executives and could get a few minutes with the president of the company without an appointment.

"It takes a tremendous amount of their time, but it's amazing, I never got the impression they were too busy for me," Shimizu said.

But that doesn't mean the unions didn't try, Shimizu said. Every time there was a vote to organize, the unions were rebuffed.

"Employees felt things were being done as well as they could be," Shimizu said.

Union officials acknowledged that's usually the case when an airline first begins operations because new employees don't like to make waves with their new bosses. And, that's why the International Brotherhood of Teamsters isn't likely to attempt to organize when National first gets off the ground.

"Initially, you can't organize brand new groups," said Ray Benning, director of the airline division for the Teamsters union in Washington D.C. "Everybody is very enthused and bubbly as they learn their jobs. You don't organize in the first six months to a year.

The Teamsters represent 40,000 airline workers around the country, including mechanics, flight attendants and some pilots. The Teamsters have some aviation representation in Las Vegas, including mechanics with America West, Southwest and American airlines.

Benning said his union made headway at America West when the company began selling stock to employees instead of offering it as part of the compensation package.

He added that because of National's small fleet -- four Boeing 757s at the startup -- there won't be a large employee base from which to start. A union leader in Phoenix said the four aircraft would need just 120 crew employees at startup.

In addition, National will be contracting some of its work and not hiring some labor. Flight crews and customer service employees at all stations will be hired, Shimizu said, and most of the Las Vegas-based workers will be National employees.

Another factor in unionization efforts is viability. Carol Holmes, assistant to the president of Association of Flight Attendants, a 43,000-member union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, said her group probably wouldn't initiate organizational efforts until it was certain the venture would fly.

"We're taking a wait-and-see approach," Holmes said.

A representative of the Air Line Pilots Association was even more blunt.

"The failure rate of new entrants in the industry is fairly high," said John Mazor, a spokesman for the union that represents 50,000 airline pilots in 49 airlines in the United States and Canada. "There are plenty of airlines that come in every year and they aren't here anymore."

Mazor said he hasn't heard about National, but he said it's not uncommon for new carriers to start up with experienced administrators and a large bankroll -- and still fail. National has more than $47.3 million in startup capital, about $20 million more than most new airlines begin with.

"Right off the bat, there probably would not be any specific interest by the unions to organize until it (the airline) has a little operating history under its belt," Mazor said.

Holmes said Conway has a reputation as a manager who listens to employees. She believes that because most of the most profitable airlines have union shops, Conway's group would be interested in talking to the Washington-based flight attendants union.

"National Airlines is an intriguing idea," Holmes said. "And this is a highly organized industry. Many airlines are working to reduce the cyclical impacts of the economy so that it evens out the profitability issues. That's part of what union contracts do."

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