PSA Crew Controllers OK Changes in Labor Contract to Facilitate Sale to USAir

Pacific Southwest Airlines has won labor contract modifications from its 45-member Southwest Crew Controllers Assn. that are a prerequisite to its acquisition by USAir, the company said Wednesday.

PSA previously won similar contract changes from its 600-member pilots union and a 12-member flight dispatchers’ union. However, PSA has yet to conclude negotiations with the Teamsters Union, which represents 3,000 PSA employees.

USAir, which is in the process of acquiring San Diego-based PSA in a $400-million deal, has conditioned its offer on PSA management winning modifications to contract language that would protect employees’ jobs and salaries and extend the unions’ representational rights in the event PSA is merged into or acquired by another airline.

In a related development in San Francisco on Wednesday, a federal judge ruled against a Teamster request that PSA be forced into binding arbitration over the contract dispute. The federal court ruled that the contract dispute should be settled by the National Mediation Board. The Teamsters plan to appeal the ruling.

PSA and the Teamsters Union, which represents the airline’s flight attendants, mechanics, ground personnel and station agents, are scheduled to resume negotiations this morning in San Francisco, according to spokesmen for both sides.

Shareholders of PSA and PS Group, the airline’s parent corporation, are expected to approve USAir’s bid for PSA during special shareholder meetings on Tuesday.