Teamster Members Seek Ratification Vote on Modified PSA Pact

Teamsters Union members Tuesday picketed a Teamsters office in Los Angeles as part of an effort to force union leadership to hold a ratification election on a proposed contract change that Pacific Southwest Airlines has said is necessary if USAir Group is to acquire the San Diego-based airline.

However, the union will not hold a ratification election unless PSA modifies three key sections of the contract proposal that the airline delivered before breaking off negotiations last Thursday, Teamsters Union Local 2707 Secretary-Treasurer Marvin Griswold said Tuesday.

The Teamsters are demanding that USAir and PSA agree not to terminate their merger agreement before Teamsters members vote on a contract modification, Griswold said.

The labor union also wants PSA to modify a section of the proposal that would require the Teamsters to administer a $1.6-million “severance and outplacement trust fund” that would be created to assist Teamsters members who lose jobs because of the proposed merger. The Teamsters want the merged airline to be responsible for the fund, which the union describes as “underfunded.”

Additionally, the Teamsters are pressuring PSA, PS Group and USAir Group to drop a “hold harmless” clause that would prevent disgruntled PSA employees from suing the three corporations after a merger takes place.

“Those conditions have to be met prior to submitting this most recent proposal” for a ratification vote, Griswold said. “I hope PSA will come to their senses and either return to the bargaining table or modify their proposal.”

A PSA spokesman declined to comment on the Teamsters’ demands.

The Teamsters, who represent about 3,000 PSA employees, are the only PSA labor union that has not agreed to contract changes being demanded by USAir. Regulators have approved the merger, and shareholders of PSA and PS Group, the airline’s parent company, also approved the deal.

Griswold suggested that the union could complete an election within 30 days, once PSA agrees to modify the three contract sections.

The Teamsters members who picketed outside Griswold’s Los Angeles office are considering a lawsuit that would force the Teamsters to hold an election on the proposed contract modifications, according to Carol Austin, a spokeswoman for a group of Teamsters-represented PSA employees that identifies itself as the Committee for Fair Representation.