558 at PSA Opt for Cash Over USAir Job

About half of Pacific Southwest Airline’s 1,066 headquarters personnel will not keep their jobs after the San Diego-based airline is merged into USAir on Saturday, USAir Group spokesman David Shipley said Tuesday.

Most of the 558 PSA employees who were not offered jobs had previously indicated that they did not want to work for USAir after the merger, Shipley said Tuesday. Those PSA employees opted for cash payments that are to be based upon years of employment with PSA, Shipley said.

Just 10 of 508 PSA headquarters employees who were offered jobs with USAir decided to reject them, Shipley said.

Overall, 91.5% of Pacific Southwest Airlines’ 6,098 managers and employees accepted jobs with USAir. An overwhelming majority of PSA’s pilots, flight attendants, machinists and station personnel will remain with USAir after the merger, according to Shipley.

More than 400 employees at PSA’s aircraft engine maintenance operation in San Diego also will remain with USAir after the merger is completed, Shipley said.

When USAir announced its $385-million bid for PSA in December, 1986, it offered so-called labor protective provisions to PSA employees who would lose jobs after the two airlines were merged. Those provisions included the promise of cash payments to PSA employees who did not accept jobs with USAir.

USAir will house “a lot of staff functions that will be retained in San Diego” in PSA’s headquarters building at Lindbergh Field in San Diego. The Washington-based airline company also might establish “some corporate communications presence” at the headquarters building, Shipley said.

USAir also will maintain a reservations center and a pilot training facility that PSA operates in San Diego.

However, USAir has “no plans at the present time to establish a hub on the West Coast,” Shipley said. USAir’s largest hub is in Pittsburgh. It also has a smaller hub operation in Philadelphia.