Release #01.43
May 16, 2001

Comair Pilots Respond to Announcement of Further Layoffs

CINCINNATI -- In response to the announcement that Comair will lay off an additional 400 non-striking employees, re-market 20 additional aircraft, and eliminate approximately 200 pilot positions, Capt. J.C. Lawson, chairman of the Comair pilots’ Master Executive Council for the Air Line Pilots Association, provided the following comment:

"Comair Management today released a statement indicating that it is taking additional steps to reduce expenses and preserve capital to shore up the airline for a prolonged strike. This continued economic bloodletting defies both reason and logic. Clearly, management reaffirmed its intention to prolong this strike, rather than seek to end it.

"In light of management’s previous actions, we’ve suspected that this was coming. We have had to prepare ourselves for the emotional spin as well as the finger pointing campaign that Comair management continues to unleash. Our hearts go out to our laid-off coworkers -- victims sacrificed as management continues to bail water rather than fix the hole.

"Management has orchestrated this work stoppage from the beginning and one has to wonder what the motivation is. Comair will spend more to keep the airline idle than it would have by simply offering us a reasonable contract. After three long years of negotiations and 51 days on strike, we have to wonder if Comair is being sacrificed for ego, because we certainly can’t find any sound business rationale for management’s actions," Lawson said.

Comair pilots have been in contract negotiations since June 1998, in mediation since July 1999, and on strike since March 26, 2001.

Formed in 1931, ALPA is the world's oldest and largest pilots union, representing 59,000 airline pilots at 49 carriers in the United States and Canada. Its Web site is at http://cf.alpa.org .

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Contact: Captain Paul Lackie, 859-282-2534