American Airlines is recalling about 800 furloughed employees, about 1 percent of its work force, as it adds flights on international routes. CEO Gerard Arpey announced the jobs as American launched a new trans-Atlantic business with British Airways and Spanish airline Iberia. American is working on a similar alliance with Japan Airlines across the Pacific.
Filed under: Labor
Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Oct. 6, 2010 at 10:37 a.m.
Comments Off
Filed under: Airlines, Airplanes, Airports, Jobs/employment, Labor American Airlines recalls 800 pilots, attendants
Chrysler fires 13 over report of beer drinking at lunch
Chrysler Group fired 13 workers at the same auto plant visited by President Barack Obama this summer after a local television station report showed some of them drinking on their lunch breaks.
Two other workers were also suspended for a month without pay, the automaker said.
Acting on a tip, a Detroit Fox News affiliate’s cameras and reporter captured workers from the Chrysler Jefferson North Assembly Plant guzzling beer and, in some cases, smoking what appeared to be hand-rolled cigarettes or other smoking material. Get the full story »
U.S. finds bias against women at Tyson plant
An Illinois meatpacking plant discriminated against women seeking entry-level jobs, the U.S. Labor Department charged in an administrative complaint filed Wednesday.
The plant is owned by a subsidiary of Tyson Foods Inc. The Labor Department said Tyson has made biased hiring decisions at the facility since at least January 2003, when the agency first audited the plant. The alleged discrimination has resulted in the rejection of more than 750 female applicants.
The plant is located in Joslin, which is near the Quad Cities. Get the full story »
Sep. 10, 2010 at 9:48 a.m.
Filed under: Airlines, Airplanes, Airports, Labor, Regulations, Transportation, Travel, Unions New rules would mean fewer hours for sleepy pilots
Some airline pilots would fly fewer hours and others would fly longer under proposed rules to help prevent dangerous fatigue, transportation and labor officials said Friday.
The proposal would set different requirements based on the time of day, number of scheduled flight segments, flight types, time zones and likelihood that a pilot is able to get enough sleep, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in his blog. The proposal is being released Friday. Get the full story »
Sep. 8, 2010 at 2:43 p.m.
Filed under: Autos, Construction, Earnings, Jobs/employment, Labor, Layoffs, Manufacturing, Updated Navistar confirms that it will move HQ to Lisle
Navistar representatives, along with roughly a dozen Illinois officials, announced plans this morning to move the manufacturing company’s headquarters to Lisle, retaining thousands of jobs in DuPage County.
“I’ve got one thing to say. Illinois is Navistar country,” said Gov Pat Quinn. “We believe in Navistar.”
Navistar President Dan Ustian added that the project would create about 500 engineering jobs right away. Get the full story »
New contract no job guarantee at Harley
Harley-Davidson Inc. could eliminate hundreds of jobs at its engine factory in Menomonee Falls, Wis., even if union workers ratify a seven-year labor agreement meant to keep the work in the Milwaukee area.
The company anticipates cutting 200 positions by the end of 2012, according to the proposed contract with United Steelworkers of America Local 2-209. That’s in addition to hundreds of jobs the company has eliminated in the Milwaukee area in the last two years. Get the full story »
Harley-Davidson workers to meet Tuesday
Harley-Davidson workers are gathering Tuesday to learn details of a proposed contract which includes concessions the company says will keep jobs in Wisconsin. Get the full story »
Harley, union have deal to keep it in Milwaukee
Harley-Davidson Motor Co. and its union leaders reached a proposed labor agreement Friday that could keep manufacturing operations and hundreds of jobs in Wisconsin.
The proposal still needs to be ratified by union workers and approved by the motorcycle company’s board. Workers are expected to vote on the contract Sept. 13. Get the full story »
Workers picket Hyatt Regency in Rosemont
Striking workers picket this morning at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont. (Alex Garcia/Tribune)
Chicago Hyatt Hotel employees, working without a contract since this time last year, walked off the job Friday at the Hyatt Regency near O’Hare airport, protesting cuts in wages and health care benefits.
The move is part of a coordinated pre-Labor Day strike strategy organized by the national Unite Here labor union that kicked off Thursday with strikes at Hyatt Hotels Corp. properties in Honolulu and Los Angeles. Workers in Boston, Indianapolis and Toronto, among other cities, will also be engaged in protest activities Friday, the union said.
Unite Here spokesperson Annemarie Strassel said the national union is in multiple contract negotiations with the big three hotel companies — Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., Hilton Worldwide and Hyatt. But it chose to target Hyatt because the Chicago-based chain, which is controlled by the wealthy Pritzker family, has posed “the most regressive proposals.” Get the full story »
Hyatt workers prepare for Friday strike
Hyatt workers in Chicago are preparing to go on strike on Friday over unsuccessful contract negotiations.
The work stoppage, which is planned for an undisclosed Hyatt hotel in the Chicago area, will be the first strike of its magnitude since contracts for 6,000 hotel workers in Chicago expired in August 2009. Unionized hotel workers have staged other protests during the protracted contract negotiations, including brief walkouts at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers and the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago. Unite Here, the union representing hospitality workers, has focused on Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp. and the Pritzker family, which controls the chain. Get the full story »
Illinois employment could improve later this year
Employment in Illinois may accelerate in the last quarter of the year, according to one survey by a California-based staffing firm.
A report released Thursday by Robert Half International said a net 12 percent of Illinois executives expect to hire more employees in the fourth quarter, an increase of 11 percentage points over sentiment measured in the third quarter. The company’s survey showed 19 percent of executives planned to staff up, while 7 percent were expecting to cut staff. Subtracting the 7 percent from the 19 percent generated the net 12 percent figure.
The Illinois figure reflects rosier sentiment in the state than nationally. Robert Half’s broad survey indicated that a net 6 percent of executives plan to increase hiring in the fourth quarter, up three percentage points from the third quarter. Get the full story »
Productivity shows workers little more to give
Productivity in the spring fell by the largest amount in nearly four years while labor costs rose, signals that companies may have reached the limits of squeezing more work out of fewer workers.
2-hour walkout at Sheraton Chicago
About 200 workers at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers walked off the job for two hours this afternoon to protest layoffs and understaffing at the hotel.
According to hotel union Unite Here Local 1, in recent months, workers have filed grievances with hotel management regarding staffing cuts and a growing reliance on subcontracted services. Get the full story »
2.6% the average raise in Chicago this year
From the Chicago Sun-Times | The average raise for Chicago workers this year was 2.6 percent, slightly higher than the 2.4 to 2.5 percent national average, according to report from Lincolnshire-based Hewitt Associates. Get the full story>>
Aug. 27, 2010 at 6:05 p.m.
Filed under: Airlines, Airplanes, Airports, Labor, Litigation, M&A, Transportation, Travel, Unions, Updated Justice Department OKs United-Continental merger
Passengers at the United and Continental kiosks at O'Hare International Airport, May 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
The Justice Department approved the proposed merger of United and Continental airlines Friday, closing an unexpectedly speedy four-month investigation that paves the way for the mega-deal to close by Oct. 1.
To win the blessing of federal antitrust regulators, United and Continental agreed to lease slots for 18 round-trip flights to Southwest Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport, beginning in March 2011.
Justice officials said the slot transfer was struck in “response to the department’s principal concerns” regarding the merger, which critics have warned will speed consolidation and eventually leave the three largest U.S. carriers with a lion’s share of the market. Get the full story »
