He’s becoming very familiar with Guam, and our concerns about the new United Airlines.
Bergman took a few minutes out of his busy schedule on Saturday to sit down with Variety and discuss those concerns, especially the options available to Guam-based flight attendants under the merged carrier. Speaker Judi Won Pat and members of the 31st Guam Legislature met with representatives of the flight attendants last week.
“To their credit, the flight attendants have made great progress by choosing one union,” Bergman said. The Association of Flight Attendants now represents all of the combined airline’s flight attendants, and is working to merge seniority lists as the airline moves toward a single operating certificate, expected to be approved by November.
“After that, then they can be trained,” Bergman explained in response to a question about why Guam-based Continental flight attendants were not cross-trained on the United Airlines Boeing 777, which will be used on the Guam to Honolulu route. “The training on a Triple 7 takes one day,” he said. “It has nothing to do with training. Training is just the last piece, before everybody can fly on everybody’s aircraft.”
Seniority
The process of merging the two airlines and their flight attendants into a single contract will take some time, Bergman agreed. But he said “people aren’t going to lose seniority.” It’s difficult to say “x-amount of flight attendants will get minimum pay. There’s a lot of change and a lot of fluctuation, even in a month with the normal schedule.”
In the meantime, a resolution adopted by the senators last week will give negotiators for all the flight attendants in the newly merged airline some additional clout, as they go to the negotiating table to discuss a single contract covering them all. That process is going to take some time, during which some of Guam’s flight attendants may have to withstand some reduction in flying time and hence, in income. Some of them are already considering relocating to a different base.
“Hours will go up and down,” Bergman said, “but the flight attendants are pay-protected here,” and there are a lot of opportunities going on. He pointed out United Airlines will fly numerous charters to Guam from China, for example, making crew assignments possible outside of the regularly scheduled flights. In addition, he mentioned the Narita to Hong Kong route, which is to be flown with Continental Boeing 737 aircraft from Guam.
Bergman also said United is excited to bring more Chinese and Russian visitors to Guam, if a Guam-only, or Guam-Saipan visa waiver is put in place.
Advantage
Overall, the new United managing director for Micronesia said the merger of Continental with United is going to work to the advantage of Guam, primarily by adding seats to and from Guam.
“The really big thing that’s coming up, and the biggest optimization that we’ve had so far, is going to affect Guam very positively,” Bergman said. That’s the addition of the United-configured, 348-seat 777 on the Guam to Honolulu route, which will flow through the Guam hub and then do two services daily between Guam and Narita. That and the new Guam to Okinawa service starting at the end of this month will add a total of 2,556 more seats to the Guam market every week, more than 100,000 seats annually, mostly from Japan – our primary market.
That, says Bergman, really solidifies United’s commitment to Guam and the island’s tourism-based economy.
