Pan Am clipper, Vol. 8, No. 12, December 1982

              Employee satellite teleconference Is "on the beam’
Nov. 14 was a day of heavy two-way traffic in the reaches of Outer Space. While the four astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia were beaming their message down to earth, Chairman Acker was beaming his up to Weststar IV, a free-floating communications satellite, from which it was directed down to Pan Am employees all over the U.S.
The first satellite teleconference in airline history, the session was an unqualified success. As one Pan Amer in New York summed it up: “It was terrific! Leave it to Pan Am, which has pioneered so many commercial aviation ‘firsts,’ to come up with a new and innovative way for the Chairman and his personnel to share and discuss their common concerns. ”
And more than 6,000 employees did just that. Long before the 1900 EST starting time, they and their families were already in their seats at nine U.S. locations. These included New York City; Hempstead, Long Island (N.Y.); Suffern, New York; Miami; Los Angeles; Houston; Washington; San Francisco and Honolulu.
Acker’s presentation was no nonsense and hard hitting all the way. After underscoring, in no uncertain terms, that Pan Am was not facing imminent bankruptcy, he lashed out at irresponsible and un-
OUT OF THIS WORLD. Chairman Acker's employee satellite teleconference marked an airline industry first. Signals were bounced into space from Flew York to the Weststar IV, then were beamed back to personnel assembled at nine U.S. locations. Questions from employees and answers by Acker went the same route. It was a good show!
scrupulous rumor-mongers at competitive carriers, bound and determined to undermine the company’s efforts to return to profitability.
“It is every Pan Amer’s responsibility to debunk this loose talk,” Acker thundered. “Travel agents and passengers must be told — and told again — that Pan Am is a going concern and will continue to be one.”
Chairman Acker also conceded that Pan Am, as reported in the past, will have a substantial loss for 1982. But he painted a far better picture for 1983 and beyond.
His closing statement said it all: “Hang in there, members of the Pan Am family. And next year at this time, no one will be asking, ‘How’re you doing?’ They’ll all know. ”
Following the Chairman’s videotaped remarks, he entertained questions from personnel on the teleconference network.
“I was delighted with the questions, ” Acker notes. “They certainly showed an understanding of our current situation and the unbridled determination of our people to turn Pan Am around in the months ahead.”
Videotapes of the program have been distributed to key stations on the Pan Am system, both in the U.S. and overseas. □
At this joyous time of the year, may I extend my warmest greetings to you and your families.
It was a year of sacrifice, a year of uncertainty, a year of severe challenge. Yet, for Pan Amers everywhere, it was also a year in which we accepted the seriousness of our problems, dug in our heels, made sacrifices -- and have finally begun to make substantial progress toward that hard-fought, and long-sought better day.
I certainly cannot --or would not --promise a bed of roses in the days to come. But I am fully confident that next year at this time, the trials, tribulations and, yes -- the triumphs --of the past year will have become a memory.
Thank you all. And to all, the very best.
New pilots’ contract to save $98 million
Taking another important step forward to a dramatic turnaround and profitability next year, Pan Am and the Pan Am Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Association last month announced agreement on terms for a new contract. The contract — running from Jan. 1, 1983 through Dec. 31, 1984 — covers the company’s 1,702 pilots.
Included is a continuation of the wage reduction agreement negotiated in the fall of 1981. Overall, the new pact is expected to produce a cost saving to Pan Am of $98 million next year.
Aside from a continuation of the wage-reduction agreement, significant work-rule modifications are encompassed in the new contract. These will substantially increase airman productivity.
The pact also includes a provision under which airmen will receive future pay increases calculated on airline profits. This is the first such plan ever provided to a labor group at Pan Am.
Says Chairman Acker: “I am gratified that Pan Am’s ALPA Master Executive Council, sees it this
way: “The agreement is a reflection of the dramatic changes which have come about in the airline industry since deregulation. The marketplace environment has been altered materially and this new contract will afford Pan Am the opportunity to be competitive not only in scheduling and pricing, but also in the labor arena. ”
Concludes Gould: “The ALPA negotiating team has shown foresight, I believe, in recognizing
the realities of a vastly different set of conditions which now exist in our industry and adapting our work rules to insure Pan Am’s ability to compete on equal terms with any competitor. ”
At press time, negotiations are continuing with Pan Am’s other U.S. labor unions in connection with new or modified contracts targeted at meeting the company’s all-important goal of reducing labor costs in 1983.	□
THAR SHE BLOWS. How do you land on the wildly pitching deck of a container ship in the middle of the storm-tossed Pacific? Very cautiously. Running out of fuel, the “Spirit of Texas ” did just that and it was a high point of the chopper’s round-the-world odyssey. For details, see Page 5.
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