Demanding Washington Stop Airlines From Assaulting Their
Pensions
Thousands of union flight
attendants, other union members and labor supporters rallied in
Lafayette Park near the White House and at airports across the
country Wednesday, hoping to focus attention on the "need for
government action to stop management's assault on workers'
pensions, health care and jobs in the airline industry."
In Washington, flight attendants held a rally and candlelight
vigil. In other planned events, flight attendants staged
informational pickets at Sea-Tac International Airport, in Seattle,
WA, and a march and candlelight vigil outside United Terminal 3 at
SFO.
"These events and others are part of a national effort calling
for action by Congress and administration regulators to end
practices that allow companies to abuse the bankruptcy process in
order to strip workers of their retirement security and health
care, impose devastating wage cuts and destroy careers," said an
AFA statement.
The union also wants "a real public policy discussion of
aviation policy in the United States to address today's critical
issues," said International President Pat Friend.
"The position of many airline executives that workers must
subsidize one failed business plan after another must end," Friend
said, adding that other parties, government, consumers and
management must support this industry as well. "Airline management
is overreaching, and if they are not stopped, the continuing cuts
in wages, benefits and working conditions across the industry will
spread to financially healthy carriers, and then on to other
industries."
Last month, AFA approved a global
strike if a federal bankruptcy court agrees to allow airlines to
throw out their collective bargaining agreement. Four airlines have
filed for bankruptcy protection and are seeking huge cuts in
workers' pay and benefits; at least two are seeking to abrogate
their flight attendant contracts if agreement is not reached on the
cuts.
Those carriers, United and US Airways, want to walk away from
those contracts while slashing retiree medical benefits and
eliminating pensions. Flight attendants at those carriers are
voting on whether to authorize strike action.
Flight attendants at US Airways have voted overwhelmingly to
authorize the implementation of CHAOS(TM) (Create Havoc Around Our
System), the union's trademarked program of intermittent work
stoppages on flights, dates and locations of its choosing. The
results of the strike authorization vote among United Airlines
flight attendants will be finalized on December 30. Negotiations
are continuing with both carriers.