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.

FMI: www.afanet.org