Airlines Refuse to Share New Profits with Flight Attendants

by James Parks, Aug 9, 2006

On the website for Northwest Airlines, you will find all sorts of special offers to entice you to fly Northwest, including a “best fare guarantee.” Too bad the company’s management doesn’t see fit to give a “best pay guarantee” to its flight attendants.

The same is true for the newly combined US Airways and America West. Although the airline industry has taken a turn for the better, management is still trying to stiff its workers.

After members of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA/CWA) on July 31 rejected a second tentative contract agreement, Northwest imposed new work rules. The imposed contract, designed to produce $195 million in annual savings for the airline, which filed for bankruptcy last year, cuts workers’ benefits and pay by 40 percent, the union says.

The imposed work rules triggered the workers’ right to strike under the Railway Labor Act, which governs labor-management relations in the aviation industry. Flight attendants already are leafleting at airports around the country to let passengers know that as soon as 9:01 p.m. CDT on Aug. 15, Northwest could be thrown into CHAOS™ (Create Havoc Around Our System™), AFA-CWA’s strategy of targeted work actions using random, unannounced strikes.

Here’s what Mollie Reiley, interim president of the Northwest Master Executive Council, has to say:

Northwest flight attendants have been pushed too far. Now we’re going to push back. There is only so much we can give. The wage and benefit cuts that Northwest management has imposed on us are far too deep, especially with all the executives getting in line for huge bonuses. We’re now going to show these executives that there are consequences to their greed.

Northwest is not alone among greedy airline management. While flight attendants from the newly combined US Airways and America West are striving to reach a good contract, the company announced last week it will give managers a 3 percent pay increase this fall. Yet management has insisted at the bargaining table that the new flight attendant contract not raise costs. While managers will get a pay increase, the majority of America West flight attendants have not had a raise since May 2004.

Management’s demand for a no-raise pact follows an announcement by US Airways that it made $305 million in profit for the past quarter. US Airways’ quarterly profit was one of the highest in the airline industry, which posted a collective profit of about $1.5 billion, before taxes, for the April to June perioid, according to the Merrill Lynch. Northwest did not report its quarterly earnings because it is still in bankruptcy proceedings.

In addition to the management raises, US Airways CEO Doug Parker cashed in approximately $9 million in stock options, which led Mike Flores, US Airways Master Executive Council president, to say:

US Airways flight attendants gave over $154 million per year in contract concessions, including the forced termination of our pensions, in order for the airline to survive and be a partner in the merger. And now, this management team, who are giving themselves raises and cashing in their stock options hand over fist, demands that our hard work and sacrifice remain unrecognized. It was on the backs of the flight attendants that this merger has been successful, and we are determined that we will obtain a merged contract with improvements in working conditions, benefits and compensation.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (0)