Flight Attendants Hold Vigil Against Pay Cuts

by Seth Michaels, Jul 11, 2008

Midwest Airlines long has had a warm and fuzzy reputation as the only U.S. airlines that served hot chocolate chip cookies on board after every meal. But no longer. The airlines is proposing pay cuts for Midwest Airlines flight attendants—and the flight attendants, pilots and other union members and allies rallied in downtown Milwaukee this week in protest.  

Joined by Wisconsin state Rep. Christine Sinicki, whose District 20 includes General Mitchell International Airport, the group attended a candlelight vigil outside the Hyatt Hotel where the Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) held the first night of their two-day annual board of directors meeting.   

Inside the hotel, AFA-CWA international President Patricia Friend asked meeting attendees to join the Midwest flight attendants in their vigil “in solidarity and flight attendant unity.”  

The situation at Midwest is critical, and we will rally around our members tonight. 

Outside, speaking to Midwest flight attendants, AFA–CWA international Vice President Veda Shook assured them: 

We are right beside you, not just tonight, but every step as well. 

As the meeting ended, flight attendants from 18 airlines joined the waiting protestors to march silently to the Midwest Airlines Center several blocks away where camera crews from the local ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates waited. Shook emceed for a list of speakers that included Friend; the president of the Midwest flight attendants local union, Toni Higgins; Sinicki; Milwaukee Area Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Sheila Cochran; and Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President David Newby.

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