Decembeer 14, 2004
It's just what holiday passengers don't want to think about. US Air, already struggling financially and in bankruptcy, faces a threat of a walkout by the union representing its 5,200 flight attendants.
US Air employees gave a green light to the Association of Flight Attendants to call what the union terms a CHAOS (create havoc around our system) strike if a federal court allows the airline to toss out their contract.
"Our sisters and brothers have given voice to a clear and unmistakable message: 'Enough is enough,'" said Pat Friend, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. "We will not stand by while our employers destroy our careers in a desperate attempt to cover for their own mistakes."
US Airways, the seventh-largest U.S. carrier, has said in the past that it must cut its union contracts in order to survive. Failing to do so, it says, could mean the airline could face liquidation early in 2005.
Friend charged that by seeking to scrap its legally binding contract, terminate its pension plan, cut retiree health benefits and impose wage cuts and work rule changes, US Airways is forcing its employees to mobilize for CHAOS, AFA's trademarked tactic of surprise, intermittent strikes on flights, dates and locations chosen solely at the union's discretion.
To date, the struggling airline has negotiated giveback agreements with its pilots, customer service workers and three smaller transport worker unions in an effort to slash union labor costs by close to $1 billion. US Air told a federal judge last week the airline needs to cut costs even more in order to attract $250 million in investment it says it needs to leave bankruptcy protection.
