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Nationwide Flight Attendant Walkout Threatened
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Tuesday, November 16, 2004 | Dan Fitzpatrick

Posted on 11/16/2004 2:17:23 PM PST by West Coast Conservative

The national president of the flight attendants union is threatening a nationwide strike against all airlines if any labor contracts are abrogated by a bankruptcy judge.

Both United Airlines and US Airways have asked a U.S. Bankruptcy Court to impose a series of concessions if consensual cost-cutting deals can not be reached soon.

"Airline management needs to understand that there will be serious consequences if they persist in their attacks on our contracts," said Pat Friend, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents attendants at 26 airlines, including United and US Airways. Leaders of the union are meeting in Pittsburgh.

All told, AFA represents seven bankrupt carriers.

"Our entire industry is in turmoil and the careers of our flight attendants all hang in the balance," Friend said. "Pensions, for which flight attendants have dedicated many years of hard work, are being wiped out with the sound of a judge's gavel. Health care coverage for employees in an essentially unhealthy work environment is reaching cost levels unaffordable to flight attendants who every year sacrifice more of their income to 'save the airline.' Almost everywhere we look, flight attendants are being forced to work longer hours with reduced rest time, and all for ever-decreasing wages. This must stop."

Despite today's strike threat, negotiations between US Airways and the union will continue, according to flight attendants representative Teddy Xidas in Pittsburgh. The company is seeking $150 million in concessions, including the termination of the union pension plan. The national union will trigger a strike only if the bankruptcy judge grants the company's request to throw out the flight attendants' contract, she said.

The judge will hear that request Dec. 2 and 3.

(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: afaidiots; airlines; attendant; strike; walkout
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To: fritzz

What airport were you taking off from?

Leaving from Miami wouldn't be a terribly long flight but if you were departing from Seattle or Chicago, it might get a little intolerable.


21 posted on 11/16/2004 2:32:47 PM PST by MplsSteve
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To: Mears
The friendly skies aren't so friendly anymore.

And when was the last time you met an airplane waitress that didn't look at you like you were the source of all her pain and misery? You and all those pilots she slept with but never got a ring out of....;^)

22 posted on 11/16/2004 2:34:51 PM PST by randog (What the....?!)
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To: West Coast Conservative
You know, showing how the seatbelt works, handing out peanuts and pop, fetching pillows - it's all a smokescreen. They're actually there primarily to collect DNA samples for the government.

Now shhhhhh - don't tell anyone.

23 posted on 11/16/2004 2:34:54 PM PST by brewcrew
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To: West Coast Conservative

Tell them to stay out until Minetta is removed
and all pilots (passenger and cargo) are armed against hijackers/terrorists


24 posted on 11/16/2004 2:35:26 PM PST by joesnuffy ("The merit of our Constitution was, not that it promotes democracy, but checks it." Horatio Seymour)
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To: West Coast Conservative
I came along too late in life - an old-timer from an old job once told me there was a legendary time in the past where 1st Class air was something really special, and stewardesses were consistently beautiful, desirable, and sexually available and adventurous.

Then the women began burning bras, and the next thing you know, they are closing all 12 of the Playboy Clubs.

I think there are still a few sexy and available stews out in the skies, but they are an endangered species. That being said, at International Airports I do notice that foreign country stews tend to be more attractive and fit than their American Counterparts. So it may still live on!

Oh well, I was born too late it seems! :-)
25 posted on 11/16/2004 2:36:23 PM PST by HitmanLV (I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.)
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To: Hank Rearden
When's the last time a seatcushion actually worked as a floatation device?

It would probably help a nine-year-old in perfectly still water for about three minutes.

When's the last time someone survived a water "landing" in a commercial airliner?

In 1996, a hijacked Ethiopian Boeing 767 ran out of fuel and water landed (crashed) in the waters just off a Comoros Islands resort. 52 of the 175 people aboard survived, most of those who survived the crash and didn’t drown were clinging to the fuselage until boats arrived from the resort.

I remembered that crash because the footage of the plane hitting the water and breaking apart was pretty intense. (I had to look up the details.)

26 posted on 11/16/2004 2:36:50 PM PST by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: Natural Law
With the level of service on flights today no one will even notice.

If you speak up one more time I will have you arrested for interfering with the flight crew. Now shut up, biotch, and eat your rancid pretzels.

27 posted on 11/16/2004 2:37:25 PM PST by eno_ (Freedom Lite, it's almost worth defending.)
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To: Pukin Dog

Too late. They have their own airline. And their own stock car racing series.


28 posted on 11/16/2004 2:41:15 PM PST by eno_ (Freedom Lite, it's almost worth defending.)
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To: MplsSteve

Boise, ID. 700 mile flight.

Flew on a new 737 with the drop down screens. The flight attendants didn't even have to do their pre-flight performance. We were offered just 3 items. Coke, Diet Coke, Orange, and Water. (I guess Regular Coke and Diet Coke make it 4 items).


29 posted on 11/16/2004 2:41:48 PM PST by fritzz
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To: Grig
So.......nobody will kick me out of first class?

Okay. That's it. You owe me a keyboard, buddy.

MM

30 posted on 11/16/2004 2:44:36 PM PST by MississippiMan (Americans should not be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.)
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To: HitmanNY
Some of the Flight Attendants came along too late as well. I fly regularly with a woman who claims to have wanted to become a 'Stew' so that she could meet and marry a pilot. But, the rules for pilots are so strict now, you don't dare look twice at them, or risk an harassment claim. I don't even let them bring me coffee. I get my ass up and get my own.
31 posted on 11/16/2004 2:45:54 PM PST by Pukin Dog (Sans Reproache)
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To: Poohbah

Actually, striking because your contract had been voided in a bankruptcy proceeding is absolute grounds for the company hiring replacement workers.

Additionally, the union would most likely be held in contempt of court by the bankruptcy judge and fined daily.

This story is most likely a PR ploy by the union to gin up sympathy for the workers, and to put public "pressure" on the jusdge not to void the contract. It's a last ditch bargaining chip.

To be fair and balanced, the union's position on this would have one immediate benefit for the U.S. taxpayer...the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) which will pay off pension plan participants for pennies on the dollar, is already approximately $6 Billion in the red due to prior bankruptcy pension plan defaults. If 7 airlines all default on their pension plans, Congress will have to bail out the PBGC like it had to bail out the Savings & Loan industry.

Reagan80


32 posted on 11/16/2004 2:46:41 PM PST by Reagan80 ("Government is not the solution to our problems, Government IS the problem." -RR; 1980 Inaugural)
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To: Reagan80
Actually, striking because your contract had been voided in a bankruptcy proceeding is absolute grounds for the company hiring replacement workers.

This would be a strike at an airline NOT in bankruptcy.

Again, it's a pretty open-and-shut breach of contract case.

33 posted on 11/16/2004 2:48:51 PM PST by Poohbah (Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women!)
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To: TChris
When are these idiots going to understand that they are part of the reason the airlines are going bankrupt!?

What's rich here is that US Airways is at the root of this problem, and they are controlled by a public pension fund. Had the morons who are at the helm made a plan that worked instead of going back to the employee well several times this year, this "threat" wouldn't exist, in all probability.

34 posted on 11/16/2004 2:49:58 PM PST by Glenn (The two keys to character: 1) Learn how to keep a secret. 2) ...)
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To: West Coast Conservative
if consensual cost-cutting deals

The smart, pretty (female) ones can bunk up with me! LOL

35 posted on 11/16/2004 2:53:16 PM PST by benjaminjjones
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To: West Coast Conservative

Good!

Let them drive.


36 posted on 11/16/2004 2:54:46 PM PST by BurbankKarl
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To: Hank Rearden

Can we finally say good by to UAL and US Airways? Can't say I'd miss'em. Couldn't happen to a nicer set of airlines....


37 posted on 11/16/2004 2:56:33 PM PST by artios
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To: West Coast Conservative
I remember when...


38 posted on 11/16/2004 2:57:59 PM PST by GalaxieFiveHundred
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To: highnoon; windcliff
Whoose gonnna b-b-bringg mee my DRINKK?!?

Just BYOB'S. That is bring two bottles. One for the screeners so that you can bring the second bottle on board. For heaven's sake though, make sure it has a twist off cap since you can't take those dangerous weapons such as a bottle opener on board with you.

I haven't been in an airplane in years and have no plans of ever doing it again.

39 posted on 11/16/2004 2:59:41 PM PST by I Drive Too Fast
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To: Poohbah

Actually, it's both. If, say, the USAirways contracts are voided, the flight attendants for that airline would be striking when the contract had been voided.

Your point is also well taken, the flight attendants for all other airlines would be striking while under a valid contract. This would be the equivalent of what the PATCO Air Traffic Controllers did under my Freeper namesake, President Reagan. Striking under that set of facts is a well-established replacement worker situation.

Reagan80


40 posted on 11/16/2004 3:00:40 PM PST by Reagan80 ("Government is not the solution to our problems, Government IS the problem." -RR; 1980 Inaugural)
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