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.
