PHOENIX, Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — After five years of protracted contract negotiations and the announcement of US Airways’ second biggest profit in the airline’s history, the members of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) have had enough of management delay tactics and attempts to negotiate a concessionary merged contract.
Yesterday, the AFA Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) broke off talks with US Airways management. Tempe-based America West Airlines merged with US Airways in September 2005 and the Flight Attendants have been in merged contract negotiations since January 2006. US Airways management’s latest proposals contained no meaningful wage increases, concessions in healthcare and sick benefits and gutted scope and merger protections for Flight Attendants.
AFA MEC Presidents Mike Flores (East) and Lisa LeCarre (West) say US Airways CEO Doug Parker has no interest in completing the merger and resolving labor unrest. The two groups of Flight Attendants are unified in frustration and anger at the airline’s management. AFA wants to reach a merged agreement but management has failed to put into a contract the financial resources necessary to do so.
“For five years, US Airways CEO Doug Parker has financed his merged airline off the backs of the Flight Attendants, saving millions by paying Flight Attendant salaries that differ by up to 45 percent,” said AFA US Airways-West President, Lisa LeCarre. “When you merge two companies, the goal is to combine all employee groups and pay them the same wage for the same work. That has not happened. US Airways recently announced historic profits, yet management refuses to negotiate contract improvements and wage increases after years of promised benefits from this merger.”
AFA US Airways-East President Mike Flores said, “US Airways East Flight Attendants have been working under concessionary wages and benefits since 2005 and have provided the means for this airline to not only survive, but prosper. It is high time for all Flight Attendants to share in the company’s success through meaningful wage and benefit improvements.”
In the first of a series of events, AFA is holding a system-wide Day of Action on February 17, in all Flight Attendant bases, to show management and the public that Flight Attendants are united in their effort to reach a fair merged contract.
For over 60 years, the Association of Flight Attendants has been serving as the voice for Flight Attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill. Nearly 50,000 Flight Attendants at 21 airlines come together to form AFA, the world’s largest Flight Attendant union. AFA is part of the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afacwa.org.
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