"We Are Furious," Say United Flight Attendants
Negotiating Separately, Fighting Together
By CARL FINAMORE
Pioneering women at United Airlines (UAL)
organized the world’s first Flight Attendant (FA) union in 1945. They
were quickly recognized by the carrier as the official bargaining
representative when the CEO said “they need a union.” Today, these same
workers stand last as the lowest paid among all the major airlines and
are hardly getting any notice from management. Negotiations have
stalled.
“We are working at 1994-wage levels after suffering wage cuts, staff
reductions and rising health care costs,” Chris Black told several
hundred flight attendants and other union supporters picketing on
January 8 at UAL departure gates at San Francisco International Airport
(SFO).
Black is SFO Council 11 President, Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA),
and it was her national AFL-CIO union that organized protests on the
same day their contract became amendable. A preliminary count by the AFA
is that over 1800 participated at airports all over the world.
Contracts negotiated under the Railway Labor Act do not actually expire
but rather become “amendable” with terms remaining “status quo”
throughout negotiations overseen by the National Mediation Board. So,
while the system does retain contract protections during negotiations,
extremely long delays lasting several years have become commonplace.
In ordinary times, this means workers fall further and further behind
rising living expenses as talks drag on. But the 2002-2006 bankruptcy of
UAL forced even more extremely onerous concessions that substantially
compounded the normal burden of delayed negotiations.
Union spokeswoman Sara Nelson said that “after the airline went bankrupt
several years ago, the union accepted cuts of more than $3 billion in
pay, working conditions and health care, along with the termination of
workers' pensions.
"We were promised the cuts would remain in place for a certain amount of
time, but we continue to live under these concessions while executives
have rewarded themselves with millions of dollars in bonuses.”
As one example, UAL CEO Glenn Tilton’s bonus upon exiting bankruptcy was
by itself sufficient to provide a 10% bonus for all 15,000 FA’s then on
the payroll.
Attempting to achieve early settlements, each of the six unions
currently in talks with UAL now have contract clauses providing for the
commencement of negotiations several months before the amendable dates.
The AFA, for example, has been bargaining with UAL since April 6, 2009.
But to no avail. According to an AFA press statement, “members are angry
that management has not discussed the improvements envisioned, seeming
only interested in delaying….”
United, now dropped from first to the world’s third-largest airline,
claims that a weakened economy, rising fuel costs and fluctuations in
demand has enormously reduced profits. We heard this argument during
bankruptcy when prominent union financial analyst Dan Akins estimates
airline workers suffered reductions in wages and benefits totaling $11
billion.
This could actually be a low figure. A US Government Accountability
Office report estimated a “loss of $3.2 billion to [UAL] participants”
alone just from the pension default.
In any case, everyone realizes the airline industry has always been
characterized by intense competition, high fixed costs such as fuel,
cyclical demand and vulnerability to intermittent economic lows. We also
know from experience that whether in good times or in bad times,
carriers have continuously sought concessions.
But with the enormously rising fuel costs since the Gulf War, United
embarked on an even more dramatic and sustained burn and slash program
of service, route and fleet reductions combined with unprecedented
employee layoffs.
For example, the Company reports that its workforce fell from 100,000 in
December 2000 to 46,000 in December 2009 with FA numbers at 23,000 and
13,000 in that same period.
However, cutting back is an extremely controversial and unproven method
of returning airlines to profitability.
Union leaders explain that reducing passenger capacity is not the
answer. It is passengers that pay the bills and it has been shown
historically that eliminating routes and laying off employees in fact
lowers passenger-generated earnings more rapidly than reducing stable
fixed costs.
Reducing the operation is a discredited shortcut that utterly fails to
increase revenue and therein lies the problem.
"Cutting its fleet of airplanes does not address the larger cost
problems that continue to beleaguer this airline," said then UAL Air
Line Pilots Association (ALPA) chairman Captain Steve Wallach back in
2007. "Instead of doling out hundreds of millions of dollars to
shareholders and pocketing millions of dollars in bonuses and salary
increases, perhaps management should reinvest that money into our
operation."
His comments are still relevant today. They are echoed by the current
UAL ALPA chair, Capt. Wendy Morse, who commented on the day of the AFA
picketing that "United's tactics to shrink to profitability has proved
disastrous."
Simply put, when airlines cut back, earnings generally fall more rapidly
than costs.
With United management flying in the wrong direction, it is likely to be
a tough round of negotiations for flight attendants. But there is some
relief in sight. Airlines have made millions from their numerous
increased fees. Fuel costs have also stabilized at around $80 a barrel
from the high of well over $100. Even Wall St. analysts are cautiously
optimistic.
“To sum up,” writes airline analyst Michael Derchin in the November 30,
2009 Yahoo Finance report, “we are looking for 2010 to be a modestly
profitable year for the industry [even if fuel goes to $90 a barrel],
setting a stage for a nicely profitable year in 2011 and beyond,
assuming the global economy continues to recover.”
In fact, there are already signs of deep-pocket business travelers
returning to the soft, cushy, leather recliners in the front.
These trends should provide some bargaining leverage for FA’s and other
UAL employees who want to recover from their losses of recent years.
But, of course, it is the collective solidarity of all the six unions
currently bargaining that will be the most important factor influencing
management..
The AFA set a good example by beginning to mobilize members and to reach
out to other unions. This is a winning combination. As one Machinist
union Local President commented to me wishfully, “we may be negotiating
separately but we should be fighting together.”
Carl Finamore was a UAL baggage handler at SFO and former President
(ret), Air Transport Employees, Local Lodge 1781, AFL-CIO. He can be
reached at local1781@yahoo.com
http://www.counterpunch.org/finamore01082010.html
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