Atlanta, GA – Over 100 Delta employees, trade unionists and community supporters rallied at the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport May 25 to show support for the ongoing unionization effort at Delta Air Lines.

The organizing drive at Delta is a joint effort between three unions: the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), International Association of Machinists (IAM) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). The three unions are seeking to organize Delta flight attendants, baggage handlers and mechanics respectively.

“Atlanta, we’ve got your back because you’re organizing to bring power to the community, power to the people right here!” said Sara Nelson, international president of the AFA. “We’re here to stay, we’re going to make sure we are strong today, tomorrow and in the future,” Nelson continued.

This three-pronged approach to unionizing is a first in the history of attempts to organize Delta workers. Through union-busting tactics and intimidation, Delta has been able to prevent a majority of its employees from unionizing. The only workers at Delta who are currently organized are its pilots.

Many of those in attendance at the rally were workers who were already unionized. Elizabeth Laster, a part-time worker at UPS, said, “I wanted to show solidarity for the blue-collar workers fighting for their first contract. We are all in this together.” UPS is represented by the Teamsters, one of the unions working to organize Delta.

The AFA has attempted to organize flight attendants at Delta three times in the past.

“Unionizing is incredibly important for flight attendants. It gives us the strength of numbers to negotiate for better pay, benefits and working conditions,” said Iana Edwards, a former Delta flight attendant. “Joining a union provides job security, addresses safety concerns and creates a supportive community. It empowers flight attendants to have a voice, representation and the ability to make positive changes in work life balance,” Edwards continued. Edwards had worked as a Delta flight attendant for seven years and supported the previous organizing drives.

Over 45,000 employees could become unionized if the three unions are successful.

#AtlantaGA #AirlineIndustry #DeltaAirLines

Chicago, IL—Sarah Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, spoke on a panel with labor negotiator and author Joe Burns. They discussed how to fight the big corporate firms in the transportation sector in talk titled “Using the Railway Labor Act to Our Advantage.” They highlighted how different labor laws for the transportation sector benefit their ability to lead the flight attendant union in struggle with big corporate owners.

Joe Burns explained, “Railway workers formed one of the most militant unions in our history, shutting down the whole country with strikes in 1877, 1886, 1895 and 1922. Following each national strike, the U.S. Congress passed labor laws to regulate union activity and stop its effectiveness.”

It was from this that the Railroad Labor Act was passed in 1926 and amended in 1934, covering airline workers in 1936. This set of laws allows the government to interfere with transportation unions, favoring owners at every turn.

“From the 1930s, railways and airlines held strikes frequently, until 1970. In recent years it became worse and worse, with new legislation, the big companies can now drag out negotiations and force unions to delay strikes. By the 1990s the number of strikes took a nosedive,” said Burns.

Sarah Nelson spoke to the big room of labor activists, “We have been aggressively asserting our right to strike, but how did we push forward bargaining under the existing laws?”

She answered, “We started CHAOS or Create Havoc Around Our System.”

Nelson continued, “Our strategy is to launch intermittent strikes with the element of surprise, so bosses and the media do not know when or where an action will happen. In this scenario management cannot use replacement workers, and some strikes only last for 20 minutes at an airline.”

With one Alaska Airline strike, bookings dropped 20%. Sometimes the union would wait six to nine months to strike, but airfares still dropped because of the uncertainty of flight attendants striking a single flight. The bosses also trained everyone in the management offices on how to be flight attendants. They even put them on flights. It did not matter when ticket sales dropped.

Nelson explained further, “Then the flight attendants union voted to strike at United Airlines when they tried to take our pensions away. These strikes captured the imagination of the public and the media.”

“Now, we don’t worry about being released by the government to strike. We pummel the carriers and management the whole time. We have a right to strike and the right to secondary solidarity boycotts,” said Nelson, explaining how their strategy is different than most unions.

Burns followed up, “The Taft-Hartley Act made solidarity strikes illegal, but under the railways labor act, it states that solidarity strikes, and intermittent strikes are protected. By taking a strike vote, you pull members into the contract fight, and send a message that they are behind the bargaining team. With a strike vote, you also get the attention of the national corporations or top management.”

“My first book is called Reviving the Strike. It talks about the courts and Congress taking away our right to strike. Judges came in and filed sweeping injunctions. In Alabama, they outlawed all picketing during one strike. Judges use their injunction power to cripple unions,” said Burns.

Burns finished, “My second book is called Strike Back, about union organizing lessons of the past. Over 15 years, millions went out on illegal strikes. The slogan was, ‘There is no such thing as an illegal strike, just an unsuccessful strike.’”

#ChicagoIL #AirlineIndustry #LaborNotes

The IAM has overwhelming evidence that Delta Air Lines has interfered with the Flight Attendants and Ramp employees’ lawful right to seek a vote for union representation free from interference, influence or coercion exercised by the carrier.

“The IAM has provided the NMB with evidence showing Delta has run an unlawful, systematic anti-union campaign that includes intimidation, discipline and terminations of union activists,” said IAM General Vice President Sito Pantoja. “Last week, the public was able to see what many behind the walls of Delta have always known; that Delta will go to great lengths to suppress their employees’ collective voices.”

Some examples of Delta’s illegal activity include a coordinated misinformation campaign through postings and electronic messages in the workplace, surveilling and photographing employees participating in union activities and the singling out and termination of union activists.

#WashingtonDC #PeoplesStruggles #AirlineIndustry #AFLCIO #InternationalAssociationOfMachinistsAndAerospaceWorkersIAM #DeltaAirLines #NationalMediationBoardNMB

Jacksonville, FL – As the partial government shutdown entered its 35th day on January 25, federal workers gave the country a lesson in the power of labor. Citing “a slight increase in sick leave” at two of the largest air traffic control centers on the eastern seaboard, the Federal Aviation Authority ordered a 90-minute ground stop for flights going into LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

Within hours, President Donald Trump announced an end to the shutdown, after taking a deal offered three weeks earlier by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. The deal to reopen the government and provide back-pay to the 800,000 furloughed federal workers did not include funding for Trump’s proposed wall along the southern border or any additional funding for border security.

Why did Trump, the self-styled ‘master of deals’ who staked his presidency on the construction of a border wall, fold like a cheap suit on Day 35? The president had paid a steep cost for this debacle from the beginning when he publicly agreed to “own” the shutdown. Poll numbers consistently showed a solid majority of Americans blaming Trump for the shutdown.

But the credit for ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history belongs to the working class – not political grandstanding by congressional Democrats or even poll numbers.

Government shutdown and the working class

The partial government shutdown began on December 22, 2018. Funding for a number of key agencies expired, and President Trump refused to sign any bill from Congress that did not include nearly $6 billion in funds for a wall along the southern border of the U.S.

The impasse left 800,000 federal workers, the majority of whom are unionized, furloughed and without pay. Over half of these furloughed workers, 420,000, were legally required to continue working without pay because their particular jobs are deemed ‘essential’, like air traffic controllers and airport security. Predictably, as time went on, many of these workers stopped showing up entirely. Absenteeism became rampant in the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) airport security operations, where TSA agents are already some of the lowest-paid federal workers.

Unions representing these furloughed workers, like the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), led protests and pickets in Washington D.C. and across the country. These efforts drew support from the rest of organized labor, particularly in adjacent industries to those affected by the shutdown. Union leaders forcefully argued that the stress on workers created by the shutdown, along with growing absenteeism and short-staffing, created major safety hazards and risks for both employees and the general public.

The Trump administration added fuel to the fire with a series of insulting comments and condescending advice to struggling workers and their families. Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul, ludicrously claimed he could “feel their pain,” while later suggesting hungry furloughed workers should just tell their local grocery stores that they would pay “later” at the checkout counter. Wilber Ross, Trump’s Commerce Secretary, publicly said he “couldn’t understand” why federal employees were complaining instead of “taking out loans” to pay for their necessities.

Further highlighting the class warfare at work during the shutdown, Trump and several of his officials began floating ideas for reducing or eliminating federal employees’ pensions. These anti-worker comments and proposals proved the final nail in the coffin for many workers who may have bought into Trump’s cynical populist campaign message in 2016. It became all too clear that Trump serves the same class and interests that he himself comes from: billionaires, banks and corporations.

Federal workers and the strike weapon

Some liberal journalists and political commentators brought up the idea of a federal employee strike early on, which drew criticism from some labor leaders. Joe Burns, a former negotiator for the Association of Flight Attendants and a prominent labor writer, wrote on the Reviving the Strike Facebook page, “So the New York Times who would never support federal workers’ right to strike, publishes a piece by Barbara Ehrenreich saying federal workers should strike. How about leave it to federal workers to decide and not have them be pawns in the so-called ‘resistance’? I love striking but am sick and tired of folks thinking they can call strikes for other people.”

Burns is right to criticize the out-of-hand suggestion to strike by comfortable liberals without skin in the game. Despite heavy unionization, federal workers have tremendous legal restrictions on their right to organize – restrictions imposed by many of the same politicians these commentators support. They are legally prohibited from striking, and workers who engage in a work stoppage face serious charges and a lifetime ban on federal employment. Federal employee unions cannot bargain over wages and benefits, which are set by Congress, and the Hatch Act severely limits their ability to lobby or engage in any political action.

Leaders of AFGE, including their international president, got arrested protesting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Washington D.C. just a few days before the shutdown ended, but on the whole, the union has resisted calls for more radical action. Part of this comes from the devastating memory of Ronald Reagan busting the air traffic controllers’ strike more than 30 years ago, which signaled a wider employer-led offensive against labor in the 1980s.

But another aspect of AFGE’s reluctance to push back harder comes from internal divisions. Federal unions include law enforcement elements, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who outspokenly favored Trump in 2016 and actually supported the shutdown, despite also working without pay. Many federal employees, because of their proximity to the military industrial complex, tend to hold deep conservative beliefs, and union leadership has avoided challenging the backwards ideas of some members. As a result, some labor leaders saw a real risk that a large part of their membership would refuse to participate in a work stoppage or organized slow-down.

Labor militancy grows

But as the shutdown dragged into its fourth week with no end in sight, more militant voices in organized labor began proposing more drastic action. On January 20, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), Sara Nelson, issued a call for the labor movement to begin discussing a general strike in response to the government shutdown.

“There is a humanitarian crisis unfolding right now for our 800,000 federal sector sisters and brothers who are either locked out of work or forced to come to work without pay due to the government shutdown,” said Nelson at an award ceremony honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “We can end this shutdown together. Federal sector unions have their hands full caring for the 800,000 federal workers who are at the tip of the spear. Some would say the answer is for them to walk off the job. I say, ‘What are you willing to do? Their destiny is tied up with our destiny – and they don’t even have time to ask us for help.’”

Nelson ended her blistering remarks with a call for renewed militancy and solidarity. “What is the labor movement waiting for?” she asked. “Go back with the fierce urgency of now to talk with your locals and international unions about all workers joining together – to end this shutdown with a general strike.”

By January 25, the international president of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), Chris Shelton, pledged something similar. “CWA is ready to pursue every option available,” said Shelton in a press release, “up to and including participating in general strikes involving all working people if necessary: union members and non-union workers exercising their power to help end this damaging and dangerous shutdown.”

Withholding labor stops the shutdown

This growing militancy among many labor leaders set the stage for Trump’s retreat and the end of the shutdown. On January 25, federal workers officially missed their second paycheck since the shutdown began. That day, a critical number of air traffic controllers in Washington D.C. and Jacksonville, Florida called out sick, forcing the FAA to ground flights for 90 minutes. While an unknown number of controllers stayed home in Jacksonville, six of the 13 in the Washington D.C. facility, which handles one-fifth of U.S. commercial flight traffic, called in sick and could not be replaced.

While the air traffic controllers’ union leaders denied organizing a ‘sick-out’, the results proved the staggering power of workers withholding their labor. LaGuardia saw 47 cancelled flights and 580 delays, while Newark saw 40 cancellations and 300 delays. Kennedy Airport also saw 230 delays, and the combined effect was backlogged flights and chaos at airports across the country. It was the airline executives’ worst nightmare come true, which they expressed several times on conference calls with shareholders during the shutdown.

Hours later, the Trump administration bowed to pressure from congressional Republicans and business executives and agreed to end the shutdown. No $6 billion in funding for a wall. No increase in border security. Nothing. It marked the latest humiliating loss for the president, who had previously said he wouldn’t reopen the government without funding for a wall, and it was dealt out by workers.

Summing up the shutdown

Even as liberals tried to credit House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with ending the shutdown – or more ludicrously, the arrest of Trump associate Roger Stone earlier that morning – most media outlets couldn’t deny the decisive role played by labor. But what role was that?

The AFL-CIO put out a statement crediting workers for ending the shutdown, but it made no mention of the critical role of air traffic controllers withholding their labor. Instead, they credited “marching, rallying and protesting together.” That all happened, true, but it made no discernable impact on Trump’s calculus for 35 days. It’s an out-of-touch statement by more conservative labor leaders, like AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, who have generally rejected the strike as a viable weapon for decades, putting their faith in lobbying teams and elections instead.

No one knows precisely the level of organization among those air traffic controllers who didn’t come to work on January 25. It could have occurred, as union leaders claimed, as an inevitable “symptom” of going weeks without pay. But the most important lesson for labor doesn’t require any intent on the part of the absent air traffic controllers: The working class has the power to shut down the country by withholding its labor.

The deal to reopen the federal government restores funding for three weeks, expiring again on February 15. Trump claims that without a $6 billion deal on his border wall, he will shut down the government again. Many federal workers expect this to happen again, and that could mean organized labor faces the same dilemma of the past 35 days.

It will take militant leadership, stronger organization and a recognition of the power held by the working class to beat back Trump’s attacks on labor. The strike is back on the table for hundreds of thousands of workers. Public school teachers in West Virginia, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Arizona and Los Angeles have struck in the last year, with many breaking the law to do it and winning their demands. Charter school teachers in Chicago made history by striking and winning a great contract late last year. Hotel workers have struck to improve industrywide conditions and win recognition.

The shutdown shows us that it’s time for labor’s leaders to embrace the strike and fight back. And if they won’t, it’s time for them to get out of the way of the rank-and-file leaders who will.

Dave Schneider is a union steward for the Teamsters and a rank-and-file UPS worker in Jacksonville, Florida.

#JacksonvilleFL #US #PeoplesStruggles #AirlineIndustry #AFLCIO #FlightAttendants #PublicSectorUnions #governmentShutdown #Strikes #DonaldTrump #AFGE

Washington, DC – 400 people gathered at an international summit in Washington D.C. to oppose the use of drones by the U.S. government. The summit was hosted by Code Pink and featured Medea Benjamin, activist and author of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. Many activists and organizers came to hear experts and share experiences in building the movement against U.S. drone warfare. Many were excited to hear academic and author Cornel West.

People came from as far away as Pakistan and Afghanistan to attend. One panel “View From Yemen” featured an attorney, a politician and a family member whose relatives were killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

Kait McIntyre, a member of the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, presented on their campaign, “No Killer Drone for Boeing,” an effort to stop the Boeing corporation from obtaining the U.S. Navy’s killer drone contract. In the workshop titled “Activism: From Boardrooms to Bases,” McIntyre relayed lessons from the campaign and the Sept. 28-29 Midwest Action Against Drones, the largest U.S. demonstration against drones, that took place outside Boeing headquarters in Chicago.

Holly Kent-Payne, another Anti-War Committee-Chicago member and attendee, was glad to discuss the Anti-War Committee’s campaign and is looking forward to applying what she’s learned to upcoming protests against the Boeing Corporation. “We must continue connecting people’s concerns about school closings, lack of employment and other social issues with demands to end U.S. war.”

Members of the Minnesota-based Anti-War Committee also attended the summit.

#WashingtonDC #DC #AntiwarMovement #AirlineIndustry #KaitMcIntyre #Boing #AntiImperialismDrones #DronesSummit

Bloomington, MN – More than 500 striking flight mechanics and their supporters rallied near the airport here, Sept. 17 to demand a fair contract from Northwest Airlines. In addition to the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) strikers, the rally drew from a cross-section of the local labor movement.

The Northwest Airlines strike is key battle for the workers in the airline industry and the entire working class. Unfortunately, many labor officials refuse to support or, worse yet, are activity opposing the strikers. The vast majority of the labor movement’s rank and file backs the strike, and it’s vital that this strength is brought to bear.

After the rally, a caravan of hundreds of cars blocked the access road that is used to bring in scabs.

#BloomingtonMN #News #AirlineIndustry #AMFA #AMFAStrikeAgainstNorthwestAirlines #NorthwestAirlinesMachinistsStike #Strikes

The list of airline managements seeking or already pocketing concessions is staggering. At first it was airlines on the financial brink such as Delta, United and US Airways that sought take-backs. Then, predictably, management at other carriers began smelling blood and seeking concessions, such as Alaska Airlines management, which is threatening to outsource mechanics jobs and slash thousands from the flight attendant and pilot union contracts. Or Hawaiian Airlines, which, despite earning profits, remains in bankruptcy and is demanding concessions from union workers.

The cuts are devastating. Flight Attendants at US Airways were once among the highest paid in the industry, with solid work rules and vacation practices won through decades of union struggles. Now, after two rounds of concessions, they are at best in the middle of the industry. The number of vacation days were cut almost in half, work rules slashed, pensions taken away, and wages went far below carriers such as Southwest. Under the recently approved US Airways mechanics agreement, almost half the jobs will be contracted out and people remaining will work harder for far less money.

Where does the power of the employer come from? To be sure, the bankruptcy courts have consistently sided with management, gutting contracts and stealing pensions. And the federal government, with the business-dominated National Mediation Board, is hostile to labor. Yet despite these obstacles, given the shaky finances of some of these carriers, even the threat of the strike gives the union the enormous power to force a company out of business.

The Association of Flight Attendants put out a call for a nationwide strike in the event a bankruptcy court voided the union contracts. This call, while militant and followed up by strike votes at several carriers, did not result in any strikes. Why? Because few workers are willing to risk putting an airline in bankruptcy out of business.

The real power of management lies in the fact that workers are competing against themselves – in a race to the bottom that guarantees working people will not win. Here, the lesson is what we have learned before, when the United Food and Commercial Workers led the race to the bottom in meatpacking in the 1980’s and when the United Auto Workers was decimated as locals competed for jobs.

That is why the Association of Flight Attendant’s call for a strike of all airline workers was so refreshing and met which such enthusiasm among frontline fighters throughout the airline industry. The rules of the game are set up for failure. What is called for is industry wide solutions, forcing industry wide standards, and newer and more militant tactics. Just like many times in the past, anti-union courts and politicians may claim these tactics are illegal. But just as in the old mineworker slogan went, “You can’t mine coal with bayonets,” you can’t run the airline industry without airline workers.

It is good that the AFL-CIO’s top officials are finally talking about the urgency of organizing, about streamlining the AFL-CIO, and making the unions more relevant. Ignored for years, these are key elements to restoring labor’s power. But as the example of the highly unionized airline industry shows, density is not enough. At the end of the day, the key question is how can workers win battles that will improve the lives of working people.

#UnitedStates #Analysis #AirlineIndustry #FlightAttendants #concessions

A wave of layoffs and concessions is sweeping the airline industry. Starting with U.S. Airways last fall, airline management began using the bankruptcy courts to blackmail unions into agreeing to massive wage cuts and sweeping work rule changes. The end result of this process, if it is not halted, will be a transfer of billions of dollars from airline workers to the owners of the industry.

The airline industry is one of the most heavily unionized industries in the U.S. Pilots at all of the major carriers and the vast majority of the smaller carriers are organized. Flight attendants are organized at all the major airlines, except at Delta and most of the regional and smaller national airlines. In contrast, the rate of unionization for all private sector workers is just over 8%.

Just a few years ago, airline unions were on the move, fighting to gain ground lost in the 1990’s. Pilots and mechanics were finally racking up wage increases in the double-digit range. Then, a combination of the prolonged recession – when business travel drops and people have less money for vacations – and the downturn in passenger flying following the airplane hijackings in September 2001 shook the industry. According to the Association of Flight Attendants, “the real problem is that $20 billion less in revenue is coming into the United States airline industry today than in 2000.”

The Drive for Concessions

The airlines are taking advantage of this crisis in the industry to try to beat down the unions, which rank among the most powerful unions in the country. The companies have been chomping at the bit to do this for years, frequently proposing legislation to take away the right to strike for airline workers.

Pilots at major airlines such as United Airlines and U.S. Airways have already agreed to pay cuts of 30% or more. Flight attendants, mechanics and other airline workers have taken large concessions at U.S. Airways and United. Other airlines have jumped on the bandwagon as well. Management at Northwest Airlines, American Airlines, Midwest Express and many other airlines are lining up at the trough and demanding concessions from workers.

The unions are faced with bosses who say, “Agree with these concessions or we will go into bankruptcy court and ask that the union contract be thrown out.” And, for the most part, the unions have been going along with the demands. The airline management is acting like management everywhere – the more workers give them, the more that they want. Without a strategy to halt the givebacks, there appears to be no end in sight.

At U.S. Airways, the pilots’ unions had granted management $646 million in concessions per year before the company filed for bankruptcy. Even those massive concessions where not enough for management. As soon as they had them in their pocket, they headed to bankruptcy court to seek to terminate the pilots’ pension plan. That would mean cuts of up to fifty percent in pension benefits that the pilots had already earned.

At United Airlines, the union heads sold concessions to workers by saying it was better to negotiate the cuts than have the bankruptcy court make the cuts. Flight attendants at United agreed to 9% pay cuts before United went into bankruptcy. Now that they are in bankruptcy, United management keeps turning the screws on the workers. They are seeking more concessions and are seeking to spin off 30% of the domestic flying to a low-wage subsidiary. The end result of these concessions is another massive transfer of wealth.

Roots of the Problem

One root of the problem is a system of labor bargaining that ties workers’ fates to the fate of an individual company and the unions’ failure to prevent the development of a two-tier wage system in the industry.

As with other industries in the United States, unions are forced to bargain with an individual company, rather than by industry. That bargaining system ties the workers’ fate to the success or failure of an individual company. It also prevents a class-wide solution to a problem and allows the companies to pick off workers one by one. So, even in relatively democratic unions such as the pilots and flight attendants, workers will vote for concessions rather than see the company go under. If the company goes under and a pilot or flight attendant has to start at a new carrier, they go to the bottom of the seniority list and pay scale. This puts tremendous pressure on even strong unions to agree to concessions.

A related problem has been the development of a two-tier wage system in the industry. In other industries, such as trucking, unionized companies spun off non-union subsidiaries in a process known as double breasting. Then they paid the non-union drivers far less and spun more and more of the work to them.

The airline industry has seen a similar development. Thus, the unionized American Airlines created American Eagle, where flight crews receive lower wages and have looser work rules, even though they are unionized as well. There has also been the development of lower wage regional and national airlines. These are both union, such as Southwest and ATA, and non-union such as Jet Blue. These lower wage competitors are helping to drive the majors into bankruptcy.

Rather than fight against the development of a two-tier wage system, union heads went along with it, negotiating lower wages at the smaller airlines. Beginning in the 1980’s, pilot unions began tying in the wages of pilots to the size of the aircraft. With bigger and bigger planes, that meant pilot wages for the biggest equipment at the major could go well over $200,000 per year, plus multiple pension plans. At the same time, pilots and flight attendants at the regional airlines could be making $15,000 per year. With such a disparity of labor costs, the high wage airlines over the long run were bound to run into trouble.

Short-term Fight-back and Long-term Strategy Needed

Faced with an employer onslaught towards concessions, an anti-concessions movement is desperately needed in the airline industry. Such a movement would argue against all concessions and advocate class-wide approaches to the attacks. While workers and unions at certain airlines may still agree to concessions, the companies would only get them after a fight. And at many airlines where management is jumping on the concession bandwagon, the take backs can be defeated.

In the longer term, the airline unions, as well as unions in every sector, must develop a strategy to break out of the rigid rules bargaining courts and politicians have straightjacketed unions with. Otherwise, weak unions, fighting company by company, will continue to face permanent replacements, threats of bankruptcy and relocations, and the resulting weak contracts. To do so will take intense class struggle and engaging in activities ruled illegal by the courts, with a goal of establishing solid industry-wide agreements. The current state of class conciousness in the industry and among the leadership of the unions is such that this approach will not be adopted in the short run. However, once a broad section of the advanced workers and progressive staff in the industry are won over to the necessity of a strategy, the battle will be half won.

#UnitedStates #Analysis #AirlineIndustry

Rank and file activists within the union have mobilized the membership to vote down concessionary contracts. Northwest and sell-outs in the top Teamster leadership want this to stop. Rank and file activists believe their efforts are the target of Northwest's lawsuit. Bureaucrats, loyal to Teamster International President Hoffa, have been inactive in face of the computer seizures.

At Northwest Airlines, management has tried everything under the sun in order to ram a bad contract down the throats of flight attendants. The company and the union have been negotiating on-and-off for a contract since 1996. Last summer, in a matter of hours after receiving the proposal from the negotiating committee, workers looked at it and decided the contract proposal was a give-away.

With contract negotiations under way again, the computer seizure might not have the intended affect. Many workers are furious at NWA's attack on their rights

Northwest has fired a number of workers in this run up to negotiations, placing rank and file activists in a tough spot. Billie Davenport, Local 2000 President, has said that the jobs of the activists will be regained through the contract negotiations. This puts a damper on the level of resistance rank and file activists can take up if the contract is bad.

Northwest workers have made it clear that they will settle for nothing short of a decent contract. If the negotiating team offers up another concessionary contract, be sure that the rank and file will mobilize to defeat it.

#MinneapolisMN #News #AirlineIndustry #NorthwestAirlines #FlightAttendants #TeamstersLocal2000

The Northwest Airlines flight attendants have been attempting to negotiate a new contract for over three years.

Under past president Ron Carey, the International Union provided the flight attendants with resources and personnel to help generate effective rank and file activity.

For the first time, energized and involved members participated in a contract campaign. Contract Action Teams, or CATs, brought hundreds of rank and file members throughout Northwest's far-flung bases together for public actions. These rallies built support for their struggle in the labor movement and among the public.

When Jim Hoffa, Jr., took office this January, one of the first things he did was to fire the CAT coordinators from the International, and hire his lawyer pals to bring 'expertise' to contract negotiations. Reports are that on September 17, the Local 2000 executive board voted 3-4 to get rid of the CAT's.

Hoffa Jr., spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on videos and slick propaganda trying to force the settlement on workers. He failed.

Local 2000

The leadership of flight attendants, Local 2000, was elected two years ago, in the midst of a member upsurge against old guard leaders. But since Hoffa Jr., gained control of the International and undercut the negotiations, some of the local executive board officers have drifted away from the members.

Hoffa Jr., had wanted the ballots counted at the Teamster headquarters in Washington, D.C. Reformers remaining on the e-board forced this contract ballot to be counted with membership oversight at local union bases.

The rank and file opposed this contract, based on betrayal by NWA management. Workers made painful sacrifices to keep the company afloat after a leveraged buyout in the late 80s by financiers Al Checci and Gary Wilson. As the airline returned to a profitable status, corporate thieves took tens of millions of dollars in bonuses and stock options, and refused to give workers a decent raise.

Proposed pensions under the rejected contract would have risen, but too little, and work rules, like the one that pays attendants only for flight hours, not for boarding and delayed flights, would have remained in place.

Last summer's successful pilots' strike, which brought airline management to their knees, resulted in a fair contract for the pilots. Now, other employee groups need to fight for their contracts.

Following rejection of the proposed flight attendant settlement, rank and file activists are gearing up to pressure management, the International Union, and their own local leadership for a fair contract. Major selective disruptions of NWA flight operations are a real possibility in the near future.

#MinneapolisMN #News #AirlineIndustry #NorthwestAirlines #FlightAttendants #TeamstersLocal2000

Minneapolis, MN – A major victory for labor occurred when pilots at Northwest Airlines returned to work after winning significant pay and job security increases during an 18-day strike. Northwest Airlines ceased all flights on August 28, when 6,000 pilots shut down the carrier.

The strike came after 22 months of unsuccessful negotiations by all 6 unions representing close to 50,000 NWA workers. The Air Line Pilots' Association (ALPA), International Association of Machinists (IAM), and Teamsters represent the vast majority of employees at Northwest. An executive council representing all unions at the airline was formed early in the negotiating process to coordinate activities of all the unions. Not one pilot crossed the picket line.

Prior to the strike, NWA management refused to meet worker demands for pay increases and job security. Huge pay concessions by employees in the early 1990s saved the airline from bankruptcy after a leveraged buyout by corporate financiers Al Checci and Gary Wilson. In the years following the 1993 worker wage givebacks, NWA executives took huge bonus payments and cashed in multi-million dollar stock options as the airline turned in its highest profits in history. Workers believed that as their old contracts expired, they too would be rewarded for their years of sacrifices.

Instead, nearly two years went by in fruitless negotiations, as management proposed “cost-saving” measures that threatened the jobs of all union workers with outsourcing, and refused to take seriously union demands for compensation increases. A key issue was Northwest's intention to use new regional jets to replace DC-9s flown by Northwest crews. The regional jets are operated by Northwest Airlink, one of two regional carriers financed by Northwest, but not operated by Northwest personnel.

Pilots believed more Northwest routes would be served by the underpaid Airlink crews unless the company agreed to union proposals for maintaining Northwest crews and equipment on routes. Teamster flight attendants are also directly affected by this issue. The settlement reached by the pilots guarantees that routes currently flown by Northwest crews will not be shifted to Airlink, and that new routes served by Airlink will be linked to expanding Northwest-crewed routes.

Northwest management openly called for presidential intervention to bail them out of the strike. President Clinton is empowered by the National Railway Labor Act, under which airlines operate, to order pilots back to work for a 60-day “cooling off” period. The unions opposed government meddling, fearing a settlement favorable to management would be imposed. Political pressure by the union kept Clinton from ordering the pilots back to work.

The successful outcome of the pilots strike may help the remaining unions in their negotiations, although a strike by the Machinists or Teamsters remains a distinct possibility. Prior to the pilots strike, the Machinists leadership recommended a contract that the membership overwhelmingly rejected.

Teamster solidarity was high throughout the strike. Local 2000, the national local representing 10,000 flight attendants, has organized a member-oriented contract campaign along the lines of the UPS strike organizing. Contract Action Teams, or CATs, are active at each city where workers live, and coordinate national days of action. This higher level of activity by flight attendants is the result of actions by their newly elected, pro-reform leadership. Northwest management tried to minimize the public impact of the flight attendants by banning them from having rallies on airport grounds.

The determination of the pilots to stand up to an aggressive and hostile management has resulted in a real victory. The outcome has implications for the future of the airline industry, which was contemplating a rapid erosion of wages and benefits in the name of competition. Instead, the pressure will be for better pay for the employees who make air travel safe and professional.

#MinneapolisMN #News #AirlineIndustry #NorthwestAirlines #PilotStrike

Solidarity with Immigrant Workers

One resolution called for AFSCME Council 5 to actively support the immigrant rights movement. While this resolution passed, it was the only one out of the 21 resolutions presented at the convention that aroused any debate and that some delegates voted against. The 20 other resolutions were all approved unanimously. About three quarters of the delegates voted in favor of the immigrant rights resolution, the Council 5 Executive Board supported it and one of the Chair Officers spoke strongly in favor of it.

But a quarter of the delegates voted against the immigrant rights resolution. This shows why it is so important to bring forward such resolutions, to bring the debate about immigrant rights out into the open in the labor movement. It is important to have the discussion openly, to try to convince those that disagree that this is about solidarity, and that immigrant workers’ fight for legalization and full equality is the fight of all workers.

The immigrant rights resolution that was passed at the Council 5 convention is one of the more progressive immigrant rights positions taken by a union in the U.S. Some unions have played a fairly bad role at the national level, such as SEIU, by supporting the ‘compromise’ Kennedy-McCain bill. This bill would create a massive second-class guest worker program, a three-tier program that would call for the immediate deportation of the millions of immigrant workers who have been here less than two years, impose a highly restrictive process that would exclude the majority of immigrant workers and a system where it would take more than ten years for the few who do qualify to get any sort of legal status.

The resolution passed at the AFSCME Council 5 convention is better than this. The resolution was modeled on the resolution passed at the AFSCME International Convention in August, but is more concise. It clearly comes out in favor of legalization, against expanded guest worker programs, and against ‘enforcement-only’ and ‘enforcement-first’ policies. It also states clearly that AFSCME is against NAFTA-style free trade agreements. The resolution calls on Council 5 and on locals within the Council to actively support and participate in the immigrant rights movement. It also commits AFSCME Council 5 to work against anti-immigrant legislation at the state level. The passage of this resolution was made possible by the generally progressive resolution that was passed at the AFSCME International Convention. It is significant that AFSCME Minnesota has taken a position against expanding guest worker programs as well as against enforcement-first or enforcement-only policies. This resolution puts AFSCME against all the main existing legislative proposals, from the Sensenbrenner bill to the ‘compromise’ proposals that Bush supports, which include vastly expanded guest worker programs and vast new walls and more troops on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Solidarity with Flight Attendants at Northwest Airlines

The other important resolution that was passed was a resolution in support of the flight attendants at Northwest Airlines, who are in the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union. They are in a sharp battle with Northwest Airlines, who is trying to block the flight attendants’ right to strike – saying that since Northwest is in bankruptcy the workers should not be allowed to strike. Northwest has imposed a contract on the flight attendants with 40% wage cuts and other concessions. The flight attendants have voted to reject the proposed contract twice.

This resolution called on AFSCME Council 5 to support the flight attendants in their struggle, to mobilize for their rallies, as well as to take up a collection at the convention for the flight attendants’ strike fund. Over $2100 was collected from delegates on the floor of the convention and then the convention voted to have the Council 5 Executive Board match that amount, doubling the contribution to over $4200.

Camilla Wolkerstorfer, Interim President of Council 95 of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, was a guest at the convention and spoke about their struggle with Northwest Airlines. She received standing ovations, and she was brought to tears when they announced the amount of money collected at the convention.

Both of these resolutions represented a broad-minded spirit of solidarity with all workers who are struggling for their rights. This kind of solidarity – with mostly unorganized immigrant workers and with flight attendants taking on a vicious anti-union corporation here in Minnesota – is key to revitalizing the labor movement.

#BloomingtonMN #ImmigrantRights #News #AirlineIndustry #FlightAttendants #immigrantWorkers #AFSCMECouncil5

AMFA National Director O.V. Delle-Femine said of the rejection vote, “This is a victory for AMFA members and for unionism. Our striking members refused to bow down to Northwest’s arrogant, self-enriching management and will continue the strike against this renegade, union-busting airline.” He also noted that the failure of other unions at Northwest to back AMFA emboldened the corporation to try to extract huge concessions from pilots, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and flight attendants.

Northwest Airlines is currently in bankruptcy proceedings and, like other airline corporations, is using the courts as weapons against airline unions.

The period ahead will be challenging for all Northwest workers. Many rank-and-file Northwest workers have voiced support for AMFA and some have refused to cross AMFA picket lines. This is despite the lack of solidarity, and in some cases outright hostility, shown by the leadership of the IAM and others. AMFA has made it clear that it supports the fight of all other unions in their battles with Northwest.

The courage and determination shown by AMFA serves as a positive example for Northwest workers in particular and the labor movement in general.

#MinneapolisMN #News #AirlineIndustry #AMFAStrikeAgainstNorthwestAirlines #AircraftMechanicsFraternalAssociationAMFALocal33 #NorthwestAirlinesMachinistsStrike #Strikes

Bloomington, MN – More than 800 aircraft mechanics and their supporters rallied here Nov. 19, expressing their determination to continue the fight against Northwest Airlines. Members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) have been on strike since Aug. 19. They rejected an NWA contract proposal that would have eliminated 53% of the mechanics’ jobs and given the remaining workers wage cuts. Since August, the contract proposals of NWA have gotten worse and the company has hired permanent replacement workers – scabs.

At the Bloomington rally a standing ovation was given to NWA workers in other unions who have refused to cross the picket lines. Phyllis Walker of AFSCME Local 3800 thanked the strikers for standing up to corporate greed, and by doing so defending the interests of all workers. Other speakers included the heads of other AMFA locals, high school students who are members of Youth Against War and Racism and Ray Rogers, director of Corporate Campaign, Inc.

#BloomingtonMN #News #AirlineIndustry #AMFAStrikeAgainstNorthwestAirlines #AircraftMechanicsFraternalAssociationAMFALocal33 #NorthwestAirlinesMachinistsStrike #Strikes

Duluth, MN – The 4400 workers on strike against Northwest have received almost no support from other unions at Northwest or from the national union federations (AFL-CIO and Unite to Win). Scandalously, the strikers are being left to fight on their own without vital support and resources that the labor movement could bring to bear.

At the statewide convention of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 5, Oct. 6-8 in Duluth, some union activists tried to change that. AFSCME Local 3800, the clerical workers’ union at the University of Minnesota, brought forward a resolution to support the Northwest strikers from the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA). It called on AFSCME Council 5 to publicly support the strike and donate to AMFA’s strike fund. Asked why they brought this resolution forward, AFSCME 3800 delegate Stef Yorek said, “Northwest is out to destroy their workers’ unions. These workers have fought back against incredible odds. It’s criminal that almost no unions are supporting them.”

Council 5 officials went all out to defeat support for the Northwest strike. They organized a campaign to vilify AMFA. They tried to change the issue from solidarity with workers on strike to a debate about the history of AMFA. Convention delegates were given copies of a letter from an International Association of Machinists official wildly attacking AMFA. The Council 5 Executive Board made it clear that top officials would oppose any support for the Northwest strikers. In the floor debate on the resolution, one anti-solidarity speaker went so far as to compare support for the AMFA-led strike to date rape!

They hate AMFA because AMFA is independent and has grown by ‘raiding’ AFL-CIO unions, particularly units represented by the International Association of Machinists (IAM). The Northwest mechanics used to be IAM members but voted in 2000 to switch to AMFA. The IAM officials have bitterly attacked them ever since. It’s true that AMFA made their appeal to the mechanics on a narrow craft basis tinged with elitism. But it’s also true that the workers had good reasons to throw the former IAM leadership out.

Resolution Defeated but Solidarity Grows

Delegates from four AFSCME locals spoke in favor of the resolution. But that wasn’t enough to overcome the Council leadership’s opposition.

Lynn Stetler, a delegate from AFSCME 2822, whose husband is a striking Northwest mechanic, said, “I’m incredibly disappointed by how it turned out. I supported the resolution because it’s about solidarity. We’re supposed to be united in this brother and sisterhood that seems to have been forgotten when it comes to dealing with AMFA. It really is a matter of principle, the age old quote that an injury to one is an injury to all.”

Though the resolution lost, a real debate happened and those who opposed it were forced to publicly defend their anti-solidarity position. Some delegates tried to take a middle ground, saying they felt sympathy for the strikers but opposed giving money to AMFA. They had been convinced the vote was about whether they liked AMFA or not.

According to AFSCME 3800 delegate Brad Sigal, “AMFA isn’t the issue – the issue is solidarity with workers on strike against a union-busting employer. We wanted official support and money from our union for the strikers. It became clear that would be defeated due to opposition from Council officials, so an amendment was made to just take up a voluntary donation for the strikers from delegates on convention floor. Incredibly, they even opposed that. We won’t forget this. We’ll continue to fight to make our union truly stand for solidarity.”

#DuluthMN #AirlineIndustry #AMFAStrikeAgainstNorthwestAirlines #AFSCMECouncil5 #AircraftMechanicsFraternalAssociationAMFALocal33 #NorthwestAirlinesMachinistsStrike

Minneapolis, MN – Hundreds of striking Northwest Airline mechanics and their supporters converged Sept. 1 on the hotels where strikebreakers are being housed. Buses chartered by NWA were stopped and the scabs missed their shift at the airport.

At the Holiday Inn in Minneapolis, Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) leaders held a press conference in front of a blocked bus. President of AMFA Local 33, Ted Ludwig, announced that the scabs would not be coming to work today. Chants of, “Scabs go home!” rang off the walls of the hotel.

More actions are planned for the coming weeks.

#MinneapolisMN #News #AirlineIndustry #AMFAStrikeAgainstNorthwestAirlines #scabs #AircraftMechanicsFraternalAssociationAMFALocal33 #NorthwestAirlinesMachinistsStrike #Strikes

Fight Back! interviewed Ted Ludwig, president of Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) Local 33, the union that is leading the strike against Northwest Airlines.

Fight Back! : What does Northwest Airlines want? Why was it necessary for mechanics to strike?

Ted Ludwig: NWA is asking us to commit suicide as an organization. They want to reduce our ranks by 53% – on top of the 50% they have already reduced us by over the last two years. The remaining 47% of workers would be required to take a 25% pay cut and pay more for medical benefits. They also want us to wipe out complete classifications of our ranks – cleaners, custodians and plant maintenance. To top it all off, NWA offered to protect 75% of the remaining workers, who are under 25% pay reductions, until they retire. At that point, NWA would not fill their position, but farm that much more work out. So within ten years, there would be no more AMFA at NWA. As you can see, every aspect of their negotiations has been geared to bust our union. Why are they so afraid of us?

Fight Back!: Some in organized labor are hostile towards AMFA because mechanics and cleaners at Northwest left the IAM [International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers] and the AFL-CIO. What would you like to say about their complaints?

Ted Ludwig: I do not know why other unions are hostile at AMFA for leaving the IAM, other than politics. I have heard many reports of AMFA raiding the IAM. To me that insinuates that we were forced to switch, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. We had a democratic election where the majority of our members voted to join AMFA. It was real simple. Why would anyone be hostile at someone for exercising their right to vote? To me, this hostility toward other union members is the worst thing that can ever happen to labor and I am disgusted with it.

Fight Back! : Why is the strike at Northwest Airlines so important for the airline workers and for all of organized labor?

Ted Ludwig: If a company is successful in breaking a union, why wouldn’t every other company want to give it a try? In my opinion, NWA is making an example out of our group to show the rest of the workers here not to step out of line. Now more then ever, the NWA workers need to step out of line and be counted. Whether or not you like other unions or not, we either stand together for all workers, or NWA will pick us off one at a time.

#Interview #Interviews #AirlineIndustry #AMFAStrikeAgainstNorthwestAirlines #AircraftMechanicsFraternalAssociationAMFALocal33 #NorthwestAirlinesMachinistsStrike #TedLudwig #Strikes

Minneapolis, MN – More than 200 public employees, Aircraft mechanics and other workers rallied here, August 30, to support the strike at Northwest Airlines. Initiated by AFSCME Local 3800, the clerical workers union at the University of Minnesota, the protest targeted scabs who are housed near campus. A large number of the participants were members of AMFA, the union of striking airline mechanics.

The strike is entering its second week. No negotiations are scheduled. Northwest is trying to destroy AMFA. Phyllis Walker, the president of AFSCME 3800 told the rally that the fight of AMFA is the fight of workers everywhere, and it is vital that the labor movement supports this battle.

#MinneapolisMN #News #AirlineIndustry #AMFAStrikeAgainstNorthwestAirlines #NorthwestAirlinesMachinistsStike #Strikes

Bloomington, MN – Thousands of striking Northwest Airlines workers and their supporters rallied across from the Northwest hangar at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International airport, Aug. 27. They rallied to support the strike of 4,400 mechanics, cleaners and custodians who are members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) Local 33. The strike began on Aug. 19 in response to Northwest’s proposal to lay off 53% of AMFA mechanics – and to sock the remaining workers with a wage cut of more than 25%.

This strike is turning into one of the biggest labor battles of the decade. The blatant union-busting tactics of Northwest Airlines have polarized the state. Corporate executives at other airlines are watching closely to see if Northwest’s tactics work in dividing the workers and busting the union.

On the other hand, the courage of AMFA Local 33 members in standing up to Northwest has galvanized progressive working class sentiment. People have been waiting for someone to stand up and fight back after airline unions have continued to accept round after round of deep concessions.

The big business media has harped on prior conflicts between AMFA and other unions at Northwest, like the International Association of Machinists. They have tried to convince the public that there is little support for AMFA’s strike, based on the fact that a few bureaucratic union ‘leaders’ hold a grudge against AFMA.

But the rally showed the broad support the striking workers have in the Twin Cities community and in the labor movement.

Many Northwest flight attendants were at the rally in uniform and the flight attendants’ union president spoke at the rally. A flight attendant who was fired this week for refusing to cross the AMFA picket line spoke at the rally and called on other flight attendants to join AMFA’s picket lines. Likewise, Northwest baggage handler Kip Hedges has refused to cross the picket lines and pledged to continue to organize solidarity among other Northwest workers.

It was announced at the rally that AFSCME unions at the University of Minnesota are organizing a rally to support the striking workers Aug. 30 at the University Radisson Hotel, where some of the scab workers are being housed.

Many political candidates from the Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) party and the Green Party spoke at the rally. The presence of so many political candidates at the rally showed that they perceive that there is popular support for the striking workers, even though top labor leaders have remained conspicuously silent and absent from this major labor battle.

AMFA Local 33 President Ted Ludwig said that so far none of their members have crossed the picket line. He quoted from a leader of the historic 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters strike in his speech, driving home that this strike is historic and that more than the usual strike tactics will be needed to defeat Northwest’s determined union-busting plan.

#BloomingtonMN #News #AirlineIndustry #AMFAStrikeAgainstNorthwestAirlines #AircraftMechanicsFraternalAssociationAMFALocal33 #NorthwestAirlinesMachinistsStike #Strikes

Flight attendants at Midwest Express airlines have been trying to get a union contract for years. First, they fought against management's vicious anti-union campaign. Then, they spent three years negotiating for a contract.

Just after Sept. 11, 2001, Midwest Express pulled its wage proposal off of the bargaining table and told the union that they would only get only what the other employees got. Management received millions of dollars from the money that Congress gave to the airlines. None of that money went to the workers at Midwest Express or at any other airline. The executives kept it all. Instead, Midwest Express management slashed the workers' retirement plan and stopped any pay increases for workers not covered by a union contract.

In the airline industry, the government – not the workers – decides when the workers can strike. Right before Labor Day, six months after the union requested to be released from negotiations, the government finally said the union could strike.

The flight attendants were smart. They knew that the law and the government favored the bosses. In this country, there is no real 'right to strike' because police will protect the company and allow the company to replace strikers with scabs. The workers knew that if they all walked out at once, management would place want ads, hire scabs and bust the union. So rather than conduct an all-out strike, the flight attendants used a strategy called 'Create Havoc Around Our System' – CHAOS.

In a CHAOS strike, the union controls the timing and location of the strike. The union announced to management that they could strike any flights, at any time, without notice. The flight attendants at Alaska Airlines successfully used the CHAOS strategy in the early 1990's.

To run a CHAOS strike, you need lots of membership participation and activity. Beginning in July, the union held at least three events per week, including picketing, leafleting at the airport, and major rallies. Beginning a couple of weeks before the strike deadline of Labor Day weekend, the union began daily events. Flight attendants all wore green ribbons in support of the union.

A few hours before the strike deadline, management's negotiating team dropped a crappy proposal in the union's lap and said, “Take it or leave it. This is our final offer.” The union said, “leave it” and went on strike.

Management got nasty very fast. They changed work rules, changed flight attendants' schedules, cancelled vacations without notice, and tried to make life as difficult as they could. They hired scabs and threatened to fire any flight attendant who walked off on strike.

But the flight attendants fought back and stood strong. It's not easy to walk off a flight, with only your three co-workers, in the face of threats from management to fire you. But hundreds of flight attendants wore green tags that said “Geared Up To Strike” – GUTS – and volunteered to be the first to strike.

When management started training supervisors as scabs, the union was out there in full force picketing. Union members carried “scab clickers” around the airport and clicked when they saw scabs. When management said flight attendants could not write in green ink (to go with the green solidarity ribbons and green GUTS tags) as they were doing, the attack of the green dots began. Green dots were put on all reports. Union supporters in Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Chicago leafleted at the banks that financed Midwest Express, saying, “Quit financing union busters!”

And, most important of all, the CHAOS strike cost the company millions of dollars in lost bookings. The strike was the main story in Milwaukee for weeks. Passengers interviewed by the media said they were worried they were not going to get home. Management ran themselves ragged trying to guess when the union would strike a flight. If workers went out for a smoke between flights, management would rush in because they thought there was a strike. If the union picketed in Los Angeles, the rumor would spread that the strike would hit L.A. that day.

After three weeks of CHAOS, the union was able to get an agreement for the members to vote on – one that was way better than management's 'final offer.' And they did it without even having to walk off of a flight. The union members are voting on the proposal now.

#MilwaukeeWI #News #AirlineIndustry #CHAOS #GearedUpToStrike #FlightAttendants