Flight Attendants Prepare for Strike

US Airways flight attendants are preparing to strike if their wages are cut by the bankruptcy court. Similar strikes are planned against United Airlines and ATA. With all three of these companies on seriously unstable ground this could force one or more of the companies out of business. The three are barely hanging on by a thread.

"Flight attendants at bankrupt US Airways Group Inc. are gearing up for a possible nationwide strike, the Association of Flight Attendants said on Friday."

www.cnn.com...

For those of you that don't realize it this strike could prove to be one of the costliest in history in the long term. Flight attendants going on strike alone isn't that big of a deal. But you are looking at 3 of the nation's top 10 airlines that are targeted. Each of the 3 has a foot in the grave. If these airlines fail it will have a dramatic and immediate impact on the cities of Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Charlotte. The next to be hit will be the travelers who will face extensive delays as passengers are rerouted to working airlines and ticket prices will soar. It won't be quite as bad as during the time when airlines were regulated but it will be close.

It takes a special kind of union to protest wage cuts ordered by a federal bankruptcy court. Seems like they're bluffing to me, but I'll assume they are not.

Of course, they won't be able to take full credit for the inevitable closures, pink slips and sell-off of assets, since airlines have never been an easy business to run, and in the days of modern terrorism, it hasn't gotten any easier. The rise in fuel prices might have already been enough to do these companies in, as it is.

Oh well, when the airlines fail, at least the flght attendants can claim the bragging rights for putting a final nail in the coffin, if not for driving them out of business single-handedly. I'm sure that will look impressive on the resum�.

Let's see how well future negotiations proceed between the unions and the federal bankruptcy court.

[edit on 11/26/2004 by Majic]

I don't have much respect for airlines like AA and ATA that try to get their employees to take pay cuts and then turn around and offer bonuses to executives. ATA has just recently tried to pull that stunt. I guess they felt they needed to pull a page out of the AA play book.

[sarcasm] Well, at least those Flight Attendants have appropriate skills to make the transition to the food service industry quite easily, and most resturants don't even have pillows. [/sarcasm]

If you can't tell, I have no sympathy for Unions that help destroy the industries they are supposed to be working for.

Biggest problem historically in the Airline industry is that while Unions are giving back under threat of closures and bankruptcies, Upper Management constantly gives itself major bonuses every time they get concessions from labor. They hire 'transition' executives when they make changes and the management team expands as the 'temporary' management is folded into the management group. The real game is GREED and cronyism, if noone understands that Capitalism is based on greed and cronyism then they have been asleep at the wheel.