union

Tag Archives for union.

Republicans Are Signing Onto The Airline Payroll Bailout Scam

by Gary Leff on August 5, 2020

Aug 05 2020

Sixteen Senate Republicans have signed onto a proposal for a second airline payroll bailout. The measure, which would give U.S. carriers a second $25 billion injection, likely has enough votes to pass – but that doesn’t mean it’ll be in the next coronavirus relief package.

The stock market response to the news shows this is really a subsidy for airline owners. Meanwhile the funding is unnecessary, too late, and too much money to address the stated desire to protect workers.

Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant Fired After Criticizing Union President’s Support For Abortion (‘Harassment’)

by Gary Leff on July 19, 2020

Jul 19 2020

Unions take political positions their members disagree with all the time. And members should feel free to communicate with their union leadership over those disagreements. It’s fair to proscribe the time, place and manner for those disagreements – but shocking for a union President to secure for the firing of a union member over an internal union matter.

Did The Head Of Lufthansa’s Flight Attendants Union Demand €1mm Bribe To Agree To Job Cuts?

by Gary Leff on June 22, 2020

Jun 22 2020

Germany’s Die Welt is reporting that the head of Lufthansa’s cabin crew union demanded “one million euros from Lufthansa” to agree to “job losses and reduced pay” for members as part of the airline’s restructuring and bailout.

The union, for its part, denies these claims as it fights to minimize the thousands of jobs that are expected to be lost at Lufthansa.

American’s Flight Attendants Union Sticks It To Its Junior Members

by Gary Leff on April 7, 2020

Apr 07 2020

When current American Airlines management ran US Airways they were notorious for bad labor relations. They never managed to get a single pilot contract for America West and US Airways pilots, so never completed the merger. Instead they sat back and benefited from lower wages as the two pilots groups fought against each other.

Now American’s flight attendants may wind up fighting against each other, as two classes of employees within the union are treated very differently. This, as the flight attendants are ostensibly in new contract negotiations with the airline and as there’s a move afoot to dump the current Association of Professional Flight Attendants with the Association of Flight Attendants-Communications Workers Of America.

Shameful: Flight Attendants Union Head Politicizing Coronavirus

by Gary Leff on March 8, 2020

Mar 08 2020

Sara Nelson is President of the AFA-CWA, flight attendants union with 50,000 members and part of the national Communications Workers of America. She’s an activist in the left wing of the Democratic Party, a Bernie Sanders supporter, and has been called ‘the most powerful flight attendant in America’ as a rising star in the labor movement.

American Reaches Tentative Agreement With Its Mechanics

by Gary Leff on January 30, 2020

Jan 30 2020

Since no joint contract had been achieved, each work group kept their own separate work and the airline’s 2013 merger still isn’t complete. 2019 was a long, hot summer with the airline’s operations melting down amidst a work slowdown by mechanics.

So what did American agree to? The details are still being worked through, and comparisons to existing deals will need to be made, but roughly it appears…

The American Airlines Flight Attendants Union Is Cracking Up

by Gary Leff on December 1, 2019

Dec 01 2019

The battling between American’s independent APFA union and the stalking horse of the national AFA reminds me of Monty Python’s Life of Brian. They’ve seemed to have forgotten they’re supposed to be fighting the Romans (American Airlines management).

The union needs to be building a war chest for its negotiations. Instead they’re cutting costs like accounting systems that allow for electronic expense reports. They’re keeping higher union leadership pay. And they won’t go to the membership for a dues increase – fearing that would put them out on the streets.

New Push to Unionize Delta Flight Attendants

by Gary Leff on November 5, 2019

Nov 05 2019

CEOs of American and United are pumping their fists in the air with news that the Association of Flight-Attendants-CWA has launched an effort to unionize Delta flight attendants. Finally, they’re thinking, their more profitable competitor may be saddled with the same onerous work rules that United and American face – and perhaps the better service flight attendants provide will go away in the long run, too.

Delta flight attendants can choose a union, with the costs and job protections that provides. However they can expect profit sharing to fall, the raises they’re getting without negotiation to go away. They won’t keep these things because the higher cost of unionization will trade off with wages (the value of the wage can’t exceed the value of marginal product) and because Delta will have to signal to mechanics that unionization doesn’t deliver benefits.

Why Aren’t Flight Attendant Jobs Glamorous Anymore?

by Gary Leff on August 29, 2019

Aug 29 2019

Deregulation has meant more people have access to the skies thanks to lower prices (the government used to mandate high prices most people couldn’t afford). Flying has become more small-d democratic. Without government protection for airlines wages haven’t grown.

Working as a pilot was once glamorous, but the relative status of pilots has fared (somewhat) better than flight attendants. Some of the same effects have influenced the way we regard pilots today versus 40 years ago, although there are additional factors that have made serving as a flight attendant fall in status even more than flying up front.

American Sues Its Mechanics Again, This Time Seeking Damages

by Gary Leff on August 13, 2019

Aug 13 2019

Airline CEO Doug Parker says he wears a wrist band “that says CECFTM, which is a terrible acronym because it doesn’t say anything, but it stands for Create an Environment that Cares for our Frontline Team Members. That’s what our mission is. Every day one of our officers sends a note to other officers about what they did that day to create an environment that cares for frontline team members.”

On Tuesday what they did is sue their employees again.