Workers Need Incentive

TWA corporate communication officer W. S. Brown’s letter to The Times (“Others Accepted Cuts,” May 4) listed the concessions of the predominantly male labor groups, but neglected to mention that the Independent Federation of Flight Attendants would be required by TWA to give up three times as much as the machinists or the non-contract employees.

Brown calls us the “odd man out,” a curious turn of phrase for a group which is 85% women. No, W. S. Brown, we are not “odd men out.” We are determined women in conflict with Carl Icahn’s sexist, discriminatory attitude which may indeed affect TWA for years to come.

Brown never mentions that we have offered concessions from the very beginning, to match the machinists. The IFFA offered Icahn the same 15% concessions he got from the machinists, and recent independent analysis has valued those concessions at more than $72 million. But TWA is going for greed, not need. We have been trying to get a contract from TWA for nearly two years, but the company has never negotiated in good faith.

Corporations have no corner on the incentive system. Employees have the right to make a decent wage, a fair return on their labor. The profit motive cuts both ways. If our return on our labor is not profitable, the quality of labor will decline; you can bet on that! What TWA desperately needs, and has needed for some time, is management that doesn’t waste millions on such things as golden parachutes, enormous payoffs to corporate raiders, and unnecessary and expensive labor strikes. Then it wouldn’t have to risk its future by destroying employee incentive and morale.

NANCY L. HUBERTH

IFFA Information Representative