Sick Calls Ground Alaska Airlines Flights
Alaska Airlines canceled 26 West Coast flights Friday when an unusually high number of ticket agents and baggage handlers called in sick.
Because of the sick calls, Alaska scrapped talks that were scheduled Friday with a ticket agents union in Seattle, said airline spokesman Jack Evans.
He described the incident as an illegal job action and said a sickout would violate contracts with the Seattle-based airline. Evans said he had no idea how long it would continue.
The grounded flights mostly served Portland, Ore., Phoenix, San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. Las Vegas and Reno also were affected, Evans said.
A spokeswoman for the International Assn. of Machinists Air Transport Workers District 143 in Minneapolis said the union does not condone a sickout.
“We weren’t aware this was going to happen, if it’s a grass-roots action,” said the union’s Mary Beth Christensen.
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