US Airways, Union Keep Talking Past Strike Deadline
Bargainers for US Airways and the Assn. of Flight Attendants negotiated past a midnight strike deadline into the early hours today in an attempt to avert a walkout against the nation’s sixth-largest air carrier.
“The two sides are at the bargaining table and have agreed to extend talks,” said union spokesman Scott Treibitz.
At airports across the country, including Los Angeles International, US Airways attendants held candlelight vigils.
US Airways Group Inc. maintained its vow to shut down in the event of a walkout by its flight attendants, but union officials reported some progress in last-minute contract talks.
“We’ve been able to settle a large number of issues, mostly the smaller issues, but the larger issues of pay and pension remain unresolved,” said Pat Friend, president of the Assn. of Flight Attendants.
US Airways, based in Arlington, Va., operates in 38 states, but its service is mostly concentrated in the East. Its hub airports are in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C.
Relative to other major airlines, a shutdown of US Airways would have a minimal impact on California travelers. The carrier has about 1,840 daily departures worldwide but only 16 at Los Angeles International Airport, 12 in San Francisco and five in San Diego. At LAX, US Airways handles about 2% of the airport’s annual passenger traffic.
Also, many other U.S. airlines have contingency plans in place to accommodate US Airways customers in the event of a shutdown, subject to seating availability.
US Airways’ 10,000 flight attendants are not planning a mass walkout if the contract talks fail, but instead are threatening to stage unannounced, sporadic work stoppages on individual flights or specific routes.
The AFA’s Friend, flanked by some US Airways flight attendants, told a news conference earlier Friday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that the union was still preparing for the possibility of a walkout.
“We are not happy to be here, but we believe this is the only way we will get an agreement,” Friend said.
In response, the airline plans to cease operations to spare its customers the confusion and inconvenience of the attendants’ actions, even though a shutdown could cost US Airways about $27 million a day in lost revenue, according to some Wall Street analysts.
“We understand the hardship that this would cause our company and our customers,” said US Airways spokesman David Castelveter. “But short of an agreement that allows us to operate in a cost-competitive environment . . . we will have no choice.”
An internal memo to US Airways’ employees earlier Friday said that, in the event of a strike, other workers should report to work as scheduled today and expect to be “busy with activities related to the shutdown,” including helping passengers re-book flights. It said that those who refuse to cross picket lines would forfeit pay.
US Airways officials said in a separate statement to employees late Thursday that in order “to be responsive” to the flight attendants’ union, it “has offered alternative ways to achieve its goal of a contract that is cost competitive with the major four airlines.”
Flight attendants wearing neon green shirts have practiced walkout drills at Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Pittsburgh and Philadelphia airports this week in preparation for the end of a government-imposed 30-day cooling-off period at midnight.
“I can either fight for what I believe is right, or I can give in, which would make me less willing to do the job,” said Mollie McCarthy, the Assn. of Flight Attendants president for Baltimore.
US Airways said it is making emergency ticket-swapping arrangements for passengers booked on its weekend flights.
The flight attendants are working under a contract that expired at the end of 1996 and gave them their last pay raise, of 4%, at the beginning of that year. The starting salary for US Airways attendants is $17,145 a year, while those at the top of the pay scale earn $36,918.
They are resisting the airline’s proposal to put them under a pay-and-benefits formula based on what its biggest competitors offer, plus 1%. Other unions representing US Airways workers have accepted the formula, but the flight attendants say it would result in erosion of their pay and benefits.
In the event of a shutdown, US Airways officials said passengers holding paper tickets for flights today, Sunday or Monday could exchange them through US Airways’ other major airlines’ or Amtrak ticket agents, or through a travel agent.
Electronic ticket holders or passengers with frequent-flier award tickets would need to contact US Airways to change their reservations. The only flights that would not be affected by a strike or shutdown would be the regional commuter airline US Airways Express.
