Election on Track for 9,700 American Airlines Agents

Just 19 days until the ballots are mailed and passenger service agents at American Airlines finally get their vote.

American Airlines hasn't let up, still pressing for delays in the election and planning an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. But the election remains on track.

CWA has print ads running in the Dallas Morning News and in Capitol Hill publications in Washington, D.C., today, reminding lawmakers and passengers that American Airlines refuses to follow the law and continues to block agents' democratic right to vote. 

Tomorrow, American Airlines passenger service agents, including several who are losing their jobs to the airline's massive outsourcing, will meet with senators and staffs to focus attention on American Airlines' attack on democracy and workers' right to vote.

CWA filed for an election on behalf of the passenger service agents in December 2011 and the National Mediation Board has ordered the election to go forward on three separate occasions. American Airlines has refused to comply, even as members of both the Senate and the House have called on the company to obey the law and respect the agents' right to vote. The company's latest demand to stop the election was denied unanimously by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Last year, American Airlines had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with $4 billion in the bank; that's grown to more than $5 billion today. The airline has spent millions in lawyers' fees to stop passenger service agents from exercising their right to vote. At the same time, the airline is outsourcing jobs across its system and is pushing agents into home-based reservations jobs that start at $9.49/hour with no benefits.

The voting period starts Dec. 4 and runs through Jan. 15, 2013, with votes to be tallied at the NMB office in Washington on Jan. 15.

American Airlines' outsourcing is a huge problem, not only for the skilled workers who are losing their jobs, but for passengers who will be relying on rookie contractors, especially as the busy holiday travel season gets underway next week. Outsourcing already has led to delays for passengers at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, when contractors who may not have had proper identification and clearance to board and clean airplanes were assigned that work.