Bargaining Update

Piedmont Airlines and Envoy Air

At the American Airlines shareholders meeting in New York this week, an Envoy passenger service agent demanded answers from the CEO and board of directors about how they can approve increased multi-million dollar payouts for top brass while many of their workers at Piedmont and Envoy must rely on food stamps and other forms of public assistance because of poverty pay.

At the meeting, Envoy agent Takisha Gower said, "I am here on behalf of my 9,000 coworkers at Envoy and Piedmont who are seeking fair pay for our work, and fair union contracts. We are the face of American, and we're expected to project a positive image. But we are treated like we don't have value. We are negotiating in good faith, yet American is refusing to agree to pay family-supporting wages and put agents on a career track."

Business is booming at American. The company made almost $2 billion last year, got a huge tax cut from the Republican corporate tax cut bill, and paid millions to executives. Meanwhile, 9,000 passenger service workers at American-owned Envoy and Piedmont Air still have to survive on poverty pay.

Read more here.

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Windstream

Workers from CWA Locals 3371 and 3372 at Windstream in Kentucky reached a tentative agreement with the company last week. Workers' mobilization efforts in Lexington where the negotiations were taking place helped encourage Windstream to negotiate a fair contract.