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CWA Passenger Service Agents Take Strike Vote
CWA passenger service agents are voting whether to authorize a strike or other legal work action at US Airways if negotiations fail to reach a fair contract. Ballots are in the mail to 6,000 active agents, with the vote to be counted in mid-November.
CWA is preparing a counter proposal to the devastating cuts that management is demanding from agents, including a wage cut of 34 percent and further erosion of benefits and working conditions. Management also is demanding the right to contract out all agents' jobs.
CWA local union presidents at US Airways said the strike vote will make a united show of support among agents at the bargaining table. "The goal of CWA's negotiating team is to reach a fair agreement that agents can ratify, an agreement that maintains our pay and our standard of living. We need to take a stand to support our contract and our careers," they said in a mailing to members.
Like agents, flight attendants, members of AFA-CWA, had a 21 percent wage cut imposed by US Airways management with the approval of the bankruptcy court. AFA-CWA has asked the judge to reconsider this decision. "US Airways is saving an extra $3.9 million a month" by not paying into the pension plan as required by law and the AFA-CWA collective bargaining agreement, the union said. AFA-CWA called on the court to reduce the pay cut to reflect this additional cost savings
CWA, AFA-CWA and the Machinists are continuing to negotiate with the airline, although management has threatened workers that it will seek approval of the bankruptcy court to throw out the existing collective bargaining agreements if new long-term settlements are not reached by mid-November.
At the bargaining table and in leafleting at major airports, passenger service agents have pointed out the great discrepancy between the 34 percent wage cut management has demanded of agents - that would reduce the immediate top pay rate of agents to $13.62 - and the 5 percent pay cut taken by management.
CWA is preparing a counter proposal to the devastating cuts that management is demanding from agents, including a wage cut of 34 percent and further erosion of benefits and working conditions. Management also is demanding the right to contract out all agents' jobs.
CWA local union presidents at US Airways said the strike vote will make a united show of support among agents at the bargaining table. "The goal of CWA's negotiating team is to reach a fair agreement that agents can ratify, an agreement that maintains our pay and our standard of living. We need to take a stand to support our contract and our careers," they said in a mailing to members.
Like agents, flight attendants, members of AFA-CWA, had a 21 percent wage cut imposed by US Airways management with the approval of the bankruptcy court. AFA-CWA has asked the judge to reconsider this decision. "US Airways is saving an extra $3.9 million a month" by not paying into the pension plan as required by law and the AFA-CWA collective bargaining agreement, the union said. AFA-CWA called on the court to reduce the pay cut to reflect this additional cost savings
CWA, AFA-CWA and the Machinists are continuing to negotiate with the airline, although management has threatened workers that it will seek approval of the bankruptcy court to throw out the existing collective bargaining agreements if new long-term settlements are not reached by mid-November.
At the bargaining table and in leafleting at major airports, passenger service agents have pointed out the great discrepancy between the 34 percent wage cut management has demanded of agents - that would reduce the immediate top pay rate of agents to $13.62 - and the 5 percent pay cut taken by management.