DOT Report Backs Employees at US Airways

The Department of Transportation's inspector general has found that US Airways management, not employees, was responsible for the staffing shortages that resulted in hundreds of canceled flights, thousands of unanswered telephone calls and tens of thousands of lost and damaged bags over the holiday season.

The inspector general's report said that chronic understaffing and high management turnover were to blame, contradicting the airline's accusations that excessive absences of passenger service agents, flight attendants and baggage handlers caused the problem.

"US Airways' difficulties were reflective of an airline trying to emerge from bankruptcy and compete with low-cost carriers by maintaining staff levels with little margin for error," the inspector general said.

Chris Fox, president of CWA Local 13302 representing reservations agents, said the report "proves what we've been saying all along. By pursuing a flawed strategy of cutting workers' jobs, as well as salaries and benefits, US Airways management has failed to anticipate customers' needs, especially over the holiday season."

Teddy Xidas, president of AFA-CWA's US Airways Master Executive Council, said, "US Airways owes its flight attendants a public apology" for falsely accusing flight attendants of excessive absences during this period. The DOT report's review found that sick call rates for flight attendants in 2004 were the same or lower than the same dates in 2003. "The report also found that flight attendant ranks had been cut 8.4 percent in Philadelphia over the year, while scheduled departures had grown by 33 percent.