Flights Aren't All That American Airlines Delays

Washington D.C. – The Communications Workers of America today began an advertising campaign demanding "no more delays" for American Airlines passenger service agents -- backed by federal court decisions – who only want the democratic right to vote on union representation. The ads will run in Washington, D.C. and Dallas and can be viewed here:  http://cwafiles.org/national/News/Misc/AAAd1115.pdf

The passenger service agents filed for an election in December 2011 and the National Mediation Board has ordered the election on three separate occasions. American Airlines has refused to comply with the order 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 an election.  After their latest demand to stop the election was denied unanimously by the 5^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the company vowed to take its anti-worker fight to the Supreme Court.

American Airlines 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 nearly 9,700 American Airlines agents are currently scheduled to vote on whether or not to join the Communications Workers of America from December 4^th to January 15^th, 2013. About 16 passenger service agents will be in Washington today and Friday, Nov. 15 and 16, to meet with Senators and their staffs on Capitol Hill and focus attention on the attack on democracy at American Airlines. American Airlines is announcing a new round of layoffs and outsourced jobs as of Nov. 16.

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 employees, 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.

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Contact Chuck Porcari or Liz Schilling, CWA Communications, 202-434-1168, cporcari@cwa-union.org or eschilling@cwa-union.org