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Kerry Nails Airline's Lies
American Airlines’ credibility hit a big air pocket when a prominent U.S. senator exposed management for lying in its anti-worker literature during CWA’s organizing campaign among passenger service agents.
The airline claimed in a “facts versus fiction” propaganda handout that CWA had nothing to do with the recent “airport rage” legislation that makes it a federal crime to assault an agent.
The real “fact” of the matter, according to the legislation’s chief sponsor, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), is that, “your union was the driving force behind this provision,” he wrote in a letter to President Morton Bahr.
In writing to “set the record straight,” Kerry said, “Throughout the legislative process, CWA provided crucial research and analysis of the issue. Findings in your union’s research into ‘airport rage’ were persuasive in ensuring that Section 114 was preserved during the House-Senate conference. Indeed, your union was the driving force behind this provision, and I am deeply disturbed by statements to the contrary.”
A key to passing the airport rage section of the aviation security bill last year was a major CWA survey of passenger service agents from various airlines. More than 2,000 agents surveyed described instances of abuse from passengers, ranging from threats to actual physical assault.
The first-of-its-kind legislation calls for fines or imprisonment of up to 10 years for assaulting airport agents and ramp workers.
The airline claimed in a “facts versus fiction” propaganda handout that CWA had nothing to do with the recent “airport rage” legislation that makes it a federal crime to assault an agent.
The real “fact” of the matter, according to the legislation’s chief sponsor, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), is that, “your union was the driving force behind this provision,” he wrote in a letter to President Morton Bahr.
In writing to “set the record straight,” Kerry said, “Throughout the legislative process, CWA provided crucial research and analysis of the issue. Findings in your union’s research into ‘airport rage’ were persuasive in ensuring that Section 114 was preserved during the House-Senate conference. Indeed, your union was the driving force behind this provision, and I am deeply disturbed by statements to the contrary.”
A key to passing the airport rage section of the aviation security bill last year was a major CWA survey of passenger service agents from various airlines. More than 2,000 agents surveyed described instances of abuse from passengers, ranging from threats to actual physical assault.
The first-of-its-kind legislation calls for fines or imprisonment of up to 10 years for assaulting airport agents and ramp workers.