Flying AA on Nov. 18? Get ready for a 'simulated strike'

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=620001081.blog

American Airlines’ flight attendants say they'll conduct "mock strikes" around the country later this month, The Associated Press reports. That could be a precursor to action next year, when attendants say they may ask for permission for full-fledged strikes.

As for the mock strikes, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes AA attendants "will target a number of flights on Nov. 18 with what they call a nondisruptive 'simulated strike' — a symbolic muscle flexing involving red and yellow badgelike disks attached to union pins that declare, 'Got Guts' and 'Got Union.' The demonstration, on the 16th anniversary of the union’s strike against the company, is aimed at sending a message that union members want an end to long-running contract talks."

RELATED LINK: Furloughed ex-TWA flight attendants fight proposal to make them pay dues (The Dallas Morning News' AIRLINE BIZ blog) http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/11/furloughed-ex-twa-flight-atten.html

"The union is attempting to step up pressure in its contract talks that began in mid-2008," writes The Dallas Morning News. The attendants union says it wants a strike by year's end. "If there is no agreement in January, the union said it will ask federal officials to declare a 30-day cooling-off period, the last step before a strike," the AP writes.

Laura Glading, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, tells the Star-Telegram the mock strikes are just "a symbolic demonstration to show management that flight attendants are willing and able to do whatever is necessary to get a fair contract." Glading adds to the Star-Telegram "we are not doing anything that would harm the company. In fact, we’re asking the public to fly American during the holidays."

Glading adds to the Morning News that attendants "pledge" not interfere with flight schedule over the holidays, when millions of Americans will be flying during the busiest travel season of the year. But, she adds to the Morning News, that "after January, it remains to be seen."

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[Go2Peace]

1. What ever happened to the employee free choice act anyway? Did it die?

[Fire1]

2. I posed the same question the othe day. Guess it's on the back

burner. HCR first.

[cpamomfromtexas]

3. Airline employees hands are tied by the outdated Railway Labor Act

Their contracts don't "expire" like other employees, they become "amendable", so airline management is rewarded by dragging their feet on settling a deal.

That's why the pilots of AA are still working under 25-40% paycuts from 2003 (and even then they had industry lagging contracts).