Flight Attendants

The flight attendants were hired by United Airlines during a four-week pilots' strike that was honored by the airline's flight attendants. The agreement between United and the Assn. of Flight Attendants to retain the 700 strikebreakers settled all back-to-work issues left unresolved by the union's support of the pilots' strike. Most union flight attendants refused to work during the 29-day strike, and the status of those hired during the walkout was an issue after the settlement.

A group of Northwest Airlines Corp. flight attendants will begin a campaign today to replace the Teamsters union with a new, independent union. The Professional Flight Attendants Assn. would be headquartered in Minneapolis and be made up of Northwest flight attendants, said PFAA spokesman Gary Helton. In order for the PFAA to replace the Teamsters, 50% plus one additional flight attendant must sign and submit an authorization card requesting a union change.

Flight attendants at United Airlines said they reached a tentative contract agreement with the nation's largest airline. The union declined to provide terms of the tentative pact. "From an economic standpoint, it maintains the United flight attendants' position in the industry," said Assn. of Flight Attendants International President Pat Friend. Industry analysts said United's flight attendants are among the highest paid in the industry.

U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs ruled in Kansas City, Mo., that Trans World Airlines' flight attendants who joined a strike earlier this year cannot use their seniority to replace 1,284 union members who crossed the picket lines. In the three months since the strike ended, the Independent Federation of Flight Attendants has tried to win back jobs now held by nearly 3,000 newly hired attendants and union members who refused to join the strike.

U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs ordered the reinstatement and gave the airline 30 days to comply. On May 17, when the Independent Federation of Flight Attendants called off their nine-week strike, TWA hastily filled 463 positions with trainees rather than allow strikers back. However, the union lost on two other issues. IFFA had sought to replace all 1,200 flight attendants hired since the strike began March 7 with IFFA members.

The union for United Airlines' flight attendants said it filed a lawsuit to halt United parent UAL Corp.'s proposed acquisition of US Airways Group Inc. The Assn. of Flight Attendants, which represents 26,000 United employees, said the complaint addresses concerns over job security and other parts of their collective bargaining agreement, should the deal be completed. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago. United Airlines executives declined to comment.

Robert Callahan, president of Transport Workers Union Local 553, refused to begin counting ratification votes on a new contract, charging that Eastern Airlines changed the contract wording controlling the $11 million in back pay that flight attendants were to receive in settlement of a lawsuit against the company. He also said the company changed the wording on working conditions. Eastern countered that union leaders were trying to rewrite a contract that they'd already signed.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by United Airlines flight attendants over the termination of pension benefits, removing a potential hurdle to the carrier's exit from bankruptcy protection. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle in Washington found that the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. had complied with government rules in deciding to end the plan after Elk Grove Township, Ill.-based UAL Corp., the parent of United filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2002.

Flight attendants at Northwest Airlines Corp. said they would delay a threatened strike by 10 days because of security concerns stemming from the alleged terrorist plot in London. A judge had not yet ruled on a request to block a strike from the Eagan, Minn.-based carrier, which is in bankruptcy protection. The Assn. of Flight Attendants had threatened to begin random, unannounced strikes Tuesday night after Northwest imposed new pay and work rules on flight attendants without their consent.