As bosses get billions
Senate votes down benefits for laid-off airline
workers
By Michelle Quintus
New York City-based flight attendant
Flight attendants and pilots from American and United
Airlines lost their lives in the hijackings on Sept. 11. How
did the bosses express empathy with workers left grieving and
struggling in the wake of the crisis? At both United and
American Airlines they cut 20,000 jobs, received a government
bailout of $807 million, and claimed over $1 billion in
"business interruption" insurance.
They are using none of that cash to save jobs or help
victims' families.
Senate denies worker aid
USAirways flight attendant Joshua DeVries stresses that
government aid "should be used to guarantee jobs, wages, and
working conditions." But government aid stops short of
including any kind of worker relief.
Last week an airline security bill passed unanimously in the
Senate, 100-0, but only after an amendment for worker relief
was stripped from the bill. The amendment would have provided
for about $1.9 billion in unemployment, retraining and
health-care benefits to 150,000 airlines industry workers
who've lost their jobs since the Sept. 11 crisis.
Tom Buffenbarger, president of the International Association
of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, says that "to deny workers
any benefits, any assistance, any assurance that we can
overcome the current and terrible financial crisis, is a
continuation of the terrorist attack that began on Sept.
11."
A similar bill, the Displaced Workers Relief Act, is
currently going before Congress. But Republican leadership in
the House is opposed to bringing airline employee assistance
legislation up for a vote.
Greg Davidowitch, president of the Association of Flight
Attendants' Local Council 5 of New York City, explains, "They
are playing politics with our lives and livelihoods. For
aviation workers, the economic impact of this crisis is very
real and immediate. Now is not the time to abandon these
workers and their families, who have suffered the first
economic burdens resulting from the Sept. 11 attacks."
Capitalizing on the crisis
The airlines are seeking to take advantage of this crisis
not only by laying off workers and cashing in on government
bailouts. United Airlines is also seeking an expansion that has
united all of its labor unions in opposition.
At the same time UAL Corporation was receiving government
and insurance money, it was spending $11.25 million on French
business jets in order to start a new, elite business catering
to corporations, celebrities and other wealthy individuals.
The new business startup will employ non-unionized workers
from outside the airline industry, according to Stuart Oran,
the United executive in charge of the new business. Oran is a
former Wall Street lawyer.
UAL Corporation plans to order fleets of business
jets--costing from $7 million to $40 million each--over the
next five years. The new jets are scheduled for delivery in
April 2002. But UAL plans to start some interim service
beginning Nov. 1.
Tens of thousands of current, unionized workers will be laid
off by Oct. 31.
We need to demand that government aid be provided for
workers' jobs, not for further profit for corporations and
their CEOs. Flight attendants and other aviation workers are
the ones who risk our lives to provide service and security to
airplane passengers. Now, more than ever, we deserve respect
and job security.
Reprinted from the Oct. 25, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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