Midwest Airlines Flight Attendants Win Major Victory

NEWSROOM


Midwest Airlines Flight Attendants Win Major Victory By Daniel Baxter

		March 18, 2011 - The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) won a major arbitration for hundreds of former Midwest Airlines Flight Attendants, represented by AFA. The arbitration award validated AFA?s assertion that the Midwest Flight Attendant contract was violated after Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. purchased Midwest Airlines and staffed the same flights with non-Midwest Flight Attendants, often compensated up to 70 percent less. The AFA Midwest contract outlined strong provisions for protecting Flight Attendant jobs and contained language that specified the outcome if Midwest was purchased by another airline. AFA filed a grievance in 2009 accusing Republic of violating the terms of these vital scope and successorship provisions after the merger of the two carriers was completed. As a result of the contract violation, hundreds of Midwest Flight Attendants were laid off while lesser paid Flight Attendants from different airlines staffed the flights they once worked.

?Today is a victory for Midwest Flight Attendants whose careers were stripped by corporate greed. AFA vowed to stop at nothing until management was held responsible for stealing the livelihoods of the hardworking Flight Attendants at Midwest Airlines,? said Veda Shook, AFA International President. ?It took the commitment and effort of over 400 Flight Attendants and other airline employees to make Midwest one of the best in the country and only narrow corporate interests to destroy it. The Midwest Flight Attendants? determination to right this wrong is why AFA worked tirelessly to hold management responsible.? Now that the arbitrator has ruled that Republic violated the terms of the Midwest Flight Attendant contract, a remedy must be reached. At AFA?s request, the arbitrator left the task of negotiating a settlement to AFA and management representatives, ensuring that the resolution will be in the best interest of Midwest Flight Attendants. ?It was the dedicated women and men of Midwest Airlines who helped to create our exceptional carrier,? said Toni Higgins, former AFA Midwest President. ?We dedicated our careers to this hometown airline that was repeatedly one of the highest rated domestic carriers in the country.

?Yet after we merged with Republic, it was the Midwest Flight Attendants and other flight crew who were tossed aside, without jobs, while our flying partners from other airlines worked our flights for significantly less pay. Management?s behavior was not only reprehensible, but it was also in violation of our legally-binding contract. This decision is a great victory for the Midwest Flight Attendants.?

		For over 60 years, the Association of Flight Attendants has been serving as the voice for Flight Attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill. Nearly 50,000 Flight Attendants at 21 airlines come together to form AFA, the world?s largest Flight Attendant union. Other News Stories FAA Issues Residential ?Through The Fence? Policy Northrop Completes Third Flight Of X-47B Unmanned Aircraft Sonex Aircraft Accepting Deposits On Folding Wing Sport Aircraft U.S Travel Association Unveils Air Travel Security Screening System Airline Ramp And Fleet Service Workers Receive Support To Unionize Open Travel Enrollment For Hispanic College Students Lanzate Program Sikorsky X2 Technology Wins Prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy Brazil Will Need To Improve Aviation Industry To Achieve Competitiveness Passenger Airline Employment Up 0.4 Percent First U.S. Russia Joint Open Skies Observation Flight Jeppesen Expands Commercial Airline Overlay Chart Library Deployment Of Floodwall At St. Paul Downtown Airport Underway How Changes In Magnetic North Are Impacting Airports Air Pollution From BP Oil Spill Reaching Far Beyond The Gulf Northrop Completes Structural Proof Testing Of Second X-47B Aircraft International Aero Engines Launches SelectTwo Engine Program TSA Cooked The Books For Years On Costs, Federal Vs Private Screening New Helicopter Agreements Validates Eurocopter?s Competitiveness Coalition To Save Our GPS Testifies Before House Appropriations Committee Challenges Persist In Meeting The Screening Mandate for Air Cargo Black History In The Now Natural Variability Culprit Of Russian Heat Wave That Killed Thousands Women In Aviation 2011 Scholarships Total Nearly $700,000 Tsunami Aftermath Continues To Affect Japan?s Air Travel GOP John Mica (R-FL) Wants To Strip Union Rights From Aviation Workers FAA Orders Airlines Disable Bathroom Oxygen Generators On Aircraft Eurocopter Receives 68 Helicopter Orders At Heli-Expo 2011 U.S. Airline Passenger Travel Up 2.9 Percent Leading Edge To Paint B-787 Dreamliners Built In South Carolina Recovery Dollars Provide Improvements At Asheville Regional Airport EU Countries To Work Closer Towards Greater Efficiency Across Airspace