NMB-ORDERED TALKS CONTINUE, SIDES STILL FAR APART

February 17, 2000, Washington, DC — US Airways flight attendants, members of the Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO, are taking their information campaign directly to passengers, travel agents and corporate customers, offering direct access to the latest information about the labor dispute and the potential for CHAOS, as National Mediation Board-ordered contract talks continue in Washington, DC.

"Passengers deserve to be kept informed about what the future may hold if we are forced to strike at US Airways," said Lynn Lenosky, AFA Master Executive Council President for US Airways. Flight attendants will pass out green CHAOS cards to be completed by passengers at airports around US Airways' system over the next few weeks, including hub cities: Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington, DC.

In November 1999, after almost four years of negotiations, flight attendants asked the NMB to declare that talks had reached an impasse and to begin the clock on the federally mandated 30-day cooling-off period that must precede a strike. Rather than declare an impasse, the NMB ordered the parties back to the negotiating table. In negotiations, US Airways continues to demand that flight attendants accept cuts in benefits and quality of life issues, or forego raises -- even though US Airways Group has seen five straight years of profits, totaling more than $2.1 billion. Management also awards pensions in a manner that unfairly penalizes married flight attendants and refuses to fairly apply the Family Medical Leave Act to flight attendants. Flight attendants haven't received raises in over four years. Once the NMB declares an impasse and a 30-day cooling-off period ends with no agreement being reached, the parties are free to engage in self-help. For AFA flight attendants, that means CHAOS. Create Havoc Around Our System is a strike action that may take many forms. Flight attendants may stage a mass walkout for a day or a week or strike individual flights  with no warning to management or passengers.