Airline Layoffs, Worker Concessions

A few years ago, the rate of this decline slowed and actually has made a small improvement due in part to unions recognizing they had to fight if they were to survive at all. This was a major change for most AFL-CIO unions and it made industry leaders nervous. The last thing they want to see is an active working class.

Before September 11, economists noted that the world economy was slipping. However, slipping isn't the right word, because it suggests there is something inevitable or natural about it. Economic downturns are not like rain. They come because of specific decisions of the capitalist class to reduce investment, cut production, and slash employment.

This recession had hit the airline industry, which saw profits decline as both business travelers and individuals were flying less. Months before September 11, airlines began asking employee groups for concessions. It is important to note that the reason they had to ask at all is that the airline industry is at least 80 percent unionized, probably the most heavily organized industry in the U.S. Unions in the airline industry gave concessions throughout the 1980s and still watched companies go under. Thousands and thousands of their colleagues lost jobs at Pan Am, Eastern, Braniff, and others, in spite of concessions. In the mid to late 1990s, airline unions began fighting to regain some of the lost ground. The companies were making large profits and workers figured it was payback time. Management of course didn't feel that way, but unions made significant gains and some got not only significant improvements in wages and retirement, but some also achieved strong job protection clauses that prohibited layoffs except under certain conditions.

These contracts were signed during a boom economy, and as soon as it began to slump, management wanted concessions. They said employees should work faster, increase their workload, increase their health insurance contribution and, in some cases, actually lose pay as well. Fortunately, the unions held strong and, with few exceptions, were not willing to consider contract amendments as they had in the 1980s. Many problems are not sufficiently addressed in contracts though. For example, some airlines are shifting from large planes to smaller regional jets. For flight crews, this means that pilot groups will get an overall cut in pay because their pay is based on the size of the plane. In addition the airlines will use fewer flight attendants on the smaller craft.

In the aftermath of September 11, airline management has seized an opportunity. Previously, important figures in both political parties were publicly critical of the industry and there was talk of enacting regulations if airlines didn't fix the problems. But after September 11, when airlines were grounded for days, there was sudden unanimity in Washington that the shareholders of airlines deserved to be saved from their fate. The change was likely facilitated by the fact that one of the leading lobbyists for the airline industry is Linda Daschle, wife of Senate majority leader Tom Daschle. In addition, while airline executives have publicly volunteered to reduce or refuse their salaries, they haven't bothered to note that their salaries are only a fraction of their actual income, which comes more from bonuses and stock.

The industry is using the disaster to make cuts it could not have gotten away with before. The unions are timid, presumably for fear that standing up now would bring down the ire of the federal government. This is probably a safe assumption, but, unlike the air traffic controllers of 1981 who were fired by President Reagan, airline employees are private employees. While the president can legally order workers into “cooling off periods” if the unions were organized in an industrial fashion instead of into crafts, the government would be powerless to stop them.

Airline workers are currently divided into separate unions for pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, cleaners, reservations clerks, ticket seller, gate agents, baggage handlers, plus possible separate unions for the private suppliers like caterers, fuelers, etc. Furthermore, across the industry, there can be several different unions for one category of workers. For example, there are four significant unions for flight attendants in the U.S. While there is some communication between the different unions within and between companies, there is little or no discussion of coordinated bargaining, much less collective action.

If there were a single union or even strong cooperation between the unions in something besides lobbying, they would be able to stop these layoffs immediately. A united call across the industry to shut it down if there were a single layoff would stop American, United, Continental, Delta, Northwest, US Airways, and the others in their tracks. If there were a true commitment to solidarity, then if the unions determined that there actually was less work than the industry could support, then they would spread the work around evenly, assuring that no one lost their job, their health benefits, and their paycheck.

Instead the unions are filing grievances, pleading with the company to follow the contract, if they have language preventing layoffs or begging the company to offer a pittance of severance pay to those laid off if they don't. Either stance accepts the companies' right to set the terms of employment, to decide how many people they will hire, and when they will be let go. There is no reason in an industry that is so heavily organized to ask for anything. The unions have the strength to dictate terms, if they would only choose to use it.

If the unions in the airline industry were to stand together and issue a joint statement that there would be no layoffs and no concessions and back it up by creating teams to educate the members about the struggle, simultaneously preparing for intermittent strikes that have brought airline management down every time they have been used, then airline workers would win not only their own battle, but would also demonstrate to workers everywhere what is possible through collective action.     Z
 

Joshua Freeze is IWW Executive Board Chair and a member of the Association of Flight Attendants