US Airways Express Flight Attendants Move to Strike if Management Fails to Negotiate Contract

PSA Airlines Flight Attendants Request NMB to Declare Negotiations Impasse

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following a week of fruitless negotiations with PSA Airlines management, Flight Attendants at the airline, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), initiated a process that could lead to a strike if management fails to negotiate a new agreement. Today, AFA requested the National Mediation Board (NMB) declare that negotiations are at an impasse and offer a proffer of arbitration which could lead to a 30-day cooling-off period and strike deadline. PSA Airlines is a wholly-owned subsidiary of US Airways, headquartered in Dayton, Ohio.

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"It's long past time for management to take these negotiations seriously.  PSA Flight Attendants have sent a loud and clear message to management that action will be taken if a new, improved agreement is not reached. We are done playing games and are ready to do whatever it takes to get a contract that recognizes our meaningful role as first responders," said L.C. Acor, PSA AFA Vice President.

Last September, PSA Flight Attendants overwhelmingly authorized a strike should management fail to negotiate a new contract. Mediated negotiations stalled over compensation, retirement, insurance and related issues when management made no forward progress in these talks.

The NMB will now evaluate whether negotiations are deadlocked and then could make a proffer of arbitration, a step required by the Railway Labor Act prior to a 30-day "cooling off" period leading to a strike deadline.  The strike deadline often encourages focused negotiations.  AFA has a trademarked strike strategy known as CHAOS™ or Create Havoc Around Our System™.  With CHAOS, a strike could affect the entire system or a single flight.  The union decides when, where and how to strike without notice to management or passengers.

PSA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of US Airways Group, Inc. and operates as a US Airways Express carrier. Flying to over 62 destinations, PSA has 330 daily departures, 132 out of Charlotte, NC. Additionally, PSA has 119 weekly departures out of Dayton, OH; 119 out of Philadelphia, PA; and 112 from Washington, DC. 

The Association of Flight Attendants is the world's largest Flight Attendant union. Focused 100 percent on Flight Attendant issues, AFA has been the leader in advancing the Flight Attendant profession for over 65 years. Serving as the voice for Flight Attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill, AFA has transformed the Flight Attendant profession by raising wages, benefits and working conditions.  Nearly 60,000 Flight Attendants at 23 airlines come together to form AFA, part of the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afacwa.org.

SOURCE Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO

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