For Release After 6:00 p.m.:
November 17, 2004 Contact: David Kameras 202-434-0586


Hundreds Rally for AFA Strike Threat

Union Promises CHAOS™ if Contracts are Abrogated


PITTSBURGH - Hundreds of flight attendants and their supporters today rallied in Pittsburgh to show support for a decision by their union to call for a nationwide strike in the event that one or more of its contracted carriers abrogates its collective bargaining agreements.

"Flight attendants have been victimized for far too long by the avarice of airline executives, whose first and last instinct when times are tough is to squeeze employees to the breaking point," said Pat Friend, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. "We will not let them break us."

When a job action is implemented, it will take on the form of CHAOS (Create Havoc Around Our System)TM, AFA’s trademarked strike action that allows flight attendants to control airline schedules and operations with intermittent tactics. Flight attendants may stage a mass walkout, as in a traditional strike, for a day or a week, or strike individual flights—with no warning to management or passengers as to time or location.

Yesterday during its annual meeting, the AFA Board of Directors unanimously approved a resolution warning that union self-help is possible once any contract is abrogated. The union has begun the process of polling members at the seven carriers currently in bankruptcy to obtain their authorization for a strike.

"We are calling for a union-wide, nationwide strike, because these attacks on our craft and our contracts are an industry-wide problem," said Friend. "If even one carrier tears up its contract, it gives a green light to its competitors."

More than 46,000 flight attendants join together to form AFA, the world's largest flight attendant union. AFA is part of the 700,000 member strong Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afanet.org. 

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