------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 26, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
BUSH'S ENDLESS WAR HITS AIRLINE WORKERS By Michelle Quintus Council 5 Representative, Association of Flight Attendants Driven by an "endless war" drive abroad, President George W. Bush's war against workers in this country deepened in December as the world's second-biggest airline, United Airlines, was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The airline continues to operate while workers' jobs and union contracts are threatened under a restructuring plan in a Chicago bankruptcy court. On Dec. 4, the Bush administration via the federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board denied a $1.8 billion loan guarantee to UAL Inc. The ATSB had demanded billions of dollars in givebacks from United Airlines' workers. When workers conceded in order to get the federal funding, the ATSB denied the loan guarantee anyway, driving UAL and its 80,000 workers into bankruptcy court. The Executive Committee of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL- CIO, adopted a resolution stating that the ATSB's federal loan guarantee program has "grossly unrealistic demands for employee wage and other concessions." The TTD noted that "for example, the ATSB tried to impose a seven-year wage freeze on the employees of America West as a condition for granting a loan guarantee." "The entire industry is collapsing," says Barbara Sakin, Association of Flight Attendants Local Council 5 Government Affairs chairperson. "But the real problem is the Bush administration and their neglect of the national economy and the realization that the air transport industry is crucial. The abuse of power by the ATSB and economic advisors to the president is shameful and is going to cause the destruction of many good airlines and destroy many good employees and their families in the process." There is incessant talk in the corporate media and the bankers' boardrooms about how to "save the company" from slipping further into a Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy. This turns into a threat against the workers that we'd better take even deeper wage and contractual concessions to save the company and our jobs. 'SAVE THE COMPANY' OR HURT THE WORKERS? But saving the company for the corporate owners, UAL Inc., does not save our jobs. Having already laid off over 20,000 workers, UAL has shown no interest in saving our jobs. Instead, upper management guarantees its own interests. For example, there have been no demands that former UAL CEO Jim Goodwin give up his nearly million-dollar annual salary until 2004. When Glen Tilton accepted the position of CEO at United Airlines this fall, he also accepted a $3.2 million signing bonus along with a salary of over $83,000 per month. A first-year flight attendant at United Airlines makes about $15,000 per year. The company, the banks and the U.S. government expect to take more concessions from these workers' wages. The debtor-in-possession financiers--Bank One, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citibank--are demanding an annual labor cut of $2.4 billion as a condition for funding. They require that these concessions be accomplished by mid-February 2003 as part of the "United Airlines Restructuring Plan." Sam Marcy wrote in his 1986 book "High Tech Low Pay" that "the policy of concessions flows directly and inevitably from the acceptance of the capital-labor relationship, from the acceptance of exploitation as the permanent condition of the working class. The idea corresponding to this can only be that of class collaboration." Accepting the dogma of the capital-labor relationship, workers believe we must accept concessions to keep the company in business. WHO OWNS UAL INC? Not only do United workers still own 55 percent of the company regardless of the current value of the stock, but as of Dec. 9, UAL Inc. is no longer the legal owner of United Airlines. The current owners are the creditors--everyone that UAL Inc. owes money to. That includes the workers. The bankruptcy court trustee, Ira Bodenstein, has named a Creditors' Committee of 13 major creditors that now have voting rights regarding the company's operations. This includes the three major unions: the Machinists, Flight Attendants, and Air Line Pilots. This means over 68,000 United Airlines workers represented on the Creditors' Committee. Other Creditors' Committee members include: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, Bank of New York, Airbus North America Holdings Inc., Pratt & Whitney, HSBC Bank USA, US Bank National Association, R Squared Investment, LDC Deutsche Lufthansa, AG Goodrich Corporation, Galileo International Inc., and one non-voting member, the city of Chicago. The main difference between the worker-creditors and the bank-creditors is this: Only we the workers create the airline's value--present and future. Banks and other lenders take a share of the value we workers produce by charging interest on loans. Now, in bankruptcy court, the banks are demanding that they get paid before and at the expense of the workers. We should demand that Bank One, J.P Morgan Chase, Citibank and all the corporate thieves--not the airline workers--take the concessions. We build the airline's value each day we work. We do not need to give any more than we already do because without us the airline ceases to operate. Without the machinists, there would be no working planes to fly. Without pilots, air traffic controllers and flight attendants, not a single plane could take off or land. Without reservationists and customer service representatives, there would be no way for customers to get tickets. And without passengers, there would be no need to operate. The service of air transportation should exist to serve people's needs, not to exploit labor power to create mega-profits for banks and corporate owners. Yet according to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedures, the capitalist courts are "not interested in justice"--that is, saving workers' jobs, wages, conditions and contracts, or serving people's needs. Their main interest is in protecting the profit of the corporate owners, UAL Inc., the banks and Wall Street. A legal consultant to the Association of Flight Attendants advised that "bankruptcy court does not exist to exact justice. The bankruptcy court only cares about returning the company to profitability." Primarily on the backs of the workers. But our union contracts are just as legal as any contract the company has with banks and other lenders. Why are our contracts the only ones up for re-negotiation in the courts? UAL Inc is now petitioning the court to scrap all the contracts. PUBLIC SUPPORT IS VITAL We know from the legal cases of political prisoners from Nelson Mandela to the Chicago 8 that the most decisive verdicts are delivered by the people in the streets--or in this case, in the air and in the airports. Capitalist courts may not be about justice but courts of public opinion are. The case of United Airlines is in the newspapers daily. The traveling public supports the workers and that support is essential now if there is to be any kind of justice. In the midst of this protracted capitalist economic crisis, it is clear that we at United are not isolated or alone in our struggle. Our own safety, health and living wages do not need to be compromised in order to provide safe transportation for everyone. The unity of all transportation workers is needed to replace a system that puts profits before the needs of the workers and all people. To contact us, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
