Sunday, April 18, 2004
IMPERIAL, Pa. (AP) -- US Airways flight attendants at Pittsburgh International Airport will vote for new union leaders Monday.
The action follows Friday's vote in Charlotte, N.C., where the flight attendants' union local head Steve Hearn was voted out as president of the Association of Flight Attendants Local 89.
US Airways has nearly 1,568 flight attendants based in Charlotte and 1,150 near the Pittsburgh airport. The once-bankrupt airline has cut the number of attendants in half since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, has asked those who remain to take two pay cuts -- and is getting ready to ask for a third.
And union members are fed up.
"This did not come as a surprise to me," said Hearn, who was defeated after two terms by Charlotte flight attendant Mike Flores. "There's an angry group of members that wanted a change."
Teddy Xidas, president of the Pittsburgh AFA Local 40, was elected in a landslide three years ago, but is being challenged by Gineen Ferrara, the local's former acting secretary/treasurer.
Xidas, a 23-year veteran of the airline, understands why the flight attendants are upset. US Airways officials "want to get us to the table for round three" of pay cuts, "but right now, we are just trying to hold on to what we have," she said.
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