Continental Airlines Announces That No Flight Attendant Agreement Reached (PR Newswire)

[CALwatch]

Continental Airlines Announces That No Flight Attendant Agreement Reached
Friday November 18, 11:41 am ET


HOUSTON, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL - News) today issued the following bulletin to update employees on the status of negotiations with its flight attendants' union, the International Association of Machinists (IAM):

Talks between Continental Airlines and the IAM adjourned yesterday in Washington, D.C., with no flight attendant agreement being reached. The chairman of the National Mediation Board (NMB) joined the talks on Tuesday, Nov. 15. The issues have been narrowed to a few remaining items.

A final bargaining session has been scheduled for Dec. 7 and 8 in the offices of the NMB in Washington, D.C. If no agreement is reached on those dates, the NMB has stated that it will consider releasing the parties from mediation into a 30-day cooling off period. At the end of that period, the company would be able to implement needed wage and benefit reductions, and the flight attendants would be able to strike.

 

[czerny]

question to CAL fas, what's going to happen to the new hires and probationary junior fas if you go on strike? Many have given up recall rights to their other carriers to relocate to EWR. If, worse case scenario, you do go on strike, are these new hires protected in the sense that they will not be disciplined by management if they walk the picket line with you? I'm asking for a classmate of mine who gave up his rights at AA to be with CAL.

Having just gone through a harrowing contract negotiation, CHAOS committee setup and infopicketing with an AFA carrier recently, I feel for all fas at all levels of seniority.Good luck!