United workers seek new union
Group of attendants launches campaign for own labor agent
By David Kesmodel, Rocky Mountain News
April 7, 2004
Some United Airlines flight attendants have launched a campaign to unseat their union, the Association of Flight Attendants.
The workers hope to replace the AFA with a new union that would represent only United attendants and would not be affiliated with the AFL-CIO, an umbrella union organization.
The workers say they want a more democratic and responsive union and are upset with the AFA's recent merger with the Communications Workers of America. The CWA represents employees in such industries as telecommunications, higher education and newspaper publishing.
"We want a union focused on flight attendants' interests only," said Eric Julien, a spokesman for the group and an 18-year attendant at United, Denver's dominant carrier.
The workers, who wish to form the United Flight Attendant Union, or UFAU, face many hurdles. First, they must persuade a majority of United's roughly 20,000 active or furloughed attendants to sign authorization cards so they can hold an election at the carrier, which is in bankruptcy.
The National Mediation Board, which oversees labor relations in the airline industry, will determine whether the group has enough signatures. The effort to collect authorization cards got under way Monday.
A Laconia, N.H.-based firm, the McCormick Advisory Group, is advising the group. McCormick also works with the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, the union that unseated the International Association of Machinists last year as the bargaining agent for United's mechanics.
AMFA, formed in the 1960s, has persuaded mechanics at several big airlines in recent years to be part of a union that focuses on a single profession and is not affiliated with the AFL-CIO.
Unlike AMFA, the UFAU would represent workers at only one company.
The startup group said it is angry in part because its current union, which represents more than 50,000 flight attendants at 26 carriers, has spent money on failed attempts to organize Delta Air Lines' attendants.
Greg Davidowitch, president of United's AFA branch, said the workers would serve themselves better if they became active in the AFA's management instead of trying to dump the union.
"It's really easy to stand on the outside and throw rocks," he said. "If these people were serious about making things better for United flight attendants, there's a forum for that. Half of our local councils around the world are up for re-election."
He said a previous campaign by the group to organize workers, in 2000 and 2001, fizzled because "they didn't have a lot of support."
Davidowitch said United attendants are dealing with a great deal of uncertainty because the Chicago- based carrier is fighting to emerge from bankruptcy and workers have faced wage and benefit cuts and furloughs. But to address the turmoil, the attendants "need to work together," he said.
The effort to unseat the AFA could have "a legitimate chance," said Gary Chaison, a professor of labor relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.
"There's so much anxiety in that industry among all the labor groups," he said. "Right now, it's just a search for solutions."
But he said he could see several factors working against the campaign.
"One might be that people just don't like change," he said. "I'm not sure whether the attendants are willing to take the risk (of joining a startup union). And I've always suspected that a lot of the support for a second union is really just voicing concern for their first union, rather than a real attempt to change."
Group of attendants launches campaign for own labor agent
By David Kesmodel, Rocky Mountain News
April 7, 2004
Some United Airlines flight attendants have launched a campaign to unseat their union, the Association of Flight Attendants.
The workers hope to replace the AFA with a new union that would represent only United attendants and would not be affiliated with the AFL-CIO, an umbrella union organization.
The workers say they want a more democratic and responsive union and are upset with the AFA's recent merger with the Communications Workers of America. The CWA represents employees in such industries as telecommunications, higher education and newspaper publishing.
"We want a union focused on flight attendants' interests only," said Eric Julien, a spokesman for the group and an 18-year attendant at United, Denver's dominant carrier.
The workers, who wish to form the United Flight Attendant Union, or UFAU, face many hurdles. First, they must persuade a majority of United's roughly 20,000 active or furloughed attendants to sign authorization cards so they can hold an election at the carrier, which is in bankruptcy.
The National Mediation Board, which oversees labor relations in the airline industry, will determine whether the group has enough signatures. The effort to collect authorization cards got under way Monday.
A Laconia, N.H.-based firm, the McCormick Advisory Group, is advising the group. McCormick also works with the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, the union that unseated the International Association of Machinists last year as the bargaining agent for United's mechanics.
AMFA, formed in the 1960s, has persuaded mechanics at several big airlines in recent years to be part of a union that focuses on a single profession and is not affiliated with the AFL-CIO.
Unlike AMFA, the UFAU would represent workers at only one company.
The startup group said it is angry in part because its current union, which represents more than 50,000 flight attendants at 26 carriers, has spent money on failed attempts to organize Delta Air Lines' attendants.
Greg Davidowitch, president of United's AFA branch, said the workers would serve themselves better if they became active in the AFA's management instead of trying to dump the union.
"It's really easy to stand on the outside and throw rocks," he said. "If these people were serious about making things better for United flight attendants, there's a forum for that. Half of our local councils around the world are up for re-election."
He said a previous campaign by the group to organize workers, in 2000 and 2001, fizzled because "they didn't have a lot of support."
Davidowitch said United attendants are dealing with a great deal of uncertainty because the Chicago- based carrier is fighting to emerge from bankruptcy and workers have faced wage and benefit cuts and furloughs. But to address the turmoil, the attendants "need to work together," he said.
The effort to unseat the AFA could have "a legitimate chance," said Gary Chaison, a professor of labor relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.
"There's so much anxiety in that industry among all the labor groups," he said. "Right now, it's just a search for solutions."
But he said he could see several factors working against the campaign.
"One might be that people just don't like change," he said. "I'm not sure whether the attendants are willing to take the risk (of joining a startup union). And I've always suspected that a lot of the support for a second union is really just voicing concern for their first union, rather than a real attempt to change."
