This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. 54Who Lost Airline Jobs After 9/11 Are Still Jobless October 23, 2002 By STEVEN GREENHOUSE Many airlines laid off a fifth of their workers after the Sept. 11 attacks, and a report released yesterday found that 54 percent of New York-area airline workers who lost their jobs remained unemployed. The report, based on surveys by the machinists' union and three City University of New York professors, also found that half of those laid off had no medical insurance at some point in the last year and that a fourth still had no coverage. The survey, one of the largest conducted on post-Sept. 11 layoffs, also found that 12 percent of the area's laid-off airline workers had to move for financial reasons, while 31 percent said they feared they might have to move soon because of financial difficulties. "There is an ongoing disaster for these airline workers who were displaced by the events of 9/11," said Bill Kornblum, a City University sociology professor and the main author of the report. For the survey, the machinists' union and three professors at City University Graduate Center mailed questionnaires to 1,800 mechanics, customer service representatives, baggage handlers and other workers laid off by United, American and Trans World Airlines, and 609 workers returned completed questionnaires. One jobless worker, Joel Garhartt, an avionics crew chief who had worked for T.W.A. for 27 years, said he and his wife were selling their house in Astoria, Queens, because they could no longer afford their $885 monthly mortgage payments. Mr. Garhartt's unemployment insurance, $405 a week, ran out after nine months. "It feels strange having to sell our house after living there for 27 years," he said. At a news conference at City University Graduate Center, James Parrott, deputy director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, estimated that the airlines laid off about 10,000 workers in the New York area. "This was an industry that was hit harder than any other industry in New York City," Dr. Parrott said. The Fiscal Policy Institute and the Consortium of Worker Education, a labor-backed group that helps retrain workers, sponsored the study. Unemployment benefits for most of the airline workers expired in July, causing the report's authors to recommend federal legislation to extend benefits at least three months. Tom Daschle, the Senate majority leader, attended the news conference on a day when he was campaigning for H. Carl McCall, the Democratic candidate for governor. Calling the airline workers victims, Senator Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, said, "They didn't lose their lives, but they did lose their livelihoods, and now many of them are starting to lose hope." He noted that when President Bush's father was in the White House, unemployment benefits were extended three times. "We were able to agree that extending unemployment benefits was the right approach then; we should be able to agree that it is the right approach now," Mr. Daschle said. Many workers said they had looked for other jobs with little success. "I'm extremely depressed," said Helen McFarland, a ticket counter supervisor who had worked 35 years for T.W.A. "I was making $17 an hour, and I just went for an interview for an administrative job at a doctor's office that paid just $8 an hour," Ms. McFarland said. "I can't afford to live on that." Steve Sleigh, director of strategic resources for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, criticized lawmakers in Washington for approving $11 billion to bail out the airlines industry while doing little to help aviation workers. "The crisis for New York's airline workers and their families is about to get worse," Mr. Sleigh said, adding that many of the unemployed would soon lose their medical coverage because they could no longer afford the premiums. Gloria Daniels, who was a station support clerk for United, said she could not afford the $350 a month needed to keep her medical insurance. "I have to go to the doctor next week, and I'm going to have to pay for it out of my own pocket," said Ms. Daniels, who was carrying job-rejection letters from Delta, JetBlue and Sabena. In the survey, 21 percent of the laid-off white workers said they had no medical insurance, while 39 percent of the black workers and 37 percent of Hispanic workers said they were without coverage. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/23/nyregion/23LABO.html?ex=1036378407&ei=1&en=0dc3867c5bdff0e7 HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company