This is disgusting and it is age discrimination!!! BAHA Fan of being able to retire after many years of hard work. -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of lafrance@xxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2004 3:51 PM To: AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Is staff too old for airline? Is staff too old for airline? Some say US Airways wants younger workers who will take lower pay STAN CHOE AND TONY MECIA Staff Writers Many union members think they've figured out US Airways' goal in its latest cost-cutting proposals: to replace its graying workers with younger, cheaper versions. The nation's seventh-largest airline has among the oldest work forces in the industry, which makes it among the most expensive. This presents a dilemma, because the old-line carrier wants to remake itself into a low-cost airline. To do that, it needs workers to sacrifice some of the pay, benefits and work rules they've come to depend on. Essentially, some workers say, it's like asking a 20-year veteran to be paid like a 20-something. The company, though, says its goal is not to drive out older workers; it is to survive. To do that, US Airways is emulating such low-cost carriers as JetBlue and America West, down to their pay and work rules. The airline, which carries 90 percent of traffic at its busiest hub of Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, is in bankruptcy court for the second time in two years. Unless it can get its labor costs in line with the low-cost carriers, US Airways says it could fail. The debate over worker seniority has intensified since the airline filed for bankruptcy protection Sept. 12. US Airways cited high labor costs, driven by an aging work force, as it argued in court earlier this month that emergency pay cuts for most union members were essential to its transformation plan. The court let the company impose 21 percent pay cuts, which can be scrapped with voluntary concessions. But under the company's latest cost-cutting proposals, some workers say they would be paid so little that no senior employees would think it worth their while to stick around. The Communications Workers of America estimates a 34 percent pay cut for its customer-service-agent members. Fleet-service workers, represented by the International Association of Machinists, would see their top hourly wages cut to $15.20 from $19.49. The airline is also looking for the ability to outsource all CWA and fleet-service jobs. US Airways is asking its flight attendants to take wage cuts of 15 percent, reductions in sick and vacation time, and assurances the union won't object to termination of its pension plan. It also seeks to create a new, lower pay scale for new hires. "When you look at the last proposal, it was designed simply to change the work force over," said Mike Flores, 47, president of the local flight attendants' union and husband of a US Airways flight attendant. "There would be no reason for the very senior people to stay." Because the airline would cut flight attendant wages by 15 percent, most of his co-workers would have to find other jobs, said Flores, who has 24 years with the airline. One Charlotte customer-service agent, who didn't want his name used because he's already looking for a new job, said his pay wouldn't be enough to cover the bills for his two-child family. Older workers are more likely to have children at home, which raises monthly bills. And if their pensions get terminated, there's no reason to accrue more years of service, Flores said. The lowest-paid workers, such as flight attendants, customer-service agents and baggage handlers, are most at risk, unions say. They are viewed as more expendable than pilots or mechanics. When comparing US Airways to low-cost carriers, it pays its average worker more. That's due almost entirely to its more experienced work force. US Airways' most junior pilot was hired in 1988, and the most junior flight attendant has six years' seniority. Contrast that to JetBlue, for example, where no worker has more than four years. The airline started in 2000. And even with the pay cuts, US Airways said its workers would still be making more than if they started over at a new airline at the bottom of the seniority pay scale. No one has raised the issue of age discrimination. The company says the growth of low-fare airlines means lower labor costs industrywide. To the notion that some airline jobs may no longer be viable careers, "that's the unfortunate reality of the marketplace," US Airways spokesman David Castelveter said. Younger staff already gone The reason for a work force where the average customer-service agent has 19 years of experience: US Airways has laid off most of its junior workers. In the heavily unionized airline industry, companies typically pay their union workers based on years of service. Of US Airways' mechanics, 99.6 percent earn the top rate, for example. Jeff Battreall, a US Airways flight attendant with over 15 years' experience, sometimes finds himself on flights with attendants with over 40 years' experience. "Every time I fly with them, I'll say, `Hey you know what, we got jet engines now.' They don't think it's funny." Battreall, who's 41 and based in Charlotte, says he still loves flying and watching the lights of Las Vegas burst out of the darkness of the desert on descent or looking out the left windows at the Capitol while flying to Washington. He thinks he and his wife, another US Airways flight attendant, would continue working at the airline even with the proposed pay cuts. Generally, studies show that more experienced workers are more productive than new workers, says Michael Walden, an economist at N.C. State University. "Everything else equal, businesses do want a more experienced work force," he said. "But the big question is, is the company willing to pay for that, and is the customer willing to pay for that?" Roger EWROPS