=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2005/02/03/financial/= f132750S52.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, February 3, 2005 (AP) Low Pay Doesn't Scare US Air Job Seekers By MATTHEW BARAKAT, AP Business Writer (02-03) 13:27 PST Arlington, VA (AP) -- Despite hourly pay as low as $7.52, hundreds of job seekers applied for work Thursday at bankrupt US Airways as the airline seeks to expand operations at Reagan National Airport near Washington. About 300 applicants crowded into a job fair eager to work as baggage handlers and customer representatives. Baggage handlers and customer service representatives receive starting p= ay of $9.59 an hour, while customer assistance representatives, who drive the carts that shuttle incapacitated travelers from the counter to the gate, start at $7.52 an hour. US Airways spokesman David Castelveter said the company is looking to hi= re about 200 workers, mostly baggage handlers, at Reagan. While the airline has been downsizing and laying off workers in other cities, it is actually expanding at Reagan, where it is launching service this weekend to Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit and Houston. Castelveter said the airline was having a difficult time hiring baggage handlers in some cities, like Philadelphia and Washington, because many prospective employees were concerned about the airline's future and because the airline was operating under a court order that cut union workers' pay by 21 percent, meaning baggage handlers would have started at less than $8 an hour. In recent weeks, though, the airline has secured interim financing deals and signed new labor contracts with its unions. The new labor deals also restore starting pay for baggage handlers to $9.59 an hour. Applicants at the job fair said the pay scales did not bother them becau= se of the airline's benefit plan, which includes medical and dental insurance and free travel. "I just want to get my foot in the door in the airline industry," said Edward Lopez, 27, of Fairfax, who currently works in retail. He said several friends at US Airways recommended the company as a good place to work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2005 AP