US Airways Flight Attendants Picket At PHL Airport
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - More than 50 flight attendants and a group of pilots from US Airways staged an informational picket today at Philadelphia International Airport to protest the lack of a contract with the airline.
The Association of Flight Attendants, which represents about 2,000 flight attendants who work out of Philadelphia, organized the event.
The off-duty employees, in uniform, carried signs urging US Airways to bargain seriously and bring contract talks that have been going on for five years to a close.
Local union president John McCorkle says the rank and file is frustrated.
"It's been five years and we've basically gotten... we've gotten a lot done in terms of non-compensation but when it comes to compensation, that's what these people care about the most," he said.
McCorkle says that even though the union just walked away from the bargaining table, a federal mediator is working to bring both sides back to the talks.
US Airways pilots also have been without a deal for five years and they, too, want a new contract (see related story).
Reported by Mark Abrams, KYW Newsradio 1060.
