As passengers got out of cabs and shuttle buses at Terminal D they were met with a boisterous crowd carrying picket signs and chanting through blaring bullhorns. Hundreds of TWU members, alongside fellow union flight attendants and pilots and retired NFL players with the NFL Players Association, rallied to seize upon the national attention brought by the Super Bowl and the busiest travel day of the year at DFW in order to expose the corporate greed at American Airlines.
“The workers at American Airlines have made sacrifices and taken cuts, now its time for the company to step up to the plate,” said Garry Drummond, TWU International Director of the Air Transport Division. “This demonstration during the Super Bowl shines the public spotlight on the ongoing dispute and lack of a decent contract for the TWU members at American Airlines.”
Passerby’s got the message that “American Airlines doesn’t play fair and that’s not super” from flyers, chants, signs and a moving billboard. People stopped to show support and ask how they could help the workers in their struggle.
Donny Tyndall, President of Local 502 in Los Angeles, who flew to Dallas to join the picket added, “Most of the fans who came to Dallas are aware of the potential lockout by NFL team owners. We want them to know of serious labor problems on the airline that takes them in and out of Dallas and the greedy behavior of the airline’s managers.”
After taking wage cuts, concessions and layoffs in 2003 to help the company avert bankruptcy, the 34,000 union workers at American Airlines want a fair deal. AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, has handed out over $300 million dollars in bonuses to top executives over the last five years, yet demands that workers take pay and benefit cuts. Contract talks for fleet service workers, mechanics, flight dispatcher and other TWU-represented work groups has dragged on for more than four years, despite the assignment of federal mediators. And company continues to ask for concessionary pay and benefit cuts
“In sports you look at the top guys when things go wrong and re-evaluate the game plan. Instead, American Airlines is blaming workers and labor costs as the problem, but there needs to be some self-reflection at the top. We are sick and tired of excuses,” said Darrin Pierce, President Local 513.
Behind the slogan of “One Union, One Voice,” members from all departments joined together to hold the event. For those on the picket line, the event was an opportunity to create unity and mobilize to fight for a fair contract, while educating the public about the continued greed of American Airlines’ management.
“This protest inspires our members who are frustrated and it lets them know the union is fighting for them,” said Pierce. “This shows we need to come together collectively to take on this fight.”
Workers at American Airlines, like Chris Nelson, a Local 565 member with over 25 years at American Airlines who joined the picket, want the company to bargain in good faith and to get a long-overdue contract that honors the people who are the backbone of the company. While executives get rich, workers’ families are losing their homes and struggling to make ends meet with lower income.
Patti Oaks is a fleet service worker from Local 568 in Miami and has worked for American Airlines for 21 years. “We want to be treated fairly and to be respected for the work we do with a contract. It’s been far too long,” she remarked.
ATD Locals from around the country representing workers at American Airlines began planning the large event after holding a similar protest against corporate greed on April 15, 2010, the day American Airlines executives took home their hefty bonus checks.
Mark York, Local 513, said that the strategic planning committee learned best practices from TWU members at Southwest Airlines and Rail and Transit Division Locals. They adapted new strategies and utilized cutting-edge electonric communications tools like text messages, robo calls, Facebook, email and websites, as well as flyers and phone calls. “We have gone to a whole new level of communicating with our members,” said York.
Leading up to Monday’s rally, TWU members passed out flyers at DFW on the Friday before the Super Bowl. They gave people a team roster that had TWU’s message about on the back.
According to the protest’s organizers, this was not a single event, but part of a campaign to gain justice for workers at American Airlines.