Flight Attendants Picket at Charlottesville Albemarle Airport

June 14, 2013
Six flight attendants with Maryland-based Piedmont Airlines marched along the sidewalk in matching red shirts, signs held high, leaflets in hand Thursday afternoon, asking passengers and airport staff for their support in their ongoing fight for fair wages.

June 14--While travelers at Charlottesville Albemarle Airport may have been disappointed to hear flights had been delayed as summer storms raged across the Mid-Atlantic, flight attendants picketing outside the airport Thursday said they had been suffering from a delayed takeoff of their own for more than four years.

Six flight attendants with Maryland-based Piedmont Airlines marched along the sidewalk in matching red shirts, signs held high, leaflets in hand Thursday afternoon, asking passengers and airport staff for their support in their ongoing fight for fair wages.

Piedmont Airlines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of US Airways Group, Inc., currently employs 33 flight attendants and 66 pilots at its Charlottesville location.

While Thursday's picket line did not delay or impede air travel, Charlottesville-based flight attendant and president of the Piedmont flight attendant union Anita Jwanouskos said a full-blown strike could occur if negotiations with Piedmont fall through.

According to Jwanouskos, the unhappy airline employees have been fighting for fair wages and decent benefits since 2009.

"We haven't had a pay raise in over four years. Right now, they're offering us 2 1/2 percent and we want three. So it's not like we're asking for the world, especially when US Airways is bringing in $111 million dollars in profit in a year. That's not even a drop in the bucket," Jwanouskos said, fanning herself with her picket sign as Thursday's summer storms gave way to drenching humidity.

In a press release the Association of Flight Attendants issued last week, the world's largest flight attendant union said that the Piedmont flight attendants had cleared a 98 percent strike authorization at last count.

"Piedmont Flight Attendants are determined to do whatever it takes to get a contract that reflects their contributions to the airline," the release reads.

If Piedmont's 220 flight attendants successfully end mediation with the company, which has been overseen by the National Mediation Board since last year, the airline employees will have a 30-day "cooling-off period" to find some resolution with Piedmont before negotiations officially fall through.

"I don't know why it's called a 'cooling-off period' when things are actually heating up," Jwanouskos said Thursday. "It's like a pressure cooker."

The flight attendants will have 30 days to come to some resolution, Jwanouskos explained, after which they will be free to strike.

"We don't want to go on strike," Jwanouskos said. "But we may have to."

And the strike won't be a simple walkout.

According to the AFA, the flight attendants will coordinate impromptu "CHAOS" strike actions.

"CHAOS stands for Create Havoc Around Our System," Jwanouskos explained.

During a CHAOS strike, Piedmont's flight attendants will organize targeted, unannounced strikes at random airports serviced by the US Airways subsidiary.

Without flight attendants, Piedmont flight cabins will go unmanned and possibly ground planes for some time if the airline cannot find employees to replace missing crewmembers.

"That's the beauty of CHAOS," Jwanouskos said. "They can't predict what we're going to do."

Picketing alongside Jwanouskos and fellow flight attendants Thursday afternoon was Stephen Ormsbee, a pilot who said he has flown with Piedmont flight attendants for 25 years.

"They have worked continually at the highest standard and in good faith and it's about time the company stopped procrastinating and gave them a contract that's appropriate for the job they do," Ormsbee said. "What people don't realize, since 9/11, when we've been forced to secure and lock the cockpit doors, they're on their own in the back. They're responsible for the safety of all our passengers."

Ormsbee said Piedmont employees are often overlooked because they are perceived as a regional service provider, a subsidiary of a "main line."

"They get the same lip service, but when it comes to wages and benefits, they don't seem to get the same respect," Ormsbee said.

Picketers had an early day Thursday, starting their morning at 3:15 a.m. at Roanoke Regional Airport, 125 miles away. The six ladies said they planned to leave Charlottesville Friday morning to make it to Piedmont's base in Harrisburg, Pa., where they will bring a week of picketing to a close.

Copyright 2013 - The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Va.