WASHINGTON, D.C. – Richard L. Trumka, Secretary-Treasurer, AFL-CIO and Edward Wytkind, President, Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO issued the following statement following today’s meeting of the national AFL-CIO aviation union leaders to review and develop a strategy in response to the latest wave of possible airline mergers.
“The American labor movement is deeply concerned about possible mergers between the major air carriers. Through decades of experience, we know that corporations will pursue their own interests and ignore the impact of their decisions on employees unless the workers are at the table with a strong voice through strong unions.
“We are united in our commitment to protect airline employees from the severe harm that may stem from poorly conceived airline consolidations that ignore the needs of employees and the flying public.
“We will move forward after today’s meeting unified around the following principles:
“We will review the implications of all possible airline mergers on jobs, on collective bargaining rights, on service to the flying public, and on the communities that rely on this industry for transportation needs.
“We will use any and all options – including deployment of legislative, political and capital strategies – to leverage the strength of working people to ensure this latest merger mania doesn’t harm this industry, its employees, passengers and communities.
“We will engage elected officials at the highest level to ensure the voices of workers are not drowned out by voices of greed and Wall Street who may seize this moment as a chance to create wealth for a few at the expense of many.”
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The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, represents 32 member unions in the aviation, rail, transit, trucking, highway, longshore, maritime and related industries. For more information, visit ttd.org.
Labor Movement United to Protect Airline Employees in Possible Mergers