The Association of Flight Attendants-
CWA Monday asked a federal bankruptcy judge to reconsider his decision to
permit US Airways to impose 21 percent pay cuts on flight attendants.
Other work groups received similar cuts. “These draconian cuts are excessive, even measured by the company’s
original request for relief,” said David Borer, AFA general counsel. “Any
relief provided to this carrier must be based on its proof of financial
need, not the company’s fuzzy math.”

Before the court’s October 15 action, US Airways management insisted that
cash savings of $32.6 million from flight attendants were needed to
continue operating through March 2005—all to be derived from a 23
percent cut in “current base rates,” its original proposal. Yet in
undisputed testimony before the court, expert witness Daniel Akins noted
that the company underestimated the cost savings in its wage proposal and
further failed to factor in its failure to meet its funding obligation to
the Flight Attendant Pension Plan. The resulting monthly impact on flight
attendants would be almost $9 million, not $5.4 million as the company had
claimed.

“By not paying into the pension plan as required by both the collective
bargaining agreement and by federal law, US Airways is saving an extra
$3.9 million each month,” Borer said. “We believe that the court’s order
should be modified to accurately limit the actual cost savings realized by
the company to the amount the company claimed it needed, and not a penny
more.”
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