BY NANCY ROSENSTOCK AND MARY MARTIN
NEW YORK - On Friday night, May 1, members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) at Trans World Airlines (TWA) conducted a work stoppage for two hours during peak travel time. The airline was forced to cancel or substantially delay dozens of flights, as baggage handlers, mechanics, and customer service agents at TWA's two major hubs in St. Louis and Kennedy Airport in New York, as well as Los Angeles, walked off the job, shutting down the airline and affecting the carrier's flights system-wide.

The 20,000 IAM-organized workers at TWA have been without a contract since August 1997. Talks between the company and the IAM have been taking place with a federal mediator. A central issue in the negotiations for the Machinists union is that of pay parity because IAM members at TWA earn far less than the industry average. With no progress on these talks, the IAM proposed that an interim contract be worked out while negotiations continue. But two days prior to the work stoppage, James Martin, a senior vice president at TWA, rejected the IAM's proposal. Speaking on behalf of the company, he stated that instead further concessions from the workers would be needed. These concession demands include an end to the incentive pay that ticket agents now receive to supplement their low base pay, as well as the elimination of union jurisdiction over some jobs that are now organized by the IAM. Machinists union officials say that these cuts would result in the loss of more than 1,000 IAM jobs.

Over the last decade, TWA workers have given more than $4 billion in concessions. These include no pay raise in over six years, a frozen pension, reduced vacation time, and cuts in crew sizes. In 1997 alone TWA eliminated 500 jobs. Having been in and out of bankruptcy twice since 1993, TWA is struggling against its competitors for a greater market share.

The work stoppage, which followed a similar job action in St. Louis last December, was front-page news in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the major daily in that city, where TWA is one of the main employers. The effects of the walkout at Kennedy Airport in New York was the lead story on many local TV and radio news shows that night and the next morning.

TWA called the walkout "an illegal work stoppage," referring to the Railway Labor Act, which governs labor relations for workers in the transportation industries. The union countered that its members combined their break time and meal time. The company filed for a court restraining order against any further job actions and announced it will sue the IAM in court for "damages incurred" as a result of the stoppage.

The effect of the stoppage on the job has been one of increased self-confidence, unity, and organization of workers at TWA. The resistance of TWA workers comes in the midst of continued activity by the 40,000 IAM and other union members at Northwest Airlines to press their demands for a contract settlement. After nearly 20 months, contract talks with a federal mediator stalled on April 9 for 26,000 members of the Machinists union. IAM members in Los Angeles and Newark airports plan to begin informational picketing, which has already begun in Washington, D.C. On March 4, some 150 IAM workers on the afternoon shift came to work early and conducted a walk-through of the Minneapolis airport, making sure to issue pro-union chants as they passed the Northwest Executive Officers office suite in the airport.

In the break rooms in Atlanta and D.C., clippings and cartoons related to the Northwest workers' situation, and handwritten signs urging co-workers to "work safe" abound. Atlanta Machinists are planning another "dress down," or not- wearing-the-company-uniform, day to indicate their displeasure with the lack of a negotiated settlement.

The Northwest bosses have lashed out against the union workers, blaming the IAM members for flight cancellations and rising passenger dissatisfaction with the carrier. The May 1 Detroit News reported that more than 100,000 passengers on Northwest have had their travel plans disrupted by late or canceled flights over the past two weeks. Company spokesman Jim Faulkner told the press, "If you want someone to blame, blame those that are causing the slowdown."

The union has gone on record to explain that many workers are carefully and deliberately working in compliance with all of the company's safety rules in order to defend themselves against harassment and victimization by management. This `work safé ethic, on top of staffing shortages in many NWA stations, adds up to a sharp increase in the number of delayed and canceled flights over the past two weeks.

Meanwhile, mechanics and ground service workers began to work to rule at United Airlines the week of April 27, causing a delay on many flights at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Workers there are protesting the imposition by the company of a new requirement that they swipe in and out on time clocks.

Several years ago a concession contract was negotiated by the International Association of Machinists with the company that included an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), a half-hour extension of the workday, and a wage cut. At the time the company agreed to get rid of the swipe in an attempt to undercut opposition to the ESOP, which passed by a relatively small margin of votes. Now the company is reimposing it, despite widespread opposition to this among workers and union officials.

Nancy Rosenstock is a member of the International Association of Machinists and works for TWA in New York. Mary Martin is an IAM member at Northwest in Washington, D.C. IAM members Jeff Jones in Minneapolis and Elizabeth Stone in Chicago contributed to this article.  
 
 
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