Release #01.106
October 3, 2001

WASHINGTON, D.C.---Trans World Airlines pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), today applauded a bill introduced in the House of Representatives that would move seniority talks for TWA and American Airlines workers to independent arbitration.

"Mergers always present difficult issues for airline workers," said Capt. Robert A.Pastore, chairman of the TWA pilots’ Master Executive Council, a unit of ALPA. "Independent arbitration is the only way to ensure fair and equitable treatment when integrating seniority lists."

The "Airline Workers Fairness Act" was introduced by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (D-MO) and has strong support from House Democratic Leader and co-sponsor Richard Gephardt (D-MO) as well as co-sponsor Congressmen Ike Skelton (D-MO), Kenny Hulshof (R-MO), Sam Graves (R-MO), Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO), Karen McCarthy (D-MO), along with Congressman Robert Simmons (R-CT) and Congressman Jim Gibbons (D-NV), a commercial airline pilot currently serving in the US Congress.

"American Airlines announced recently that it would lay off at least 20,000 employees. The seniority integration of TWA’s and American’s pilots was not complete when the terrorist attack of September 11 sent economic repercussions rippling throughout the airline industry. Unless we can get a fair and independent arbitration mechanism in place, TWA workers will be hit with the effects of both a merger and a national security crisis, neither of which they had any control over. We need to enact Representative Emerson’s bill now, while there still is something left to salvage for TWA workers," Pastore said.

ALPA, the nation’s oldest and largest airline pilots union, represents 66,000 pilots at 47 carriers in the U.S. and Canada. Visit the ALPA Web site at http://cf.alpa.org.

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ALPA Contact: Keith Holcomb (314) 770-8500