• DEPARTURE, BAGGAGE GOALS NOT MET - US Airways workers won't get $100 bonus

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DEPARTURE, BAGGAGE GOALS NOT MET
US Airways workers won't get $100 bonus
Union: Offer insulting, contracts are key issue

JEFFERSON GEORGE
jgeorge@charlotteobserver.com

US Airways employees won't get $100 in bonus money after falling short on two performance goals over the holidays.

The airline's "Holiday Hustle" program would have rewarded employees for meeting two goals between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31: at least 60 percent of all flights departing at the scheduled time or earlier, and mishandling no more than seven bags per 1,000 bags. Employees would have gotten $50 for reaching just one goal.

Final statistics weren't available Wednesday, but US Airways spokesman Phil Gee said the airline missed both goals. Through Dec. 26, 58.5 percent of flights departed at the scheduled time, and US Airways had mishandled 7.43 bags per 1,000 bags.

Gee said via e-mail that the airline was on track to meet both goals until mid-December, when bad weather and packed planes led to more delays and baggage issues.

"The operation still went pretty well," Gee said, "but not well enough to get the prize."

For employees frustrated at the lack of new labor contracts, however, the prospect of $100 wasn't a big incentive, said Mike Flores, president of the US Airways chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants.

Since the September 2005 merger of US Airways and America West Airlines, Flores said, top executives have made millions of dollars.

"That doesn't sit well with employees," he said. "To dangle a hundred bucks out there ... it's an insult."

US Airways has roughly 36,000 employees, including about 5,300 based in Charlotte, the carrier's largest hub. The major labor groups, including pilots and flight attendants, are working without new labor contracts more than two years after the merger. Ending that impasse, Flores said, is more important than setting performance targets over the holidays.

"They were goals that were not really attainable by all the employees," he said. "What these memberships want are better contracts."

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Thank you,

Mike Flores, President
The US Airways Master Executive Council
AFA-CWA

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