January 24, 2008

Dear Fellow US Airways Employee:

Today is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of US Airways. For the first time, the union leaders of all the east and west labor groups at our airline have come together to form the US Airways Labor Coalition.

For nearly three years, we have each struggled with a management team that refuses to address our issues at the bargaining table and/or adhere to the agreements they made. Any glimmer of hope that things were about to change when management hired a million-dollar consulting team last year and solicited input from the employees was quickly extinguished when, after receiving the expert advice and feedback, management decided to spend more money on public relations instead of on working with labor to complete the merger. In fact, it's been business as usual with management naming several new corporate executives, banking millions of dollars each month as we remain separate operations, and blaming labor for all their failures.

As US Airways union leaders, it's time to reexamine our strategy. Each union has been focused on its own individual negotiations to improve our wages, benefits and working conditions and enforcing those contracts already in place. Management has attempted to use negotiations to divide union members for too long.

From this day forward, the US Airways Labor Coalition vows that we will no longer pay the price for this merger, nor will we fund management's dreams of a bigger airline while several of our contracts remain open and all of our members are disrespected by management. With speculation of more consolidation on the horizon, there's never been a better time for us to join forces to ensure that we are a part of any future transaction involving US Airways.

The US Airways Labor Coalition will help us achieve our goals by creating a strong, unified voice for labor that management cannot ignore. Not only will we strategize regularly to collaborate on issues, we will also support each other's efforts and hold events so that all unionized employees may demonstrate their fury and frustration over management's complete disregard for labor and our issues.

Our actions will lend credit to our words and express our commitment to this alliance. While we may be separate organizations, we can no longer be divided. What affects one of us affects us all. We stand united in our quest for a better working environment and will not rest until management throws out their anti-labor tactics and deals with labor in a fair and equitable manner.

In solidarity,

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