http://www.deseretnews.com/article/455848/HUNDREDS-OF-EX-WORKERS-CALL-FOR-AIRLINE-BOYCOTT.html
The assault on America West Airlines grew more vitriolic Friday, with hundreds of laid-off employees and union supporters slamming the company for accepting tax breaks during its 1992 bankruptcy and then sending 500 jobs to Washington state.
"After you and your businesses bailed out America West when it was hours from closing its doors, this is how they thank you - by sending local jobs to Washington," said Ron Edwon, a mechanic with the airline for 10 years until the layoffs Dec. 2.America West announced that it would contract with Tramco, based in Everett, Wash., for much of its maintenance work.
"That company was built by our sweat and sacrifice," Edwon said. "We're madder than h--- and we're not going to take it!"
Workers from more than a dozen unions gathered in the sunshine in a parking lot across from the airline's downtown headquarters, waving signs and answering impassioned speeches with cries of "Boycott America West!"
The rally was organized by the Teamsters union.
The fired workers, about half of the airline's mechanics force, say the company targeted active unionists in the layoffs and threatened workers they would be denied salary increases if they unionized.
The company has denied the charges, saying officials keep no records of which employees were actively pro-union. The majority of mechanics don't want to unionize, a fact evidenced by last December's vote against joining, said Michael Mitchell, company spokesman.
"This isn't their fight," Mitchell said Friday of the Teamsters. "There was an election and they did not win representation. They are creating a lot of distress for these people they don't represent."
Approximately 900 America West mechanics were eligible to vote in the December 1994 election, which was to decide whether to unionize. The unionists lost by 14 votes.
Another election is slated for Jan. 26.
Joining the Teamsters as they called for a nationwide boycott of America West was Tempe Vice Mayor Dennis Cahill and a representative for Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza.
In a letter the protesters delivered to the airline's corporate offices, the fired workers slam America West for taking millions of dollars in tax breaks while building and then, in 1992, when the company filed for bankruptcy.
"We accepted wage cuts, then frozen wages and the promises from management that when the profits came, we would be rewarded for our loyalty," the letter reads. "But as our reward, America West coldly fired us, took away our livelihood, our health insurance, our futures."
Mitchell defended the company's decision to contract its work to a Washington firm, saying the workers are receiving a "fair severance package."
Workers who have been with the company more than six years have been offered $10,000
if they agree not to sue the company for any damages. Workers who have been with the company less than six years can have $3,000
if they make the same promises.