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CNN Live At Daybreak
Uncertainty Descends on United Employees
Aired December 19, 2002 - 05:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: When the world's number two airline landed in bankruptcy court, uncertainty descended on its employees. Two United Airlines flight attendants talked with our Lisa Leiter about how UAL's financial troubles are affecting them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIBETH WEBER, FLIGHT ATTENDANT UNITED AIRLINES: I've got my coat. Do I need gloves? It's supposed to be warm when we get back.
LISA LEITER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Maribeth Weber has flown about 15 million miles for United over the past 35 years. But her trip last Monday from Tokyo to Chicago was most memorable the day United filed for bankruptcy.
WEBER: The immediate reaction was mostly humiliation. You know, you just, you couldn't even believe that we had sunk this low.
LEITER: With a handful of years left before retirement, Weber can't believe the only job she's wanted since she was five years old is now in jeopardy.
WEBER: It's insane. It's insane that a company with the assets that it has and the people that it has finds itself in this situation.
LEITER: For United to keep flying in Chapter 11, it has until mid-February to slash annual labor costs by $2.4 billion, far more than any union thought.
(on camera): Flight attendants expect their cuts will be smaller than the other big unions because their wages are pegged to the industry average. Unlike the pilots and the mechanics, the flight attendants did not join the stock ownership plan, nor do they have a seat on the company's board.
JOSEPH SCHWIETERMAN, DEPAUL UNIVERSITY: While other labor groups are getting fairly substantial pay increases, theirs were fairly small. And they never joined the ESAP (ph). Clearly, now they understand that they are expected to give when they don't feel like they've reaped the bounty of the other labor groups. So we're going to see some tension there.
LEITER (voice-over): Tension that could affect how flight attendants treat their customers.
MELANIE STRAHAN, FLIGHT ATTENDANT, UNITED AIRLINES: We might be a little less tolerant of whether you get steak or chicken as your choice for dinner. You know, there are bigger issues out there.
LEITER: Melanie Strahan has a lot at stake. She's just months from retirement after 40 years with United.
STRAHAN: And you think oh, good, I'm going to retire and I can do my gardening and I can go visit my friends and then you think well, I might not have passes. I might not have the money to do it.
LEITER: Her friend, Maribeth Weber, agrees.
WEBER: Clearly my pension's on the table, my medical benefits are on the table, my income is on the table, my lifestyle is on the table. All of it. No matter what happens, I'm going to survive and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure United survives.
LEITER: The union is urging flight attendants to take additional unpaid time off next month to do just that.
Lisa Leiter, CNN Financial News, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 19, 2002 - 05:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: When the world's number two airline landed in bankruptcy court, uncertainty descended on its employees. Two United Airlines flight attendants talked with our Lisa Leiter about how UAL's financial troubles are affecting them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIBETH WEBER, FLIGHT ATTENDANT UNITED AIRLINES: I've got my coat. Do I need gloves? It's supposed to be warm when we get back.
LISA LEITER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Maribeth Weber has flown about 15 million miles for United over the past 35 years. But her trip last Monday from Tokyo to Chicago was most memorable the day United filed for bankruptcy.
WEBER: The immediate reaction was mostly humiliation. You know, you just, you couldn't even believe that we had sunk this low.
LEITER: With a handful of years left before retirement, Weber can't believe the only job she's wanted since she was five years old is now in jeopardy.
WEBER: It's insane. It's insane that a company with the assets that it has and the people that it has finds itself in this situation.
LEITER: For United to keep flying in Chapter 11, it has until mid-February to slash annual labor costs by $2.4 billion, far more than any union thought.
(on camera): Flight attendants expect their cuts will be smaller than the other big unions because their wages are pegged to the industry average. Unlike the pilots and the mechanics, the flight attendants did not join the stock ownership plan, nor do they have a seat on the company's board.
JOSEPH SCHWIETERMAN, DEPAUL UNIVERSITY: While other labor groups are getting fairly substantial pay increases, theirs were fairly small. And they never joined the ESAP (ph). Clearly, now they understand that they are expected to give when they don't feel like they've reaped the bounty of the other labor groups. So we're going to see some tension there.
LEITER (voice-over): Tension that could affect how flight attendants treat their customers.
MELANIE STRAHAN, FLIGHT ATTENDANT, UNITED AIRLINES: We might be a little less tolerant of whether you get steak or chicken as your choice for dinner. You know, there are bigger issues out there.
LEITER: Melanie Strahan has a lot at stake. She's just months from retirement after 40 years with United.
STRAHAN: And you think oh, good, I'm going to retire and I can do my gardening and I can go visit my friends and then you think well, I might not have passes. I might not have the money to do it.
LEITER: Her friend, Maribeth Weber, agrees.
WEBER: Clearly my pension's on the table, my medical benefits are on the table, my income is on the table, my lifestyle is on the table. All of it. No matter what happens, I'm going to survive and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure United survives.
LEITER: The union is urging flight attendants to take additional unpaid time off next month to do just that.
Lisa Leiter, CNN Financial News, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
