Posted on Fri, Dec. 21, 2007 10:15 PM
TWA flight attendants should be flying again soon
By JIM SALTER The Associated Press

Sen. Claire McCaskill brokered a deal between American Airlines and the TWA flight attendants who lost their jobs after Sept. 11.

ST. LOUIS They took jobs as grocery workers, house painters, whatever they could to get by. But in the months to come, about 1,400 former Trans World Airline flight attendants who have been laid off for several years should be back to the skies.

Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri announced that she had brokered a deal between American Airlines and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants to extend the recall rights for the former TWA attendants for an additional two years.

At a news conference Friday, McCaskill said that with the upturn in the airline industry, the deal almost certainly means all of the attendants who want their jobs back will get them.

“In this line of work you have some dark days and then you have days like this,” McCaskill said, wiping a tear from her eye.

American bought TWA in 2001, just months before the airline industry was hit hard by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. As part of the merger, the former TWA employees went to the bottom of the seniority list. After the attacks, they were the first to go and the last to be recalled. All told, about 2,500 former TWA attendants were laid off.

Several hundred have since been recalled, but the recall rights for the rest were scheduled to end in November. McCaskill was able to get a brief extension and even threatened legislative action.

Eventually, American agreed to the extended recall rights. As part of the deal, the union withdrew grievances related to the handling of the layoffs. McCaskill lauded both sides, noting that the TWA attendants averaged 20 years of experience and would earn roughly 50 percent more than American would have had to pay beginners.

American spokeswoman Susan Gordon said, “I think we’re pleased to have been able to work through the issue and reach a mutually beneficial solution.”
Many TWA flight attendants were trained at the airline’s Breech Academy, which was at Lamar and Shawnee Mission Parkway in Overland Park. TWA’s headquarters also was in Kansas City, at 1735 Baltimore Ave., before it moved to New York in 1958 and then to St. Louis.

At Friday’s news conference, McCaskill jokingly told former attendant Roger Graham that he could stop calling her now. It was Graham who spearheaded the effort to extend the recall rights. “With Senator McCaskill’s help, many of the former TWA flight attendants will now have the opportunity to return to their career, leaving behind the destructive path of a merger and 9/11,” Graham said.

One of the attendants, John Linneman, said he took a job working on television towers before his recent recall. Others, he said, made do with low-paying jobs and financial insecurity as they tried to get by. "We all did what we could do, but we stayed together as a group," he said. McCaskill said many struggled to stay afloat. "There has been depression, financial ruin," McCaskill said. "There have been families torn apart, divorces. "Still, Graham said, there are no hard feelings toward the company. "We're a forgiving group," he said. "The only bitter feelings that remain are for 9-11."