United Attendants Picket Airport

Campaigning for higher pay, more respect and better retirement benefits, five United Airlines flight attendants Thursday carried picket signs and distributed flyers outside Spokane International Airport.

Members of the Association of Flight Attendants have marched at airports around the world since their contract expired in March 1996. However, this was their first time in Spokane.

Talks between the Chicago-based company and the union were scheduled to resume Thursday. If an agreement is not reached, attendants have promised intermittent strikes to disrupt air travel.

Gayle Colman, a Spokane-based attendant and 34-year employee with United, said she is concerned about the company’s retirement plan. The plan pays so little, she said, that it forces some attendants to keep working into their 70s.

The attendants also want higher pay for journeymen flight attendants, who earn $2,665 a month, and for those in charge of crews.

The attendants are the only work group that did not participate in an employee buyout of United Airlines in 1994. The airline last year posted a $600 million profit.

, DataTimes