CWA 6001 members at American Airlines hold picket at Lambert, demand fair contract

By SHERI GASSAWAY
Missouri Correspondent

American Airlines customer service agents, represented by Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 6001, are demanding the airline negotiate a fair contract. 

The union, which has been negotiating for over 10 months to no avail, held an informational picket Aug. 15 at St. Louis Lambert International Airport as part of a multistate action. The union represents workers in Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

JOB PROTECTION, FAIR PAY
“We went through the pandemic and those lean years while the company had made record profits,” said Carlton Smith, the St. Louis agents’ chief shop steward. “We want a good contract and we need to get something done. Our main goal is job protection, fair wages and decent insurance.”

Smith also noted that the starting pay rate is too low, which leads to people eventually leaving the company. “And that affects us too because we are already overworked,” he said.

FED UP
Patricia Facchin, who’s been a customer service agent for American for eight years, said she is fed up and joined her co-workers on the picket line, along with several other St. Louis union members and Labor allies.

“We’ve been waiting for 10 months,” Facchin said. “I’m here today to be proactive and to get things going. They want us to do more work for less money and its impossible with the rise in inflation and cost-of-living.”

CWA International President Claude Cummings called for members of the Labor community to show up in support of its members in six cities. About 30 people attended the St. Louis event.