In the United States, thousands of airline employees are on compulsory unpaid leave. “To 13,000 members of our family – thank you for your dedication and we hope that you will come back soon” – United Airlines sent a message with this content on Wednesday evening to some of its employees. American Airlines issued similar messages to 19,000 employees.
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The giants of the aviation industry condition the reinstatement of workers from the vote of the aid package for the economy in Congress. American Airlines chief Doug Parker said that in such a case, the forced leave would end in a few days. He called for pressure to be put on politicians on this issue.
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The four largest US airlines pledged in April not to lay off workers until the end of September. In return, they obtained federal loans to ensure their payments. American Airlines received $ 5.8 billion, Delta received $ 5.4 billion, and United Airlines received $ 5 billion.
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Negotiations are ongoing
Negotiations on a new aid package for the economy have been underway for several months between Congress and the US government. So far, there has not been a big breakthrough – the main contentious issue between the Republican and Democrat remains the amount of the package.
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Sara Nelson, the head of the flight attendants’ union, is calling for government support for the airline. She points out that forced leave is a significant problem for tens of thousands of people. “These people don’t know what to pay the rent, feed their families or cover the cost of drugs or medical care,” he says.
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Nelson explains that aviation workers were “on the front lines of the epidemic” this spring. “We did what we had to do to keep our economy and country going through the pandemic,” he adds.
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In late August, American Airlines announced that it would be in October will be forced to reduce 19,000 jobs, if they don’t get extra help from the government.
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An unprecedented crisis
The coronavirus pandemic has caused an unprecedented crisis in the aviation industry. In September, according to the NPR radio website, the number of passengers in the US decreased by 70 percent compared to the previous year. in internal traffic and by 84 percent. in international traffic. The number of flights was cut by more than half. The largest companies generate a total loss of USD 5 billion each month.
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Not all US airlines decide to send their employees on forced leave. Southwest and Delta have not chosen to do so. In the first of these companies, approx. 17 thousand. employees agreed to lower their salaries by the end of 2020, in the second, 40,000 employed.
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According to a report prepared by the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), an association of aviation companies, the crisis in the aviation industry caused by the pandemic COVID-19 could lead to the dismissal of 46 million workers.
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photo-source">Main photo source: Shutterstock
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