Former TWA workers say farewell on dance floor

ST. LOUIS -- They are about to lose their jobs. Many already have. But at a furlough party, the American Airlines employees -- 40- and 50-something-year-old flight attendants, ground workers, mechanics, pilots and ticket agents -- reveled on the dance floor.

As the DJ played Gloria Gaynor's testament to fortitude near the end of their farewell Saturday, the dancers mouthed the lyrics, saying they too "will survive." All former workers of thrice-bankrupt TWA, they know how turbulent the airline industry can be.

"We know we're gone, we're being furloughed," said flight attendant Susan Lantz, a 33-year veteran. "But we're in court. We won't stop the fight."

The former TWA flight attendants are suing their union and American Airlines over lost seniority rights.

Pledge from American

When American bought bankrupt TWA in April 2001 and made St. Louis a major hub, the Texas-based company pledged to treat former TWA employees fairly and equitably. It left to the unions the job of integrating TWA's pilots and flight attendants into American's fold.

TWA flight attendants and most of its pilots wound up losing the years of seniority they had accumulated at the airline last based in St. Louis. Now, in American's cost-cutting plan to shed thousands of jobs to avoid bankruptcy, former TWA flight attendants and pilots with decades of experience are being shown the door while rookies who came up through American in recent years are being kept.

Targeted are 2,500 pilot jobs and about 2,000 flight-attendant positions. As many as 600 pilots who work out of St. Louis could be affected. All of American's roughly 1,800 St. Louis-based flight attendants will be furloughed.

The former TWA employees either live in St. Louis or commute from other cities to work out of American's St. Louis hub. Many who bought homes here after the merger are putting them on the market and bailing to greener pastures.

Furloughed flight attendant Mark Sheppard, 47, who just sold his St. Louis home, said he is headed for culinary classes in Portland, Ore., "if this state doesn't go broke funding my education."

Flight attendant Colleen Hawk, who organized Saturday's party, was furloughed Jan. 30. Her husband, pilot Gary Hawk, has been downgraded from captain to co-pilot, and soon could be released. Both former TWA employees live in Florida but are based out of St. Louis. Their only immediate strategy, Colleen Hawk said, is to pray.

'All here together'

The idea for the party came when Holiday Inn, where many St. Louis-based American workers who live elsewhere stay when they're in town, offered the ballroom for free. Hawk planned for 150; about 500 came. One former reservation agent in Chicago said he caught a flight when he learned of the party that morning.

The old friends may not see each other again. A few have cancer or heart disease, others HIV, on top of incredibly bad job luck.

"This party embodies the spirit of TWA," Hawk said. "We're all here together. We are a family."

Along a table in the ballroom, festooned with "We Love TWA" banners, was an assortment of TWA memorabilia, from T-shirts to tie pins to handkerchiefs marked with the familiar red logo.

Carlos Machado, 59, said he still wears the tie clip that bears the TWA name even when working American flights. He worked all but two of his 29 1/2 flight years with TWA.

"It's the profession I love," he said. "Unfortunately it's going to stop right here."

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On the Net:

AMR: http://www.amrcorp.com

Allied Pilots Association, http://www.alliedpilots.org

Association of Professional Flight Attendants, http://www.apfa.org