Flight Attendants Press DOT for Job Protections in UAL/CAL Alliance

Union Redoubles Efforts Following Concerns Outlined by Department of Justice

CHICAGO, June 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Flight attendants, represented by
the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA-CWA) at United
Airlines, are pressing the Department of Transportation to ensure American
jobs are protected when considering the anti-trust immunity filing to join
Continental with United Airlines and the Star Alliance. The flight
attendants' efforts take on extraordinary meaning this week following an
announcement by United Airlines to furlough 2,150 Flight Attendants this fall.

"More than ever it is clear American jobs are an integral part of our American
economy. Our government has a responsibility to ensure business ventures
protect access to good American jobs," stated Greg Davidowitch, president of
the AFA-CWA at United Airlines. "Our country's anti-trust laws exist for a
reason, including consumer protections as recently highlighted by the
Department of Justice as well as job protections that take on even greater
meaning in today's economic climate."

The flight attendant union members have been contacting Congress and calling
the Administration for weeks in a campaign to apply greater scrutiny of
airline alliances and help stem further job loss. As United Airlines
management helped grow the Star Alliance to the largest in the world over the
last decade, Flight Attendants at the carrier have experienced a loss of
nearly half their ranks or 12,000 jobs. The recent furlough announcement
again points to the critical nature of the flight attendants' effort to insure
job protections in any approval of an airline alliance, and specifically the
venture proposed by Continental and United Airlines within the Star Alliance.

Flight attendants have connected consumer concerns to worker concerns within
airline alliances as they press the Administration to look more closely at the
Continental and United venture. Domestic and international anti-competitive
concerns identified by the Department of Justice directly relates to the very
same conditions that lead to greater job loss. Fares rise as frequency of
flights is diminished when all competition is erased.

Yesterday, Davidowitch again wrote to the Department of Transportation on
behalf of the United Airlines Flight Attendants. "While the Department of
Transportation takes care to review the concerns detailed by the Department of
Justice, as part of any final order we again call on the Administration to
enact durable and meaningful provisions designed to insure an equitable
measure of protections for workers." The full letter is posted on the union's
website at www.unitedafa.org.

More than 55,000 flight attendants, including the 16,000 flight attendants at
United, join together to form AFA, the world's largest flight attendant union.
AFA is part of the 700,000 member strong Communications Workers of America,
AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.unitedafa.org.

SOURCE Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO

Sara Nelson of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO,
+1-847-292-7170 ext. 524