On this day in labor history, the year was 1993.
That was the day 21,000 attendants, mostly women, caught American Airlines by surprise in their first strike ever against the company.
80% of all fights were cancelled a week before Thanksgiving as solid picket lines formed at forty airports across the country.
CEO Robert Crandell, who commanded a $ million a year salary and preferred the nickname “fang,” was at a loss when flight attendants refused to be bullied by threats of scab replacements.
Hoping to smash seniority and scheduling rights, he cancelled all vacations for months.
Crandall’s claims to company losses could hardly be believed after the company reported third-quarter profits of $118 million.
Attendants were fed up with years of concessionary contracts that reduced their wages by as much as 40%.
One woman picketer summed up the company’s attitude: “We’re just a bunch of skirts.”
The strike was so popular that pilots and Teamsters often joined picketers.
In New York City, 200 members of Local 1199 hospital workers walked the picket line in solidarity.
Fed up machinists at United Airlines in Denver were so inspired, they staged a solidarity sickout the first day of the strike.
Four days later, President Clinton intervened to end the strike and force binding arbitration.
While many saw this as a victory, workers returned to their jobs under the same conditions that forced them to strike while they waited for arbitrators to render a decision.
Two years later, arbitrators finally rendered a decision.
They awarded American the right to reduce staffing on some flights.
But attendants would win a 17% wage increase and retain most work rules.
May 4 - UE Beats Back HUAC in Dayton
May 3 - First Workers Compensation Law is Passed
May 2 - Our Thing is DRUM!
May 1 - Mayday Marchers Attacked in Cleveland
April 30 - Refinery Workers Walk Off the Job
April 29 - Allis-Chalmers and the Road to Taft-Hartley
April 28 - OSHA Goes Into Effect
April 27 - Disaster in West Virginia
April 26 - National Guard Ousts Montgomery Ward CEO
April 25 - UAW Mobilizes Against Taft-Hartley
April 24 - The California Spinach Riot
April 23 - Sitting Down for Dignity at Ford
April 22 - The Red Jacket Mine Explosion
April 21 - The Hated Taylor Law Takes Effect
April 20 - Deepwater Horizon Explosion Kills 11
April 19 -The Daughters of Mother Jones
April 18 - We Have Fed You All A thousand Years
April 17 - Fatal Explosion in West, Texas
April 16 - Jacob Coxey is Born
April 15 - Telephone Girls Cripple New England Bell
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