Former TWA Attendants Press On

Everybody knows that mergers can be bad for workers, but few know better than the former flight attendants of TWA.

TWA had about 4,000 flight attendants on the payroll when it merged with American(AMR Quote) in April 2001. About 3,000 stuck around after the merger. Yet today, not a single one of those flight attendants is employed by American.

Instead, the TWA flight attendants -- most of them middle-aged -- were gradually laid off, as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks triggered a massive restructuring of the airline industry. Now, although some have moved on, many remain on a recall list of 2,517 flight attendants furloughed by American, which has been slower than other carriers to add capacity after downsizing. ...