Southwest workers picket at BWI Airport
Southwest Airlines ramp, operations, provisioning and freight workers picketed Friday at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport over wages.
Negotiations between the Transport Workers Union and Southwest began in January but recently stalled because the union and the company could not agree on wages.
“Our members are struggling with everyday living expenses and wages have not kept pace with the rising cost of living,” TWU Local 555 President Charles Cerf said in a statement. “Some of our members have not had a raise since 2005 — after accepting a two-year contract extension that included unprofitable stock options in lieu of raises.
Most Americans expect to buy less this holiday
More than 93 percent of consumers say the economy is worse than a year ago, according to a nationwide survey by the American Consumer Institute.
The results are significantly worse than the institute’s 2007 survey, when about 69 percent of consumers thought the economy was worse than in the previous year.
The survey also found that 57 percent of consumers expect to spend less on holiday gifts this season, up from 35 percent in last year’s survey. Only about 6 percent of consumers expect to spend more this year, compared with 9 percent from a year ago.
Just over 1 percent of respondents said the economy is stronger than it was a year ago.
— Compiled by Andrew Cannarsa
