TODAY'S TMJ4

Midwest Flight Attendants Protest Wage Cuts

By Katie DeLong

MILWAUKEE – Hundreds of flight attendants are protesting a proposal to slash flight attendant salaries at Midwest Airlines. Between 100 and 200 people were protesting huge wage cuts Tuesday night. Salaries for flight attendants would go from between $17,000 and $39,000 a year to $13,000 and $25,000. Midwest says the cuts are necessary to avoid bankruptcy thanks to outrageous oil prices. The flight attendants’ union says it’s not just high gas prices that are hurting the hometown airline: a bad business plan is also to blame. “It’s a slap in the face to them, being the best domestic airline out there, and the service is highly recognized with what the flight attendants do and then to have the company come to us and, you know, propose these wage cuts, it’s just insulting,” Toni Higgins, Master Executive Counsel for Midwest Flight Attendants said. Midwest pilots are also taking a pay cut, as is the front office at Midwest. Midwest CEO Tim Hoeksema says he will take a pay cut of 40 percent.

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