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Flight attendants hold picket signs and rallies in protest for new contracts, pay raises
Three separate unions representing flight attendants at major U.S. airlines are picketing and holding rallies at 30 airports on Tuesday as they push for new contracts and higher wages.
The flight attendants are increasingly frustrated that pilots won huge pay raises last year while they continue to work for wages that, in some cases, have not increased in several years.
They argue that they have not been rewarded for working through the pandemic and being responsible for the safety of passengers.
The unions are calling Tuesday’s protests a national day of action. It is not a strike.
Federal law makes it difficult for airline unions to conduct legal strikes, which can be delayed or blocked by federal mediators, the president and Congress. Mediators have already turned down one request by flight attendants at American Airlines to begin a countdown to a strike; the union plans to ask again next month.
“We appreciate and respect our flight attendants’ right to picket and understand that is their way of telling us the importance of getting a contract done — and we hear them,” American Airlines said in a statement Tuesday.
Flight attendants remain the last group standing at the negotiation table with the Forth Worth, Texas-based airline. Pilots for American Airlines reached a new contract agreement in August featuring big pay raises and bonuses. Soon after in December, American reached an agreement with roughly 15,000 passenger service agents, the Dallas Morning News reported at the time.
Tuesday’s protests were organized by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), which represents crews at United Airlines and several other carriers; the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the union of crews at American, and the Transport Workers Union, which represents crews at Southwest and other airlines.
United Airlines in a statement Tuesday said that its first negotiation session has been scheduled for March 19 by a federal mediator requested by the AFA. “We’re looking forward to working with AFA to narrow the issues so that we can continue to work toward an industry-leading agreement for our flight attendants,” the company said.
Alaska Airlines said that its leadership and the AFA are continuing to bargain and meet with a mediator, describing discussions as “productive,” in a statement Tuesday. “With six recently closed labor deals at the company and a tentative agreement reached in January for a new contract for our technicians, we’re hopeful to do the same for our flight attendants as soon as possible,” the airline said.
Southwest Airlines said in a statement issued Tuesday, “We reached an industry-leading Tentative Agreement with TWU 556 in October 2023 and are scheduled to meet next week with the union and the National Mediation Board to continue working toward an agreement that benefits our Flight Attendants and Southwest.”
Transport Workers Union Local 556, the union representing Southwest Airlines flight attendants, overwhelmingly rejected a proposed contract agreement by the airline in December.
Chipotle Mexican Grill job applicants better get used to conversing with AI — their first interview could be with an artificial intellgence-powered system named “Ava Cado” rather than a human hiring manager.
The fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain said Tuesday that it is partnering with Paradox, a maker of what the technology company calls “conversational” AI, to launch the new hiring platform.
By collecting basic information about candidates, Ava will free up restaurant managers to focus on other tasks, according to the company. The AI can also schedule interviews and even make job offers in real time, the company said. Ava is also a polyglot and able to conduct interviews in English, Spanish, French and German.
The new technology is expected to reduce the amount of time it takes Chipotle to hire an employee for an in-restaurant position by as much 75%, Chipotle said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
Chipotle plans to deploy the system across more than 3,500 restaurant locations in North America and Europe. The technology is currently being introduced at restaurants in a phased approach that’s expected to be complete by the end of October.
In addition to collecting biographical information, Ava can engage with job applicants and answer their questions about the company, according to Chipotle.
“Paradox operates as if we’ve hired additional administrative support for all our restaurants, freeing up more time for managers to support team members and provide an exceptional guest experience. We’re excited about the early improvements we’re seeing,” Chipotle chief human resources officer Ilene Eskenazi said in a statement.
A number of other major restaurant chains, retailers and other companies have turned to Paradox’s AI hiring tech, including Applebee’s, McDonald’s, Panera Bread, Taco Bell and Wendy’s.
Although AI can expedite the hiring process, it can also be controversial as a recruiting tool. Some studies have found that it can lead to biased assessment of candidates and unintentionally discriminate against people based on their race or gender.
To guard against the misuse of AI in hiring, New York City in 2021 passed a law that requires companies that use the technology to disclose its use to job candidates. Employers are also required to conduct annual third-party “bias audits” of their automated hiring systems to ensure the technology isn’t discriminating against certain types of candidates.
The North Carolina county that is home to Asheville overcounted deaths caused by Helene by as many as 30, according to a statement Tuesday from its sheriff’s office and data from the state, significantly reducing the death toll from the historic storm.
Buncombe County officials, who previously reported 72 deaths, are now deferring to a state tally of 42 deaths for the county.
The county’s number dates back to an Oct. 3 news release in which county officials reported that “72 lives have been lost due to Hurricane Helene,” repeating a number cited by Sheriff Quentin Miller at an earlier media briefing. But state officials, relying on reviews by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh, have consistently reported a number lower than that for the county. The number for Buncombe County included in the state’s tally has stood at 42 since at least Oct. 10.
On Tuesday, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s office acknowledged in a statement that the number of deaths in the county was lower than the number it provided.
“In the early aftermath of Hurricane Helene, all deaths were being classified as storm related and from Buncombe County. However, as the days progressed, BCSO was able to identify who had passed away due to the hurricane, who was in fact from Buncombe County, and who passed away from other causes,” Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Christina Esmay told CBS News in a statement Tuesday. “Compounded with the lack of consistent communication, due to widespread outages, the Buncombe County fatality number that was initially provided to Sheriff Miller has decreased.”
The sheriff’s office did not provide additional information.
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh typically reviews weather deaths and makes a ruling on cause before reporting numbers through state officials, a process it has used in past storms for years. But in the chaos following Helene, a number of counties reported fatality numbers independently of the state. The state’s tally has gradually increased through Tuesday, but the climb has slowed as bodies have been examined.
A spokesperson from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services told CBS News that Buncombe County is “relying on the state to report storm-related deaths.” Hannah Jones, the spokesperson, said the state’s count of storm-related fatalities stands at 96, with 42 of these deaths were in Buncombe County.
“We do not have information about how Buncombe County was determining fatality numbers for the death totals they were reporting for their county. We understand that Buncombe County decided to stop their independent reporting a couple weeks ago and are relying on the state to report storm-related deaths,” Jones said.
Another county, Henderson, had previously reported two more deaths than the state, but said on Tuesday that it agrees with the state’s tally of 7 deaths.
Using the new North Carolina figures, CBS News has now confirmed through Tuesday at least 215 total deaths across multiple states due to Helene.
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