1985 Pan Am strike

However, after several days, citing concerns over the negative long-term impact a prolonged strike could have on the company, several unions (including those representing pilots and flight attendants) crossed the picket lines and returned to work.

[8] However, as this did not happen, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) took legal action and won a "snapback" of wages on December 26.

[8] Pan Am, in an effort to continue the concessions, appealed the decision,[8] though the company lost this fight by late February 1985.

[5] Around the same time, the company began to prepare for possible strike action from the unions, with the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU, representing 5,800 Pan Am baggage handlers, flight dispatchers, food service employees, and mechanics)[6] legally free to strike starting on February 28.

[5] The other labor unions, in a show of solidarity, stated that they would probably honor TWU's picket lines if they were to go on strike.

[6] According to some experts in the airline industry, the agreement included 25.7 percent wage increases for the pilots spread out over 32 months.

[6] TWU was seeking a 14 percent wage increase, which had been frozen since 1982, and additional guarantees regarding job security.

[3][2] On the first day of the strike, a TWU representative claimed that most of Pan Am's 400 daily flights would be grounded, affecting some 39,000 passengers.

[8] Speaking to the Associated Press on the first day, a union representative said he believed the strike could last a long time.

[18] The development was considered a major blow to the strike, as Pan Am announced they would begin to expand the number of flights they were offering.

[21] With the developments, Pan Am announced they soon hoped to have 50 percent of their normal number of flights operating in the next few days.

[21] However, Pan Am was still losing approximately $5 million per day,[11][22] and both IUFA and the Teamsters maintained a strike deadline of April 1.

[26] On March 23, Pan Am agreed to rehire over one hundred flight attendants who had been fired for not crossing TWU's picket line.

[33] Furthermore, Pan Am's relationship with organized labor continued to be uneasy, and amidst further contract disputes in 1989, TWU voted once again to approve strike action against the company.

[38][39] Discussing the strike and its resolution, Walsh wrote that the TWU managed to avoid permanent replacement and secured some gains to balance out their concessions.