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 Full-Scale Boycott of United Airlines Launched Pat Robertson's Anti-Gay Plan Meets with United's President |
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Compiled by GayToday Washington, D.C. -- The Human Rights Campaign has endorsed a boycott organized by a San Francisco-based group, Equal Benefits Advocates, against United Airlines for their aggressive fight to deny gay and lesbian Americans bereavement leave, family leave and equal travel benefits. The boycott was also spurred by United's connected action with the Pat Robertson-created, American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), to bring down San Francisco's Equal Benefits Ordinance. "We have rarely seen anything so appalling in over a decade of gay and lesbian workplace organizing," said HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch. "It is particularly unconscionable that this airline is fighting bereavement leave for their employees. Clearly, United has redefined corporate irresponsibility and they ought to fasten their seatbelts, because they should expect a great deal of turbulence in the upcoming months caused by their unfair treatment of gays and lesbians."
In June 1997, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a law
that requires companies doing business with the city to provide the same
benefits to workers with domestic partners as they give to married
employees.
United joined the Air-Transport Association, an industry group representing the nations major airlines, in a lawsuit seeking to ban San Francisco from forcing them to comply with the ordinance since most airlines contend that they only have to follow federal government mandates. In April 1998, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled that San Francisco could not require the airlines to provide health benefits and pension benefits to their employees and their employees' partners. But the judge also ruled that they would have to provide other benefits, such as bereavement leave and equal travel benefits. "United Airlines has elected to fight even these basic tenets of fairness in court, falsely claiming that extending benefits would place a great financial burden on the company. "Particularly disconcerting to HRC is United's decision to align itself with Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice. This organization continues to vigorously attack public policy initiatives offering equality to gay Americans," said David M. Smith who attended a press conference today with San Francisco leaders and announced HRC's support of the boycott. "If there was any doubt as to where United stood on gay and lesbian equality, this was clarified when they elected to form a partnership with one of the most rabidly anti-gay organizations in America. In essence, United has joined forces with Pat Robertson to promote the unfair treatment of gay Americans," she added. The Human Rights Campaign asks its 250,000 members to follow the following guidelines in boycotting United Airlines:
In the last decade, dozens of Fortune 500 companies have extended domestic partner coverage to their gay and lesbian employees. Some of the most successful and fastest-growing companies in the nation have taken this step, including Shell Oil, Walt Disney Company, IBM, Kodak and Microsoft.
United With Pride the airline's gay and lesbian employee's association gave hopeful news to GayToday telling of a pre-boycott December 8 meeting with United Airlines' management.
James E. Goodwin, newly appointed president and COO of United Airlines discussed, according to its gay employees, "employee equality and the need to work together to provide individualized and equal benefit options for all employees." The meeting, held at United Airlines' world headquarters in Chicago, was to specifically discuss ways in which the employee group might assist the corporation in the providing of equal benefits for the partners of gay, lesbian and unmarried employees of the airline. "I am confident that this was the first in a number of steps to work hand-in-hand towards giving employees the attention they deserve," Nick W. Morse, Executive Director of United With Pride said. No airline has taken the full and final step of instituting domestic partnership benefits for its employees. United is the largest airline carrier in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees and 71,000 employees elsewhere. United's intransigence may force the city to evict the airline from their San Francisco headquarters. Related Stories from the GayToday Archive: United Airlines Ignores Employee Equality Related Sites: United With Pride United Airlines GayToday does not endorse related sites. |
