airline mergers. i'm here today to give those workers a voice. as a united flight attendant for 43 years and president of the union 15 years, i have had a unique perspective on the dramatic changes that have reshaped the commercial airline industry and eliminated thousands of jobs. lately, i have listened to airline ceos testified before this congress about the need to consolidate the industry in order to achieve a sustainable business model. after hundreds of airline bankruptcies, thousands of employee furloughs, devastating pay and benefit cuts, destruction of pensions, and 32 years of deregulation, it seems airline management has figured that out. i'll be had in the worst fashion, that our nation needs -- albeit, in the worst fashion, we need a stable industry. the flight attendants and all aviation workers also need a stable industry. the consumers are rightfully concerned airline mergers will lead to higher fares and reduced service. we agree, but we also recognize the reality that airline fares must increase in order to stabilize this industry, providi

i think you for the opportunity to express our concern about the proposed merger between united airlines and continental airlines. just as we have seen with banking and other businesses, we see the airline turning into an oligopoly. in this environment, financial struggling characters reverse that argument, claiming that united and continental would be too big to fail and they would be right. when the u.s. airline industry received a bailout in 2001, it was argued that airlines were essential to the economy and defense. what we have been witnessing is an incredibly shrinking airline industry. in less than 20 years, we will see the demise of seven major brands in the united states. while others can speak to the adverse effects on labor and travel industries, i will focus my comments on the adverse affects upon passengers. there have been potential threats to consumers. we cannot predict how the merger will affect consumers, but we can examine the historical record to see how passengers were affected by american's acquisition of twa is assets -- twa's assets. unfortunately, the record for

united states. southwest airlines will continue to be our country's largest domestic airline in terms of number of passengers carried after the united-continental merger. in the marketplace of today, international competitors have merged, and powerful new entrants continue to gain ground across the globe. today the largest airlines by revenue are lufthansa and air france. with more than half the capacity and to assess three of trans-pacific capacity provided by foreign carriers. united and continental have taken significant actions to improve our performance, competing across international and domestic markets, and finding a way to connect small u.s. communities into our combined network. in this dynamic environment, these actions have not been enough. our proposed merger is a very logical and essential next step for our objective of sustained profitability. let me be clear. without this merger, we would not have the $1 billion to $1.2 billion to improve products or services for our customers, nor would we have the financial means to create a better career opportunities for our employees. we would not be as

when he asked whether united airlines would be a state actor, if o'hare airport was the government entered -- government entity manager, if the united employee could not be fired from the terminal he operated from, the lawyers did their for more than 30 seconds saying nothing -- stood there for more than 30 seconds saying nothing until justice scalia leaned forward and told him,'the answer you are looking for is no'." you can always count on justice scalia for some good lines like that. carter phillips continues, "justice stevens always ask the hardest hypothetical, and he did it so gently that the effect was particularly devastating. often, these gentle, unassuming questions point the way for resolution." i mentioned before that justice stevens' questions very frequently come late in an argument. bides his time before actively engaging council. this is, i think, because justice stevens is simply the best listener on the court. said another way, he is the person who most understands the value of listening. he listens to learn himself, and he listens to understand what is on the minds of hi

united states because of one accident. it wouldn't make s%nse. it defies reason and commonsense. ppwhen a plane crashes and peop die, that's horrible. but we don't close down the airline industry for six months you because the federal government wants to eventually get around to finding outtwhat happened. so the federal juuge that ruled in this case did so properly. and it was important for him to dd so, to prevent people from losing jobs. jobs that were lost or would be lost because of the federal government's action, not because of b.p.'s action. so what's the federal go government going to do about this? they're going to appeal. they don't like the ruling so they want to appeal to the circuit to try to overrule this judge. why oesn't the federal government just follow the law? and allow deep water drilling? and not destroy the economy of the whole country because of arrogant and because of the lack offreason and commonsense? so, mr. speaker, the disaster in the gulf continues to be the second disaster in the gulf from the lack of leadership. %% we still don't have a federal plan. we don't know what the federal government's response is. it seems like to me fema is i