US AIRWAYS EXPRESS FLIGHT ATTENDANTS REQUEST RELEASE TO STRIKE Piedmont Airlines Flight Attendants Request NMB Proffer of Arbitration Washington, DC – Piedmont Airlines Flight Attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), today requested a proffer of arbitration from the National Mediation Board (NMB) as the next step to compel management to negotiate a new agreement. In August, 98 percent of the Flight Attendants authorized a strike if released and management fails to reach an agreement before the strike deadline. Piedmont is a wholly owned subsidiary of US Airways Group, Inc. and operates as a US Airways Express carrier. “Despite being under the supervision of the NMB for the last year in mediated negotiations, management insists on disregarding the Piedmont Flight Attendants’ contributions to the success and profitability of our airline by continuing to demand concessions,” said Anita Jwanouskos, AFA Piedmont President. “We are calling on management to be the ones to do the right thing by recognizing the valuable contributions of the hard working Piedmont Flight Attendants -- the front line first responders of our airline. If they refuse to do so, then we must alert them, and our passengers, to be prepared for CHAOS™.” CHAOS, or Create Havoc Around Our System™, is AFA’s trademarked strike strategy. With CHAOS, a strike could affect the entire system or a single flight. The union decides when, where and how to strike without notice to management or passengers. Throughout negotiations, AFA has continued to address Flight Attendant concerns while management has made concessionary and regressive proposals. Management’s refusal to make significant movement could lead the NMB to declare that negotiations are deadlocked and release both parties into a 30-day “cooling off” period leading to a strike deadline. Piedmont Airlines is headquartered in Salisbury, Maryland and provides over 400 daily departures to 55 cities throughout the eastern United States and Canada including Charlotte, NC; Philadelphia, PA; Charlottesville, VA; Roanoke, VA; and Harrisburg, PA. The Association of Flight Attendants is the world’s largest Flight Attendant union. Focused 100 percent on Flight Attendant issues, AFA has been the leader in advancing the Flight Attendant profession for over 65 years. Serving as the voice for Flight Attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill, AFA has transformed the Flight Attendant profession by raising wages, benefits and working conditions. Nearly 60,000 Flight Attendants at 21 airlines come together to form AFA, part of the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afacwa.org.