Interview conducted on January 21 and 29, 2004
Final transcript
The interview describes Edith Lauterberg’s career as a stewardess / flight attendant with United Air Lines from 1943 until 1986; early life, education, work prior to United; decision to apply to United, hiring process, requirements; training at the Chicago base: first aid, meal service, emergency procedures, ticketing; early work as a stewardess; first domicile / base in Portland, first flight, routes; transfer to Denver base; flying into San Francisco during World War II, restrictions due to military activity; transfer to San Francisco base in 1947 to fly the Hawaii routes, additional training, meal and sleeper service on the DC-6, and uniforms; inaugural flight of United’s Boeing 377 Stratocruiser to Honolulu; detailed description of San Francisco Airport, both the buildings and United’s operations, between 1944 and 1947; transfer to the New York base in 1947; return to San Francisco in 1950; airlift flights during the Korean War, describing the route under military contract on a DC-4 from SFO to Tokyo via Honolulu and Wake Island; return to New York base in 1953; increased work with the union, including her election as the chair of United’s (MEC); merger between United and Capital Airlines in the late 1950s; detailed description of United’s first safety evacuation training in 1952 in New York, new safety design within the airplane, the in-flight incident that precipitated the new training; experiences as instructor in 1966; return to flying in 1973; quality of leadership at United during the 1960s and 1970s; discussion of the United pilots’ strike in 1985; her salary, scheduling, lack of seniority system; detailed descriptions of Douglas DC-3, Convair, DC-4, DC-6, DC-7, DC-8; differences in service between United and Pan American; decision to organize a union for stewardesses in 1945 with Ada Brown, Sally Thometz Hall, Sally Watt Keenan, and Fran Hall; inequities she saw in stewardesses’ work, including salary, raises, and time off; detailed description of process of forming the Airline Stewardesses’ Association (ALSA) for United Air Lines; union’s relationship with Air Line Pilots’ Association (ALPA), Orvis Nelson and David Behnke; impression of President William A. Patterson’s thoughts about the union and stewardesses, role of his executive stewardess, Mary O’Connor, in the negotiations; requirements for forming a union, recruitment; discussion of first contract that ALSA signed in 1946; conditions under which ALSA joined with Airline Stewards and Stewardesses’ Association (ALSSA) in 1949; her work as United’s Master Executive Council (MEC) chair beginning in 1953; contract negotiations during the 1950s and 1960s; Roland K. Quinn’s role in moving the union from ALPA to the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) in 1958; United’s corporate leadership, tension in merger between United and Capital, implications for ALPA members.
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