Diane Tucker -- Union Leader Gets To Route Of Problem For Flight Attendants

-- Name: Diane Tucker

-- Title: President, United Airlines Association of Flight Attendants executive council

-- Age: 43

-- Headquarters: Chicago

-- Members: 18,000

-- Quote: "We're the ultimate problem solvers." ---------------------------------------------------------------

As head of the United Airlines Association of Flight Attendants executive council, Diane Tucker is responsible for the safety and labor concerns of 18,000 union members worldwide. She must worry about everything from salaries to the hazards of breathing ozone at high altitudes.

But lately - with contract issues on the back burner following the September settlement - she is focusing on a problem here in her home region, Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.

Tucker is trying to ensure the local jobs of 150 local flight attendants as well as other United employees who serve the Seattle/ Hong Kong route. United Airlines said it will end that route May 1 and move its support base to San Francisco.

"United needs to focus on the Northwest," she said. "In 1983, the company made a commitment to Seattle (when it got international authority to fly from here to Tokyo)."

United garnered considerable local support in 1989, when the Department of Transportation threatened to - and eventually did - cancel United's Tokyo route.. The purchase of Pan American World Airways' Pacific gateways triggered the cancellation because United picked up Los Angeles and San Francisco gateways.

Now some of those same supporters - the Port of Seattle, Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and other organizations - are pressing for continuation of the Hong Kong route, which has been popular.

Tucker pointed out that Seattle is closer to Asia than other gateway cities and that the economic ties and business travel between here and there justify continuing the route.

"We're working with other United unions, too," she said. And Tucker was in Chicago last week discussing the issue with Sara Fields, United vice president of in-flight services.

Tucker, whose office here is in the basement of a United building at the north end of the main terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, took over as head of the union this month.

She said her union recognizes that the recession has "taken its toll" on the airline but added that it is expanding in other parts of the world and taking delivery of one new plane a week from Boeing. She wants Seattle to get a share of that growth.

Although dropping the Hong Kong route won't immediately mean members will be transferred, that remains a strong possibility. United has about 850 flight attendants based here, many serving domestic routes and some the Seattle/London route the airline acquired from Pan Am last year.

"We want to save jobs in the Northwest. We're not asking the company to do something that's a loser financially," she said.

Another worry, she said, is that if United gives up the route, American Airlines, its chief competitor, will move in. American recently took over the Seattle/Tokyo route and is considering building up its Seattle hub.

Tucker, 43, who headed the local Association of Flight Attendants council for three terms, oversees the union's stands on pay and benefits (including family leaves) as well as safety and health. The latter include concerns about exposure to ozone at high altitudes on long international flights that can cause headaches, dizziness and other symptoms, and bad air from smoking still allowed on international flights. Ozone from the atmosphere enters the cabin along with fresh air and is circulated through the ventilation system.

In addition, the union advocates nonflammable uniforms and aircraft components to promote fire safety. And it wants easier access to exits. Random drug-testing is opposed. Blood testing, which has been suggested, also is opposed. And weight limits for flight attendants remain a constant thorn.

Tucker, soft-spoken and confident, is described by some as "militant." But she insists the union wants to peacefully work with the company. But she complained: "We're not getting the cooperation or recognition our profession warrants." And she intends to go after that recognition.

"I want to leave a legacy that our profession can have prestige. I'm optimistic we can build a rapport."

Tucker represents considerably more than half the 31,000 members of the Association of Flight Attendants, who work for 18 U.S. airlines. She has been working with Northwest Airlines flight attendants in an attempt to bring them into her AFL-CIO-affiliated national union.

Tucker lives in the Sahalee area east of Redmond, but grew up in Richmond, Va. With nine brothers and sisters, she felt an urge to get away from home.

While a telephone company management trainee in Richmond, she heard United was interviewing locally.

"I'd never been on a plane until I was sent up to Washington, D.C., for a (follow-up) interview," she said. "The idea of being a flight attendant was appealing because it offered a worldly outlook and at that time the job was perceived to be prestigious."

Once trained in 1968, Tucker chose Seattle as her base because it was the farthest from her home town. She'd never been here before. She was one of the early trainees on Boeing's 747, a plane she said she loves. She also has worked on DC-10s in recent years. Her first training was on a DC-6.

Tucker's advice to others wanting to become flight attendants is to get as much education as possible.

"Also, be aware of the environment and that the job is difficult. Despite the glamour and glory, there's a lot of hard work," she said. The average age of flight attendants at United is 38.

Tucker, a veteran of United's overseas flights, including hundreds to Hong Kong, fights jet lag by leaving her watch on Seattle time; eating whenever hungry; drinking lots of water and apple juice to avoid dehydration; walking in fresh air and getting as much sleep as she can.

A typical day for her on the Seattle/Hong Kong route starts about 8 a.m. as she prepares to leave on the 1:20 p.m., 15-hour flight. The layover at the other end is 43 hours, leaving time for two sleep periods so flight attendants can be refreshed for the long trip back.

Tucker said United's Seattle/ London flights are more difficult because they get only a 24-hour layover, making it difficult to sleep twice.

She advises travelers to dress comfortably, not fashionably. "Wear sweats and tennis shoes. And drink water and eat carbohydrates," she said.

Tucker said flight attendants - 85 percent of whom are women at United - have to work harder to please their passengers these days.

"There's a growing abusiveness because everybody is stressed. Passengers are more aggressive, probably due to the pressures of the economy."

"We're the ultimate problem solvers on a flight and have to be really flexible," she said. It's not uncommon for flight attendants to care for sick people, even administering CPR, and they have to fix things that break or fail.

In her spare time, after commuting weekly to Chicago and sometimes to Washington, D.C., Tucker likes to read, work needlepoint and play golf. She's also been active in the League of Women Voters, and has a brown belt in karate.

She was married 13 years but has been divorced since 1981. Few of her colleagues know that the union leader's real first name is Adelia, for her grandmother.

Profile appears occasionally in the Business Monday section of The Seattle Times.