SENIORS
were out of jobs. In an industry where seniority is key for everything from route choices to opportunities for flying standby, the union was strongly opposed to the returnees. This was despite the settlement that gave those same union members up to a year to return to work after their baby was born. Shaw wrote in a self-published memoir, Everyone Has a Story , “Supposedly, there was a black book with all the mothers’ names in it. I never saw it. But many times, I did see the effect of the hate that was spread. A whisper was all it took while in flight for someone to say, ‘If I got caught talking to you, I could get in trouble.’ I also remember making a date to see the museum underground in Paris with another flight attendant. She called and cancelled as someone had told her I was ‘one of them.’”
WATER ICE Ice Cream Ice Cream
Thank you for 20 years, Maricopa
✓ Ice Cream ✓ Wa le Cones ✓ Smoothies ✓ Alkaline Water ✓ Nostalgic Candy ✓ And More!
Unfriendly skies Stewardess key in landmark Supreme Court women’s rights ruling
Nevertheless, Shaw worked for TWA (purchased while in bankruptcy by American Airlines in 2000 and dissolved a year later) for more than a decade after that. Another benefit of the settlement was the plaintiffs had the opportunity to take their pensions from the company in a lump sum, something that was not available to other TWA employees. Shaw, 86, and her husband spent 25 years in retirement in Florida before experiencing one too many hurricanes and relocating to Maricopa in 2021. Doing her duty One of the highlights of Shaw’s career was the flights to and from Vietnam. The schedule went something like this: • Travel from San Francisco airport to Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento. • Flight to Honolulu and a layover where crew members would often go to a club in the basement of the hotel and see Don Ho perform. • Flight from Honolulu to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa and another layover.
BY TOM SCHUMAN
ODAY’S IS dramatically different than it was just a few years ago. It goes without saying it would be difficult for most to imagine the working environment more than six decades ago. WORKPLACE When Province resident Mary Ann Shaw joined Trans World Airlines in 1961, she — like her colleagues at the time — signed a contract agreeing to resign if she became pregnant. Flight attendants weren’t allowed to get fat, wear glasses or work after age 35. Shaw enjoyed her initial eight years traveling the world with TWA. At one point, she was part of a crew that worked on a weekly flight to Paris. Asked about special memories, she responded, “The layovers. Flying European T
court was men were not fired for becoming fathers, but women lost their jobs when they became mothers. The decision covered 430 plaintiffs, with 200 indicating an interest in coming back to work for the airline. Shaw was one of those. Three years later, with her daughters aged 13 and 11, Shaw returned to her former employer. It was not a decision made lightly — and it came with its own set of challenges. “I went back at age 45,” she recalled. “You certainly thought about it. You knew what it was going to be like, not because you went back but because of how you were going to be treated.” That was because the returnees — negatively referred to as “remos” or returning mothers — were granted seniority for all the time they
flights and having the pilots announce we would all be eating dinner on the beach across the road from the hotel. Watching the sun set in Monte Estoril on a layover in Lisbon. Another one was securing a boat in Okinawa and motoring to a nearby island for a swim.” TWA was one of the airlines with a government contract to fly soldiers to and from Vietnam. Shaw was part of the Military Air Command program from 1965 to 1969 before losing her job when she started her family with her husband, Joe. A class action lawsuit challenging the “no pregnancy” provision began in the late 1960s. It was settled 11 years later, in 1979, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of the flight attendants. The primary reason cited by the
10% OFF Must present coupon at
time of purchase. Expires 4/30/2024 WATER ICE Ice Cream Ice Cream
(520) 568-4740 20928 N. John Wayne Pkwy., Suite C-7
InMaricopa.com | April 2024
April 2024 | InMaricopa.com
46
47
Powered by FlippingBook