A new union-backed group has emerged to lock horns with the airline industry in the battle over high energy prices.

The airline industry has been lobbying lawmakers for weeks to crack down on oil speculators, arguing that paper-pushers are helping drive up the price of oil for those who actually use it. But on Wednesday, the Reaching Higher Coalition, a California-based, union-backed group of airline workers, passenger rights advocates and ministers, sent out a blast e-mail message suggesting the airlines are just asking for one more handout from Capitol Hill.

The group said it wants any oil speculation measure favorable to the airlines that emerges from Congress to also have language addressing airline workers' and passengers' rights.

"J.D. Power and Associates reported that airline passenger service is at a three-year low and it is no wonder when airlines are creating a 'race to the bottom' for front-line service workers who perform critical safety, security and service roles," Lily Wang, a spokeswoman for the group, said in a statement. "Whether we're talking about carrying their legislation or doling out more subsidies, Congress shouldn't be doing any more favors for an airline industry that appears to show such contempt for the American public."

The group's membership includes the Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights. The coalition had pushed for more protections for stranded airline passengers as part of a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (HR 2881, S 1300), but the measure will likely die at the end of the year.

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