The Association of Flight Attendants union called protests at nearly 20 airports in the United States, Guam and the United Kingdom for April 11. It’s one of many protests the three flight attendants’ unions have called in their hard-fought battle to win new contracts, and it won’t be the last.
Working people everywhere should follow this fight — the Militant is a good place to start — to help get out the word and build support for their picket lines. The contracts in dispute cover two-thirds of union flight attendants in the U.S., some 100,000 workers.
The three unions involved are the AFA, representing attendants at some 20 airlines; the Association of Professional Flight Attendants at American Airlines; and the Transport Workers Union at Southwest, JetBlue and Allegiant.
Flight attendants face similar conditions and are fighting for the same things that millions of workers need — livable work schedules, an end to divisive multitier wages, pay high enough to raise a family, decent work conditions and job safety.
The airline bosses want you to think that working as a flight attendant is glamorous, easy and high-paying. Talk to a flight attendant and you’ll rapidly find out the reality is much different.
Most flight attendants start working when passengers begin boarding, helping to stow luggage, find seats and take orders, but they don’t start getting paid until the plane door closes. And they have to keep working, for no pay, when passengers disembark after the plane lands. The bosses claim that the “high” pay they already get is compensation enough.
Flight attendants at Alaska Airlines showed the Seattle Times in January how many workers with less than 10 years’ seniority barely get by on their wages. Many live in overcrowded apartments with other attendants, some end up applying for food stamps.
And many airlines are running flights today with fewer crew members than in the past, the airline equivalent of speedup, to boost profits.
Shifting schedules, unpredictable unpaid layovers, and flight changes make life even more challenging. Flight attendants need more say so they can have the time they need to spend with family, to participate in union activities, to join together in political activity to fight for a better future.
Airline industry net profits are expected to hit $25.7 billion in 2024. But the capitalist families that own the airlines complain that’s only a 2.6% profit margin. They want more. As the worldwide crisis of capitalism deepens, the bosses will push to take it out of the sweat and blood of working people.
Winning solidarity for the flight attendants will put the unions in a stronger position to support workers at Volkswagen in Tennessee and Mercedes-Benz in Alabama fighting for union recognition; to boost the fight by workers at Molson Coors in Fort Worth, Texas, who have been on strike since March 17; and many more labor battles to come.
“An injury to one is an injury to all” isn’t just a slogan, but a crucial part of the road forward for the working class.