A spirited picket line of over 100 members of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants and their supporters rallied at Los Angeles International Airport May 9. The action was one of 14 across the U.S. organized as part of a monthslong campaign to demand the right to strike and for a new contract at American Airlines. Flight attendants there have not had a raise in five years. Their last contract expired in 2019.
“The new hires are making $27,000 a year before taxes, an unlivable wage,” Elizabeth Lozada, a flight attendant for nine years, told the Militant. Other flight attendants said some apply for food stamps and public housing assistance to get by.
“We demand the National Mediation Board release us to allow us our right to strike,” John Nikides, a flight attendant for 40 years, said.
Using the excuse that airline workers’ labor is “essential,” the government imposes the notorious anti-labor Railway Labor Act on them. It bars most strikes and introduces endless delays in negotiations through government interference.
One of the flight attendants’ key demands is to be paid for all the time they work. Today they are only paid for time in the air. Time loading and unloading the plane is unpaid.
Some 125 flight attendants picketed at the Philadelphia International Airport. Ashley Kaiser, who picketed while pulling a wagon with some of her children, told the Militant, “They really don’t care about our ability to take care of our families.” She said that she and her husband work opposite shifts because they can’t afford child care.
Some 20 flight attendants picketed at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. Todd Smiertelny told the Militant that along with low wages, flight attendants are being asked to do more work today. During the COVID epidemic they cut the number of workers, he said, “but when the flights filled up again, they didn’t increase the staff.”
Several dozen union members rallied outside the White House in Washington, D.C. “Release us now! We’re ready to strike,” they demanded.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which organizes workers at United and a number of other airlines, with some 77,000 total members between them, have announced an even larger joint action for June 13. They plan to hold pickets at 30 airports with details below.
Edwin Fruit in Minneapolis, Deborah Liatos in Los Angeles, Janet Post in Philadelphia, and Arlene Rubinstein in Washington, D.C., contributed to this article.
June 13 Solidarity Summer Flight Attendants Day of Action