The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA and Association of Professional Flight Attendants, representing some 77,000 flight attendants between them, have called for picket lines at 30 airports June 13 to press their demands for new contracts.
After working more than two years under expired agreements, and without a raise since 2019 — all the while watching their paychecks shrink as prices soar — flight attendants at American, United and other airlines are asking members and supporters to turn out at airports across the U.S. and in London and Guam in protest.
Millions of workers understand what they are fighting for — livable work schedules, wages high enough to pay the bills, decent work conditions, job safety and the end of divisive wage tiers.
Far from the glamorous job the airlines try to paint it as, new hires at American Airlines make $27,000 a year before taxes, with some having to apply for food stamps and public housing assistance to get by.
To top it all off, flight attendants are only paid for the time from when the plane doors shut to when they open. Hours of labor they do loading and unloading flights goes completely unpaid.
Using the excuse that airline workers’ labor is “essential,” the government imposes the anti-labor Railway Labor Act on them. This is what President Joseph Biden did to rail workers in 2022, getting a bipartisan Congress to shove a contract the workers had rejected down their throats.
The bosses’ government — and their two parties, the Democrats and Republicans — use the act to bar most strikes and force endless delays in negotiations by tying up these unions in miles of red tape.
We urge all Militant readers to turn out and bring along friends, family and co-workers. To find the protest site nearest you, details are posted on the Militant website.