ARLINGTON, Va. — Dozens of flight attendants, members of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport here, mounted a spirited picket line outside of the American Airlines terminal Aug. 18.
“Some days you have to work 14, 15, or 16 hours but you can still end up only getting paid for three and a half hours,” flight attendant Phylicia Christmas explained. “When a plane is delayed, we don’t get paid, and we aren’t allowed to leave the airport. The company says ‘it’s just part of the job,’ but it shouldn’t be.”
Sara Nelson, national president of the union, addressed the picket line. “We’re in solidarity with the Air Canada strike. The court said their strike is illegal, but I was just on the phone with their president and he said they’re not going back to work without a contract. We stand with them and we’re willing to do the same thing.”
Taylor Garland, a spokesperson for the AFA, told the Militant, “The fight here and at Air Canada are fundamentally about the same issue. The fight to get paid for what is currently unpaid work is at the center of both contract fights.”
“It’s fantastic about the Canadian flight attendants’ fight. If management doesn’t come around here, we will be forced to strike,” Jeanne Krejci, the AFA-CWA’s representative covering both the Dallas/Fort Worth and Charlotte, North Carolina, PSA terminals, told Militant worker-correspondent Josefina Otero at the picket in Dallas.
Sara Nelson spoke with the Militant after the rally here. “What flight attendants are taking up today are issues the entire working class faces,” she said, “with rising rent, child care and grocery costs. Lots of workers hear about our fight and support us.”
Messages of solidarity can be sent to info@afacwa.org.