CHICAGO — “Winter is here, our contract is not,” read one of the many picket signs carried by over 200 United Airlines flight attendants and their supporters at a spirited picket line here Jan. 15. Airline workers flew in from around the country to join in demanding a contract. Their loud and spirited chants echoed in the frigid urban canyon in front of the Willis Tower, the tallest skyscraper in downtown Chicago and home to United’s corporate headquarters.
Fruitless negotiations have dragged on for more than four years. Another sign, playing on the bitter winter temperatures in Chicago, captured workers frustration: “Our pay is frozen. Our bills are not!”
“We’ve been working under this amendable contract since 2021! Management seems to think we are in concessionary bargaining. We are not,” Jennifer Ritter told the Militant. She’s a 28-year veteran flight attendant based in Newark, New Jersey. She pointed to other workers who bundled up and came out to march with them. “We have teachers with us here today, ALPA union pilots and Starbucks workers. People from Delta Air Lines are here supporting us, just as we support their fight to unionize Delta flight attendants.”
Laurie, who asked that her last name not be used, said that they are fighting to raise their pay to standards won at other airlines. “We also want to improve the working conditions and pay for on-call flight attendants. The CEO wants to reduce our guaranteed minimum, essentially cutting our pay.”
Flight attendants, like railroad and other airline workers, including catering workers at Sky Chefs fighting for a new contract, are governed by the anti-worker federal Railway Labor Act. The red tape and restrictions in the law make it difficult or nearly impossible for unionized workers to legally strike against their employers. And if they are finally able to do so, the president and Congress can force them back to work and impose a contract on them.