New York
CNN
—
Steve Maller, a flight attendant for almost 20 years, was one of many flight attendants on the Alaska Airways flight 1282 when a door plug blew out.
With the airplane at 16,000 toes, the air strain within the cabin plunged. Clothes and telephones ripped from terrified passengers and flew out via the gaping gap. Maller helped be sure passengers have been protected and respiration oxygen throughout the airplane’s harrowing descent. For his work below strain, he and different flight attendants on board acquired reward and thanks from most of the airline’s high executives, together with an e mail from Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci.
“He was very complementary of the crew for our actions,” he stated.
However Tuesday, Maller was on picket traces, together with hundreds of different flight attendants from many of the nation’s main airways, protesting for higher pay.
“It’s form of an odd juxtaposition,” Maller stated just lately concerning the upcoming picket plans. “I respect him reaching out. That’s nice. However there’s extra work to do.”
Maller stated he can’t talk about particulars of the flight due to the continued investigation by the Nationwide Transportation Security Board. However he did say he’s additionally happy with how the flight attendants on board responded.
“What 1282 reminds us, once more, is the important significance of flight attendants,” he stated. “We don’t have all these emergencies regularly. However after they occur there’s no substitute for well-trained and certified flight attendants [who are] prepared to place their security behind the protection of the people who they’re charged to deal with. And that’s what all of us did.”
He stated many flight attendants, significantly veteran flight attendants like himself, have seen little or no improve in pay within the final a number of years as negotiations between the airline and union stretched on. He stated most flight attendants he is aware of have a second job. He’s labored as a bar tender himself at instances.
“It’s a must to have one thing to have livable pay, to make ends meet,” he stated.
“So it’s good to have the assist [of management] within the second. However now it’s time to point out assist for all of us at Alaska Airways,” stated Maller, who’s a union official at his airline’s Portland base. “The very fact is that each flight attendant at Alaksa would have carried out the identical factor on that flight. And administration wants to acknowledge that worth that we convey to the operation.”
There are 75,000 flight attendants unfold between 4 of the nation’s 5 largest airways — American, United, Southwest and Alaska — who’ve gone a 12 months or extra since their earlier labor contracts reached their negotiated finish date.
However below the regulation that controls labor relations within the airline industries, union members don’t have the chance to easily go on strike, the best way the autoworkers did at Normal Motors, Ford and Stellantis this previous 12 months when these contracts expired. As a substitute the regulation, which is called the Railway Labor Act as a result of it additionally controls rail staff’ labor relations, requires union members at airways to stay on the job till after federal mediators declare an deadlock in talks.
So the pickets by flight attendants throughout the nation Tuesday doesn’t imply any of the airways are on strike, or {that a} strike is imminent. And because the hundreds of flight attendants who plan to be on the picket traces are off responsibility, their presence on the picket traces received’t disrupt Tuesday’s flight schedule.
However the truth that three totally different unions that characterize almost 100,000 flight attendants amongst them are all taking part within the picketing is an unprecedented present of power and unity by unions. The three flight attendant unions — the Affiliation of Skilled Flight Attendants, the Affiliation of Flight Attendants-CWA and the Transport Employees Union — have usually competed with each other previously greater than they cooperated.
The APFA, which represents 23,000 members at American Airways, is the primary that has filed to have an deadlock declared by mediators. Mediators will meet with the airline and the union about that request subsequent month.
“Our aim is to not go on strike,” stated Julie Hedrick, president of the APFA. “However we’re not going to accept a contract that’s lower than we deserve. It’s very disheartening to the members. American is reporting report income. We all know administration is seeing it. However we’re not seeing it. We’re uninterested in ready.”
A kind of American flight attendants is Ondrea Wallace, who has been with the airline for 10 years. She is a kind of who works two jobs to pay the payments, working as a waitress at a New York restaurant between flights.
She stated she’s already making ready for a doable strike, chatting with bosses on the restaurant about selecting up additional shifts and to her landlord about probably being late on lease. However she stated the flight attendants haven’t any alternative however to push for higher pay.
“We’ve got flight attendants who dwell in vehicles as a result of they will’t afford to dwell the place they’re primarily based,” she stated.
Flight attendants say among the many issues that want to alter is the hours they have to be on the airport, or on a airplane throughout boarding and deplaning, for which they don’t receives a commission. For a lot of, hourly pay principally begins when the airplane’s door closes. Whereas being a flight attendant is a full-time job, many flight attendants solely get about 75 hours of hourly pay a month, Wallace stated.
“We will work 15-16 hours a day however solely receives a commission for seven hours,” she stated.
The airways have issued statements saying they assist industry-leading contracts for his or her flight attendants. The airways all agreed to offers within the final 12 months with pilots’ unions that gave raises of 30% or extra. American’s assertion says it’s providing boarding pay to its flight attendants. All of the airways say they’re assured they will attain a deal with out the unions happening strike.
“We stay on the negotiating desk, able to make a deal — and we’re assured that we’ll attain a brand new settlement quickly,” stated American’s assertion.
“We agree with our flight attendants that we want a brand new contract, which is why we’ve been working arduous to get an settlement,” Alaska’s assertion stated. “We stay optimistic within the negotiations course of.”
Underneath the Railway Labor Act, even when such an deadlock is asserted at American or one of many different airways, a 30-day cooling off interval retains the employees on the job. And on the finish of that, President Joe Biden can title a federal panel to attempt to give you a contract proposal each side can conform to. Whereas that occurs, union members would wish to remain on the job for one more 60-day interval. And on the finish of that interval, Congress might impose a contract on the union to dam a strike, because it did when it blocked a rail strike in late 2022.
However the unions are on the report wanting the chance to go on strike with out intervention by both the president or Congress.
“I do suppose Joe Biden will assist a reputable strike risk,” stated Sara Nelson, president of the AFA-CWA, which represents almost 50,000 flight attendants at 10 totally different airways, together with about 30,000 at United and Alaska who’re engaged on outdated contracts.
She stated if mediators begin the clock ticking towards a doable strike at a number of airways, and Biden doesn’t title a federal panel to maintain them on the job, it doesn’t essentially imply a strike will occur.
“The airways will cave lengthy earlier than that occurs,” she stated. “They know they’re going to should pay. All these contracts are in a mature state of negotiations. Any one in all them could possibly be resolved in a matter of days.”
However Alaska Air 1282 flight attendant Maller stated rank-and-file flight attendants are able to strike if it involves that. He stated many are already strolling out — and the regular stream of flight attendants leaving Alaska each month worries him.
“It was unheard of 5 years in the past they might stop their jobs. Now we’ve 20, 25, 30 a month,” he stated. “The flight attendants are sad. We’re annoyed with administration. The longer they play video games with us, there are penalties.”