Flight Attendant Union Champions Clean Air for Passengers and Crew, Applauds Lawmaker Action
Washington, DC (June 28, 2017) — The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) praises Senator Richard Blumenthal’s (D-CT) amendment to the Senate FAA Reauthorization Bill (S.1405) with support from Senator Ed Markey (D-MA). The amendment calls for fume event training for flight crewmembers, improves contaminated air reporting requirements, and add sensors to air systems on commercial aircraft.
“Senators Blumenthal and Markey are champions for clean air onboard for Flight Attendants and passengers. Crews and passengers are breathing toxins and it has got to stop,” said AFA International President Sara Nelson. “We encourage the Senate Commerce Committee to adopt this amendment to prevent Flight Attendants, pilots or passengers from suffering the effects of breathing toxic fumes in the cabin.”
AFA’s efforts to improve the cabin environment span the last three decades. From advocating for smoke free skies to stopping poisonous pesticide spraying to addressing the dangers of contaminated bleed air, AFA remains steadfast that cabin air must be clean. The union advocates that the airline industry either end the use of engine bleed air for cabin air supply like on the Boeing 787 or mitigate the circulation of contaminated air.
“Most Americans go to work with the expectation of breathing clean air, but until we achieve better standards for cabin air quality, Flight Attendants don’t have this guarantee,” Nelson stated.
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The Association of Flight Attendants is the Flight Attendant union. Focused 100 percent on Flight Attendant issues, AFA has been the leader in advancing the Flight Attendant profession for 71 years. Serving as the voice for Flight Attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill, AFA has transformed the Flight Attendant profession by raising wages, benefits and working conditions. Nearly 50,000 Flight Attendants come together to form AFA, part of the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afacwa.org.
