Flight Attendant Union Applauds House Passage of the PRO Act
Washington, D.C. (March 9, 2021) —The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA) released the following statement from AFA International President Sara Nelson following the House passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act:
“Essential workers. That title is literally about life and death this year. There is no more urgent time to protect the rights of working people. Workplace safety was won and enforced by unions—and without unions inequality runs rampant and our health declines. The PRO Act matters to all Americans and 225 members of the House of Representatives agreed when voting to make this law tonight. They voted to make the title ‘essential workers’ have meaning.
"Over the past year, millions of workers suddenly experienced in a new way just how important it is to have a voice and standing on the job—whether they needed PPE, clear distancing and quarantine procedures, fair furlough or layoff processes or hazard pay. The sad reality too many faced is that without a union contract, they have no real standing or recourse.
“Corporations, Wall Street, and the 1% have rigged the scales against workers. The PRO Act restores our full right to strike, crucial to collective bargaining and reaching agreements quicker, holds corporations and individuals accountable for interfering with a worker’s free right to join a union and defines all work as work—ending misclassification of workers.
“We owe working people everything this year. It’s time the Senate follow the lead of the House and send the PRO Act to President Biden’s desk without delay.”
###
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, (AFA) AFL-CIO represents nearly 50,000 Flight Attendants at 17 airlines. AFA is the union that has advanced the Flight Attendant profession for 75 years, beating back discrimination and improving wages, benefits, working conditions, and aviation safety, health and security in the aircraft cabin. AFA also partners with the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afacwa.org.
