United Flight Attendants to Picket Nationwide Heading into Labor Day Weekend
CHICAGO (August 31, 2023) – United Airlines flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), today picketed at 19 airports to demand United Airlines fix ongoing operational issues and focus on negotiating a long overdue contract.
The operational problems at United Airlines are not new. Our union raised concerns in summer 2022. United management’s poor planning and chronic understaffing of crew scheduling have made problems worse for Flight Attendants and passengers this summer. The mismanagement caused the meltdown leading up to the July 4th holiday this year and prolonged recovery as crew and passengers were stranded across the country.
“We told management over a year ago to hire schedulers, staff up the hotel desk, and implement automation for crew communication. Management’s response this summer is to attempt to blame Flight Attendants for refusing to accept concessions to fix the problems they’ve created,” said Ken Diaz, AFA United President. “Their ineffective response to our concerns has hurt passengers who have to wait for crew to receive assignments. We have never seen such a chaotic, ill-equipped, and entirely unsustainable operation. Enough!”
United management takes no responsibility for their failures and continues to try to distract from their poor planning by shifting blame to others.
The national air transportation system is stretched to the limit because Congress has failed for 20 years to pass bills that authorize hiring, infrastructure, and modernization of air traffic control. United management knows all too well the systematic obstacles and failed to do their part to address what is within their control. AFA has offered solutions, but management refuses to invest the time and money to fix the problems. That’s why Flight Attendants are hitting the street and telling United management to fix this mess and negotiate a contract without delay.
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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 over 78 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.
