Flight Attendants Want More from U.S. Airlines. It Might Take a Strike to Get There.
Photo Credit: Alaska Airlines flight attendants on the picket line. (AvgeekJoe Productions/Flickr) Flickr / AvgeekJoe Productions
Skift Take
Labor discontent is rife in the skies over the U.S.
Flight attendants at Southwest Airlines overwhelmingly rejected a new contract over the weekend. The move is the latest in the mounting tensions between cabin crew and U.S. airline management that could result in the industry's first labor action in more than a decade.
The agreement that Southwest's nearly 19,000 flight attendants rejected included pay increases of 36% over five years and other quality of life improvements. The offer clearly was not enough: 64% of those who voted rejected the agreement.
"The flight attendants of Southwest Airlines have made it clear that this proposed contract is not going to heal the hurt," said Lyn Montgomery, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 556 that represents the crew members. "We will go back to the table to achieve the collective bargaining agreement that meets the needs of the hardest-working flight attendants in the industry."
The union declined to comment further.
One area of disagreem
