North Texas airline workers take part in Worldwide Flight Attendant Day of Action
NORTH TEXAS - Tuesday marked a "Worldwide Flight Attendant Day of Action," drawing thousands of Flight Attendants to protest pay and conditions.
Organizers called it the largest collective action in the history of the profession. Love Field and DFW Airport represented two of the more than 30 airports worldwide today that saw pickets. Participants said they want to be valued and compensated for their role as frontline workers in aviation.
They may have been wearing different uniforms, but the Flight Attendants were all united in their pleas.
"We're all fighting the same thing," said Julie Hedrick, National President of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. "Our CEOs have devalued our jobs since COVID. And we are working together to make sure that we do everything we can for our profession to raise it up."
Hedrick has been an American Airlines Flight Attendant for 41 years. She said American has not given flight attendants a raise in 5 years, despite increasing demands on them.
"So it's harder work," she said. "We are more productive than we have ever been. And we're working under wages that were negotiated back in 2014."
"Our flight attendants need to be able to live in the high-cost cities that American Airlines and other airlines send them to when they're hired," said Paul Hartshorn, Communications Chair of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. "Right now, they're having to choose between food, transportation and rent, and they can't pay all three in one month. It's disrespectful, and it needs to change."
Organizers said the Flight Attendants who picketed had the day off, so the traveling public was not affected. But they're petitioning the National Mediation Board for a release next month, which could eventually lead to a strike. That and potentially higher fares have some travelers concerned.
"And we love to come down and see our family, and we'll just have to cut back because we can't afford to come if prices keep going up," said traveler Jeff Palmer.
In response to our request for comment, American Airlines said, in part, "The proposal we've had on the table since September 2023 includes increased pay, the addition of boarding pay and other meaningful improvements. We remain at the negotiating table, ready to make a deal — and we are confident that we will reach a new agreement soon."
A Southwest spokesperson said, in part: "We reached an industry-leading Tentative Agreement with [the union] in October 2023 and are scheduled to meet next week with the union and the National Mediation Board to continue working toward an agreement that benefits our Flight Attendants and Southwest."
