ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - While holiday travelers bustled through Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Tuesday afternoon, dozens of flight attendants for Alaska Airlines assembled at the head of the departures level to voice their frustration over current contract negotiations.
The demonstration was just one of eight at major airports nationwide.
Thresia Raynor, the Anchorage-based Council 30 mobilization chair for the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), said negotiations stalled back in September.
“Management has come to the table with an offer that is just not economically viable for us,” Raynor said.
The demonstration started approximately one hour after the union announced that would now move forward with a vote to strike that will open in early January.
According to Raynor, many flight attendants are struggling to pay their bills while others have resorted to picking up a second job to make ends meet. She said holding a picket line is an important step in getting the public’s attention to bring awareness to their situation.
“Our company, one of the most important things to them along with profits is public image, and for them to understand that the public supports us in having a living wage is instrumental,” Raynor said.
During the picket, many drivers dropping off people at the airport honked in solidarity — including a few airport shuttle drivers.
Raynor said the last time the union met with Alaska Airlines leaders to negotiate, the company came to the table with a 9% increase — an increase she said is not good enough.
“The flight attendants you see out here today — they have gas bills sitting on the kitchen counter they can’t pay, eviction notices on their door,” Raynor said.
One flight attendant picketing told Alaska’s News Source that her take-home pay for one month of work was around $1,800.
In a written online statement, the airline said it would “respect their protected right to engage in these activities and do not expect any disruption to our operation or service as a result”, and that it remains “committed to reaching an agreement on a new competitive contract that fairly compensates flight attendants and continues to provide significant flexibility, but also maintains an emphasis on productivity that is critical to the sustainability of the company’s business model.”
The statement further said that it provided an updated offer to the union workers that “included an immediate 15% increase to the wage scale, market rate adjustments” and that the offer was “the largest we’ve made in our history for our flight attendants’ contract.”
The inability to agree on the terms of a new contract comes on the heels of Alaska Airlines announcing its purchase of Hawaiian Airlines earlier this month for $1.9 billion.
Raynor said the organized protest and the announcement of the strike authorization vote are not directly related to the acquisition, but it was salt in an already open wound.
“When they are saying it’s not economically viable to give us an industry-leading contract, but they’re willing to come with $2 billion in cash to buy another carrier, of course that hurts,” Raynor said.
Alaska Airlines maintains that the acquisition does not impact its interest in reaching an agreement with its flight attendants and that it does “not expect any disruption” to the airline’s operation due to the authorization of a strike vote.
According to a press release issued by AFA Tuesday, nearly 6,800 strike vote ballots will be sent to flight attendants. That vote will open on Jan. 8 and close on Feb. 13.
Copyright 2023 KTUU. All rights reserved.
Alaska Airlines flight attendants picket ahead of pending strike vote - Alaska's News Source
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment