FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 30, 2023
Contact: Jonna Huseman, jhuseman@twu.org
TWU Working Women to Lawmakers: Workplace Protections for Nursing Mothers Must Include Flight Crews
Washington, DC—More than 60 working women members of the Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, descended on Washington DC this week to call on lawmakers to ensure all nursing mothers—including flight crews—are protected under federal law. The women called on lawmakers to include these protections as part of the upcoming FAA Reauthorization.
Laws passed last decade and expanded late last year grant nearly every American worker the right to pump breast milk at work, and require employers provide workers with reasonable break times and a place other than a restroom for the purpose of expressing breast milk. Sadly, flight crews were the only private sector workers excluded from these essential workplace protections.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that flight crews are the only workers in America without access to reasonable accommodations and the right to pump breast milk at work,” TWU International President John Samuelsen. “Today, in true solidarity, TWU working women, hailing from every corner of this country, and representing dozens of jobs within the transport industry, are calling on lawmakers to right this wrong.”
Ensuring flight crews are granted the same rights as all other workers would encourage new mothers to return to the workplace sooner, all at a minimal expense to air carriers. Airlines would be able to comply simply by installing a privacy curtain in aircraft galleys and making that space available for nursing mothers.
“Working mothers should not be forced to make health choices based on the boss’s rules,” Samuelsen said. “At a time when airlines are crying about self-inflicted staffing issues, you’d think CEOs would do everything in their power to accommodate their workers. I applaud TWU’s working women for taking up this cause and standing as champions for flight crews and working women everywhere.”
TWU members visited the offices of more than 60 lawmakers to call for change. The union-powered, female-led legislative blitz coincided with the meeting of the TWU Working Women’s Committee, held the same week in Washington.