TWU 556 members rally outside Washington National Airport to demand a better contract on Tuesday, February 13th. Flight attendants across the country gathered at more than 30 airports for a nationwide Day of Action.
TWU members at Locals 556, 577 and 579 rallied with flight attendants at more than 30 airports across the country to demand better contracts, better work rules, and liveable wages. More than 100,000 flight attendants across the country are currently working without updated contracts.
The Day of Action united flight attendants across different airlines and unions, and TWU members representing flight attendants from Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and Allegiant Air joined their colleagues to march outside airports all over the country.
“Corporate greed plagues the industry,” said TWU International President John Samuelsen. “While airlines and their bosses are raking in record profits, hard working Flight Attendants across the country are standing up for better pay and working conditions. Workers must always fight for every gain. The employers will never willingly share the profits. This Day of Action is super critical.”
The Day of Action was coordinated across different airports simultaneously to ensure maximum impact, and multiple members of Congress stood alongside TWU members picketing in Washington and Orlando.
“The Day of Action is critically important to remind airlines that flight attendants are indispensable,” said TWU International Executive Vice President Alex Garcia. “We will continue to fight for better contracts and ensure more protections.”
Melissa Grube, Baltimore Domicile Executive Board Member for TWU Local 556, led a group of Southwest flight attendants who gathered at Washington National Airport. She said the Day of Action was intended to raise public awareness of ongoing contract talks.
“It’s imperative that we need to let the public know the purpose and situation we’re here for, and that’s because we haven’t had a contract for five years, we haven’t had any compensation for that amount of time either,” Grube said. “We’re the front-line workers. We worked through Covid. We worked through meltdowns, especially with Southwest. We’ve also been through passenger abuses. It’s just time that we deserve a contract for the times that we are in.”
As flight attendants circled and chanted to deliver a message that corporate greed will not be tolerated, motorists and arriving passengers honked their horns and offered support.
“It shows that we are all unified, it’s not just one airline that’s going through what we’re going through,” Grube said. “It shows that we’re all the front-line.”
TWU members in Orlando gather for a Flight Attendant Day of Action.