For the first time in 30 years, the flight attendants at Alaska Airlines have decided to strike to draw attention to their demands. Thousands of cabin crew demonstrated for better pay outside airports in the US, the UK and Guam.
In addition to employees of Alaska Air, the protestors who picketed included crew from about 23 airlines, including American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines.
The protesting crew from Alaska Airlines (making up about 93 per cent of the participants) were represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA). Of these, over 99 per cent were in favour of calling a strike.
Meanwhile, Alaska Air is full of hope and maintains that it will soon finalise a deal. Recently, six labor deals have reportedly been closed and a tentative agreement was arrived at in January for a new contract for the technicians of the airline.
The airline’s leaders have had formal discussions and meetings in the last couple of weeks and bargaining is still on with the help of a mediator. The airline also maintains that the discussions have resulted in about four tentative agreements.
In the US, it is not easy for airline workers to call a strike thanks to a long and complicated labour process.
In Canada, crew from Southwest Airlines and Air Transat are also demanding sizeable increments in their pay. Offers made in the past have been rejected, and negotiations are still on.
Amidst these strikes, the shares of Alaska Air, Southwest, United Airlines and American Airlines have dipped.
