LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Off-duty Southwest Airlines and United Airlines flight attendants protested at Harry Reid International Airport on Tuesday morning.
The protest was one of 11 planned across the U.S.
Members of TWU Local 556, the union of 18,000-plus flight attendants of Southwest Airlines, said they are protesting because they need a new contract.
TWU Local 556 said the collective bargaining agreement they hold with Southwest Airlines became amenable almost four years ago. The Union added that a number of negotiation delays on behalf of Southwest Airlines left flight attendants without the opportunity to improve or modify their working conditions.
“Never before in the history of Southwest Airlines have flight attendants’ working conditions deteriorated so rapidly, crippling our quality of life, devaluing our role and creating a loss of spirit,” said TWU Local 556 President Lyn Montgomery.
TWU Local 556 is demanding a new collective bargaining agreement with Southwest Airlines. Some of the requested changes include:
- Paying flight attendants for time worked, including when passengers are boarding and when flight attendants are required to work outside of hours originally scheduled.
- Giving flight attendants control over their personal schedules when not at work, allowing them the liberty they deserve to take care of their lives at home.
- Providing access to food and a safe place to rest when traveling on the job. A lack of hot food and sometimes even hotel rooms leave flight attendants with little to eat and sometimes sleeping on the airport floor.
- Fixing technology issues that impact passengers and disproportionately impact frontline aviation workers, including flight attendants.
- Creating a modern Reserve system that meets the needs of both the operation and employees and ending the unsafe practice of putting flight attendants on 24-hour on-call shifts.
- Providing benefits that actually help flight attendants, like health insurance that continues coverage when someone is injured on the job, is battling cancer or had a baby.
