Flight attendants at Delta Air Lines are said to be ‘outraged’ over the Atlanta-based carrier’s recent decision to bow to public pressure and allegations of antisemitism and ban them from wearing country flag pins apart from the US flag.
The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) says that many crew members at Delta have taken great pride in wearing flag pins on their uniform and that it has become “a proud symbol of our aviation history and a bridge between cultures”.
Flight attendants would wear flag pins to represent their heritage or a foreign language they spoke, but in recent months, Palestine flag pins have been worn by some front liner staffers to show solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The choice of some employees to wear a Palestine flag pin quickly became a divisive issue, and earlier this month, a photo of a flight attendant wearing the flag during a flight from Boston to West Palm Beach quickly went viral.
The flight attendant union said that rather than standing up for the flight attendant and protecting him from harassment, the airline made the wrong decision to cave to public pressure by altering its uniform and grooming policy by banning the wearing of Palestine flag pins.
Delta didn’t, however, just ban Palestine flag pins but instead banned all types of flag pins with the exception of the US flag.
“Instead of standing up against harassment, Delta made a shocking decision to bow to the demands of those who target Flight Attendants by changing policy: prohibiting all flag pins except for the USA flag,” the Association of Flight Attendants slammed.
“This change not only violates Delta’s commitment to inclusivity, but also creates a chilling effect on any worker or passenger deemed “not American enough” by a hateful few”.
The union continued: “This sets a dangerous precedent that is both dehumanizing and harmful to Delta’s reputation and ability to do business both here and around the world”.
The Association of Flight Attendants doesn’t actually represent Delta’s crew members as the airline’s flight attendants are famously the largest non-unionized crew workforce in the United States – although the union is once again trying to convince workers to file for union membership.
In contrast to the reaction at Delta, a change of flag pin policy at JetBlue several months ago was agreed upon with the approval of the Transport Workers Union, which represents its flight attendants.
The policy change was quickly implemented for exactly the same reason as at Delta after a Jewish passenger accused a flight attendant of antisemitism over an inflight incident which also involved the wearing of a Palestine flag pin.
JetBlue decided only to allow flag pins for countries or territories that the airline flies to, although that doesn’t cover language skills that crew members might want to show off.
For many years, Emirates used country flag pins as part of the cabin crew uniform so that flight attendants could show off where in the world they came from. The idea was to promote just how cosmopolitan Emirates’ flight attendants were as they represent 140 nationalities.
However, several years ago, the Chinese government realized that the Emirates cabin crew from Taiwan were wearing the flag of the Republic of China, known as the ‘white sun in a blue sky, and a wholly red earth’.
The flag is controversial because it symbolises Taiwan’s independent governance. The People’s Republic of China has, however, long claimed Taiwan.
Chinese officials effectively threatened Emirates with sanctions over the Taiwan flag pin, and Emirates initially asked Taiwanese cabin crew to wear People’s Republic of China flag pins. When they refused, Emirates decided to ditch country flag pins altogether.
The ONLY thing that the AFA wants is IN. Like the teacher’s unions, they only want what’s for the union, not the flight attendants or students. They only want to stir up discord among the employees. Any company has the RIGHT…YES RIGHT to project their brand image/recognition in the manner that they wish. Look at other giants like The Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s, Chick Fil A and others. The employee speaks to the BRAND not the employee’s interpretation. Delta Air Lines (most people spell it wrong with “Airlines”) is a US flag carrier. They fly the flag on the aircraft. Therefore, they can also fly the flag where they choose. The employees can either conform to the BRAND RECOGNITION as dictated by the company OR…leave. It is that simple. Unions are like herpes. Once you get it, you can’t get rid of it. It’s the “gift that keeps on giving”!
What in God’s name is going on as if this world isn’t a mess already. Just leave the shit alone, that stands for all you assholes trying to undo our USA
Sadly, Whit this is a typical response to Unions by many. You do have a point about the company. It can decide to take this position but the Union can also decide to fight for its employees as it sees fit.
However, here is the hard truth. Unions have been getting rid of, so your comment hold no water whatsoever. It’s propaganda. In 1980 3 in 10 people were unionized and now it’s 1 in 10. The truth is The US Government has been known to break unions and investigate them and even infiltrate them. This is just a matter of record. Big business and Corporate interests, donors, have been lining the pockets of Congress for decades. The result is wages have staganated and the thought war has been won by these interests and propagatted by people illimformed.like yourself.
This is why we know what the wages are of the local Target employee or the Union Leader but conversely we don’t kno how much the COO of Target makes. Why do you think that is?
At the end of the day, the idea of not being able to get rid of the unions is just ridiculous and nonsensical. President Reagan set that ball rolling 40 plus years ago. But, by all the means don’t let the facts get in the way of. your political agenda.
God Bless America…
The only flag to be worn is the American flag. Don’t like it, move to another country!🇺🇸
So all Emerates employees should sport an American flag? You’re ridiculous.
American Airline, wear American flag pin. Other country airline, wear the other country flag pin period. If your multi lingual a tag with the language should be worn not a foreign flag. That’s my opinion.
Exactly, IF the communist DUMBOCRAP’S useless idiot’s with 💩💩💩 for brains, don’t want to be Americans, I’ll get them a one way ticket to N.korea!
There they can enjoy all the benefits of the totalitarian state that they can wallow in!
I am glad to see comments about this article that make total sense. Additionally, in my opinion, I would say that if an employee feels the need to defy their employer’s rules and regulations, then that employee should go start their own company where they can write the rules. People today think they can act any way they want to in any situation regardless of what is permitted or allowed. I never worked for a company that allowed employees to write their own individual rules. Most companies allow employees to make suggestions and the employer can either say yay or nay. The employer writes the rules, pays the bills, and signs the checks. So, either comply or move on as someone else would probably be very happy to have your job.
You know Delta doesn’t actually have a Flight Attendants’ union, right? You researched this before writing article? And still published it? Ok…..
You did read the article, right?!
So why would you quote an organization with no affiliation to Delta’s FAs. Oh, wait, for clicks. Yellow.
Agree with Delta. Their customers are the public not employees. Of course they don’t want to offend their customers. A great decision Delta!
A better way to manage this is to have language speakers wear a pin that says (in that language) I speak Arabic – or something similar. I didn’t realize Emirates stopped allowing flag pins for their FAs, it was always kinda cool to see where everyone was from during service.
I’m a Delta pilot. Been flying a trip for the past 5 days and not one FA has said anything about their new rule. This is just the AFA doing what they do best, telling lies and making mountains out of molehills.
If you don’t like it leave. There are so many people who would take your jobs in a heartbeat. I would freak if I had a flight attendant with a hamas loving flag serve me on a delta flight.
If you work in the U.S.A. WE have our guide lines we live by, don’t try and change them bc you work here. This is America home of our free! WE don’t go to your Country and demand changes. So, don’t expect use to bend over backwards to change ours for every Country, because it would not be America any more. Love one another equally is the beast we can do.