The largest flight attendant union in the United States, which represents crew members at several major carriers, including United Airlines, whose chief executive is a supporter of President Trump, has claimed that a “billionaire-led assault on federal workers” with the blessing of the White House is putting airline passengers in “great danger.”
During a meeting of the board of directors of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), the union unanimously passed a scathing resolution attacking the Trump administration and its “illegal” assaults on union workers and federal employees.
The union, which represents tens of thousands of flight attendants across the United States, including at Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and several regional carriers, criticized President Trump’s economic measures, as well as the administration’s “full-force assault on immigrant workers.”
Some of the blistering remarks about the Trump administration included:
- “This administration, under the direction of unelected mega-billionaire Elon Musk, has illegally assaulted the union rights of federal workers and thereby endangered the rights of all workers”
- “This administration has alienated our allies and endangered our economy and thereby our jobs through reckless trade policy and dangerous handling of highly sensitive information.”
- “Under the current administration’s extreme and unlawful measures, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has wrongfully deported lawful US residents.”
- “The current administration’s actions have demonstrated a pattern of inhumane and illegal treatment of US citizens, lawful residents, tourists, and undocumented immigrants.”
Led by fire-brand union leader Sara Nelson, who is often described as the most powerful flight attendant in the United States, the Association of Flight Attendants said it would take action to support the constitutional rights of its members at “every step.”
The resolution was particularly critical of airlines that have already signed contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or are in the process of negotiating deportation contracts.
The union says it will support flight attendants who act in accordance with their moral and ethical beliefs, presumably those who refuse to take part in deportation flights or normal commercial flights that have deportees onboard.
It recently emerged that the low-cost carrier Avelo Airlines, whose flight attendants are represented by AFA-CWA, had signed a deportation charter contract with ICE. The airline appears to be trying to avoid any conflict with the union by hiring flight attendants specifically to operate charter deportation flights.
At a more local level, the union continues to try to negotiate an updated contract for its members at United Airlines, although, with plummeting travel demand and serious economic woes on the horizon, it could make that process harder than ever.
Your headline “largest flight attendant” caught my attention. I wanted to see how fat this woman was and it was pure clickbait.