Day of Action Hits Policies that Hurt Workers, Passengers

AFA-CWA flight attendants joined thousands of other transportation workers for a Day of Action in Washington, DC on May 17 to say "Enough is Enough" to federal policies that put corporate profits ahead of safety and security.

Speakers from Capitol Hill and the union movement criticized the corporate bankruptcies and failed federal policies that have harmed the transportation industry. They called for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, universal health care and fair trade laws to empower and protect workers.

"We have earned our rightful place in this vital debate," AFA-CWA President Pat Friend told the crowd, many of them wearing blue or orange "Enough is Enough" shirts. "Our aviation system is broken and for far too long, airline executives have dictated federal policy with workers taking a back seat."

Flight attendants and other transportation workers have enormous responsibility for passenger safety - duties that became even more demanding after  September 11th  - yet in the years since workers have suffered devastating wage, benefit and pension cuts, Friend said. "We had hoped that the promise of unity after 9/11 would produce a cooperative strategy," she said. "Instead, this administration used a national tragedy to advance its anti-worker agenda."

Issues raised by Friend and others include the new "open skies" treaty that will encourage more low-wage carriers that outsource jobs, long overdue OSHA protections for flight attendants, the need for more security training for transportation workers and major improvements to Amtrak, where workers have been without a contract for seven years.

Union workers from airline pilots to railroad signalmen came by bus from up and down the East Coast and beyond. Other union supporters turned out in solidarity, including 25 members of CWA Local 13000.

Local 13000 Vice President Tom Crawford said the message from demonstrations such as this has to be getting to anti-worker lawmakers and the White House because, "they've seen what happens when we stick together."

Speakers included presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich and other members of Congress including Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) and Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Colombia.