Alaska Airlines flight attendants authorize strike for first time in three decades | Top Vip News

Alaska Airlines flight attendants voted Tuesday to authorize a strike for the first time in more than 30 years.

News of the vote emerged as more than 60 flight attendants protested for better pay outside Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

The vote does not mean that a strike will occur.

But the decision raises the stakes in an effort by aides to negotiate what they say is their first new contract in a decade. They say Alaska Airlines has given big pay raises to pilots, but isn’t even providing a living wage to some of its flight attendants.

The negotiations have dragged on for more than a year, and flight attendants have held multiple protests outside the Anchorage airport and other airports nationwide.

Alaska Air flight attendants protested Tuesday outside 30 airports in three countries, said Rebecca Owens, spokeswoman for Local Council 30 in Anchorage for the Association of Flight Attendants. Flight attendants from 24 airlines were involved.

Alaska Airlines saying In a statement issued on Tuesday, he made progress in negotiations.

“We remain optimistic in the negotiation process,” the company said. “With six labor agreements recently closed at the company and a tentative agreement reached in January for a new contract for our technicians, we are hopeful to do the same for our flight attendants as soon as possible. AFA and Alaska leaders have met twice in the last three weeks and continue to negotiate and meet with a mediator. The discussions have been productive and in the last two sessions we reached four tentative agreements.”

“While talk of a strike is concerning, especially for our guests and the communities that depend on our service, it would not happen quickly,” the statement continued. “Many more measures would be necessary over many months, if not longer, before a strike is even possible.”

The dispute comes as Alaska Air has faced disruption to its flight schedules after part of the fuselage of a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane exploded in flight last month, an incident that led to the grounding of the planes and for which Boeing has said it is responsible. .

Alaska Air is touting big profits and has offered $1.9 billion to acquire Hawaiian Airlines, Owens said.

But it has not offered reasonable pay increases to flight attendants, he said. Many flight attendants receive poverty wages, forcing some to rely on the income of their partner or spouse for financial stability, Owens said.

(With some flight attendants on welfare, Alaska Airlines faces contract fight)

First-year flight attendants at the airline earn an average base salary of less than $24,000 a year, union officials have said.

“This is not a job that pays enough to support yourself,” Owens said.

Dozens of off-duty flight attendants, accompanied by pilots, held signs and chanted slogans nearby as she spoke. They marched in strong winds near the Alaska Airlines terminal.

“Alaska wins $$$$,” some signs said. “We can’t pay the rent.”

More than 5,900 of the airline’s flight attendants voted 99% in favor of a strike this week, Owens said. The union had said ballots would be sent to 6,800 flight attendants.

Before a strike can occur, the National Mediation Board must declare negotiations deadlocked, placing both sides in a 30-day “cooling off” period that culminates in the strike deadline, the union said. .

The union follows a strike strategy known as CAOS, or “Create Havoc Around Our System.” It employs unannounced attacks on random flights, Owens said.

The last time Alaska Air flight attendants went on strike was in 1993, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said in a statement Tuesday.

The airline experienced “dramatic reductions” in ticket bookings as passengers did not know until the last minute whether their flight would be affected, the union said.

“You can’t fly without flight attendants,” Sara Nelson, president of the International Association of Flight Attendants, said in the statement. “If Alaska management doesn’t remember what happens when flight attendants are disrespected, we are ready to prove it to them. It is time to reach a fair agreement.”

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