Association of Flight Attendants-CWA Day of Solidarity picket outside Alaska Airline headquarters
Seattle, WA – Usually at Angle Lake Park, the noise of jets taking off from nearby SeaTac International Airport drowns out the sound of everyday activity. But on the morning of August 15, it was chants of “Pay us or chaos” that could be heard over everything else, as hundreds gathered for the Day of Solidarity informational picket in support of Association of Flight Attendants-CWA’s fight for a new contract.
The morning began with a rally, where Alaskan Airlines flight attendants were joined by pilots, fellow union workers, and community activists. Sara Nelson, the AFA-CWA international president, spoke to the crowd about the significance of solidarity, saying, “This is the working class fighting together. Since the beginning of time the corporate elite have tried to divide us with racism, sexism, ageism and any other way that they can to get us to hate each other.”
The group then marched on Alaska Airlines’ corporate headquarters. Picketers lined the streets, holding signs reading “1st in passenger satisfaction, 6th in pay” and “We demand boarding pay without delay.” Passing cars, trucks and shuttle buses honked in support throughout the day.
The AFA-CWA is currently operating under a nine-year contract, one that was extended due to the COVID pandemic. On top of not receiving a meaningful pay increase in that timespan, flight attendants are also not paid for time on the ground, helping passengers with boarding the aircraft, and assisting in deplaning. Melinda Jorge, vice president of AFA-CWA Local 19 in Seattle, said, “Nobody in America should go to work and work an hour for free.” She then explained that during unpaid labor pre-flight, if a flight attendant “gets hurt or calls out within that hour, you get points [against you] or you can be terminated.”
News of these exploitative working conditions helped spur Jonathan Toledo, a member of the South Seattle College Students for a Democratic Society, to join the picket. When asked about why he felt it was important to attend, he stated: “Quite frankly, everyone goes on airplanes. There’s record profits and it just keeps going and going into the pockets of the few. The workers are being robbed left and right. If we don’t stand up now, we’ll never be able to take back what’s ours.”
Toledo is also a member of the Strike Solidarity Committee, a group of local union organizers across multiple industries who mobilize workers in order to build stronger working-class solidarity in the greater Seattle area. Other committee members from Unite Here Local 8, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Tacoma DSA were also in attendance.
After hours of picketing outside the corporate offices of Alaska Airlines, some attendees returned to Angle Lake Park to celebrate the overwhelming turnout. Jorge stated, “We were scheduled to have 800 people, but we probably had 900 to 1000.” Then, reflecting on how this picket will benefit the American labor movement as a whole, she continued, “Even though we’re under the Railway Labor Act, which really constitutes how we can actually picket, we’re out here still fighting. And that’s what every labor group should be doing. Everyone should be organizing. We needed to show other groups that we have solidarity. We’re not out here fighting for just us; we’re fighting for everybody.”