As travelers prepare for a busy Labor Day weekend, flight attendants announced Wednesday morning at O’Hare Airport they are preparing for a strike.
Speaking to more than 100 flight attendants representing more than 29,000 who work for Chicago-based United, Ken Diaz of the Association of Flight Attendants said more than 91% cast strike authorization ballots and more than 99% of those said “yes.”
“This has been a long time coming,” Diaz said, noting members of the group have gone more than three years without a pay raise.
Amanda Tomaszewski is one of those flight attendants.
She said she worked for United almost eight years, but she and her husband still cannot afford to buy a house.
“I have not had a raise in almost three years, so unfortunately we don’t have any chances to save to do that,” she said.
Even though United’s flight attendants have voted to authorize a strike, that does not mean it will happen anytime soon.
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Sara Nelson, the AFA/CWA’s international president, said travelers and airline executives should be on notice.
“If they don’t get serious at the table, there will be disruptions,” she said.
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If a strike is called, the union doesn’t expect its members to walk out en masse. Instead, the AFA plans to call “CHAOS” strikes designed to “create havoc around our system.” It would be a series of selective strikes, much like the ones implemented by the United Auto Workers last year.
“We continue to work toward an industry-leading agreement for our flight attendants, including negotiations this week and every month through November,” United said in a statement Wednesday.
A federal mediator has been called in.
It’s been more than 20 years since flight attendants have staged a strike here at O’Hare, but they want passengers to know that they are willing to walk out to get what they want from the airline.
“All they want is concessions from the flight attendants at a time when we have record revenues and record profits,” Scott Pejas of the AFA said. “Flight attendants are sick and tired."
