Southwest, United flight attendants picket at Midway, O'Hare airports

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Flight attendants for Southwest and United airlines picketed outside Midway and O'Hare airports on Tuesday, demanding better working conditions and a fair contract.

Members of the Transportation Workers Union and the Association of Flight Attendants say the airlines have failed to ensure proper staffing and adapt to disruptions, making their jobs more challenging.

The Transportation Workers Union, which represents the Southwest Airlines flight attendants is demanding they get paid for all of the time they work on flights, including while passengers are boarding, and when flight attendants are required to work outside of the hours of their original schedules. They're also seeking an end to a policy requiring them to be on call 24 hours a day for three days at a time.

They also want the airline to provide them access to food and a safe place to rest while traveling on the job, saying some flight attendants are sometimes forced to sleep on airport floors because they can't get hotel rooms.

Flight attendants for United Airlines say management has not sufficiently responded to operational disruptions that have led to thousands of delayed and canceled flights since May, and has made the problem worse with insufficient staffing, leaving flight attendants and passengers waiting for answers for hours at a time.

"United management keeps expecting Flight Attendants 'to make it work.' Meanwhile, management blames others – air traffic control, Flight Attendants, Pilots – but themselves for operational issues. Just this week, management caused a day of cancellations after failing to do mandatory inspections for some of its Boeing 777-200 planes," the Association of Flight Attendants said in a statement.