United Airlines flight attendants picket in downtown Chicago amid fight for new contract
United Airlines flight attendants picketed outside Chicago's Willis Tower Thursday morning as they fought for a new contract.
The flight attendants have been working without a contract for more than four years, according to the United Association of Flight Attendants. They are now taking their fight for a new collective agreement to the airline's headquarters.
The flight attendants are demanding that the airline take their demands seriously. The union said the chief executive officer for United is the highest-paid airline executive in the whole industry, while United flight attendants are the lowest paid among the airline's mainline competitors.
The union said United touts itself as "the best airline in the history of aviation," and if that is the case, it should be reflected in the pay, working conditions, and benefits for flight attendants.
"Yet flight attendants are struggling to put a roof over their heads and afford basic necessities," the union said.
At the rally, flight attendants carried signs reading, among other things, "Winter is here, our contract is not," "Our pay is frozen, our bills are hot!" and, "Stop trying to make PBS happen. It's not going to happen!" PBS in this case refers not to the Public Broadcasting Service, but to a preferential bidding system — a software system used to create and assign work schedules based on preferences that staffers enter, rather than having staffers bid in order of seniority on specific flights.
The union opposes the preferential bidding system.
AFA International President Sara Nelson and United AFA President Ken Diaz attended the rally Thursday morning.