(The following article by Sara Kehaulani Goo was published by the Washington Post on May 1.)
WASHINGTON — Flight attendants, who arguably have been hit harder than other airline workers by the fallout from terrorism, recession and bankruptcy, have surprised many in the business with their vigorous role before Congress and the courts over issues such as executive pay. Now they are seeking to parlay that higher profile into a more permanent form of equality with their fellow unions.
Yesterday, dozens of flight attendants donned their uniforms, fanned across Capitol Hill and held a news conference in a push to get the government to establish an official certification for their profession, similar to those given to pilots and mechanics.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, 20 percent of the nation’s flight attendants have lost their jobs. Those who were able to hang on had to cope first with chaotic new security procedures and harried crowds, then with an atmosphere of almost ceaseless financial uncertainty. Many have recently complained of stress caused by knowing that a pilot may carry a gun in the cockpit and that passengers may carry a deadly virus in the cabin. At the same time, attendants have had to take on more duties, such as learning new procedures for securing the cockpit and interacting with undercover air marshals.
Flight attendants have become one of the strongest voices on a number of aviation and industry issues — fighting both Congress and their employers to get more security training and emerging as powerful critics of excessive executive compensation.
Earlier this year, the union for United Airlines’ flight attendants took issue in bankruptcy court with lucrative compensation packages for chief executive Glenn F. Tilton and others, while pilots and mechanics unions were silent. Their complaints resulted in new limits on executive pay, while the airline, which is in bankruptcy, sought pay cuts and furloughs from pilots, mechanics and flight attendants.
Last week, flight attendants were the last holdout in approving a similar pay-cut plan that helped American Airlines avoid bankruptcy court at the eleventh hour. American’s flight attendants union had been one of the most publicly outraged over the airline’s plan to fatten executives’ pockets and protect pension plans while asking employees to take significant pay cuts over the next five years.
In the early 1990s, the airlines defeated an effort to certify flight attendants because the carriers feared they would have to pay them more money, according to Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), the sponsor of that bill. The Air Transport Association, the airlines’ lobbying group, did not return phone calls seeking comment on the latest bill — sponsored by Reps. Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Sue W. Kelly (R-N.Y.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) — which would direct the Federal Aviation Administration to set up a certification process.
“Historically, this is the work group that has had to fight and scratch and claw our way for any kind of respect from management that both pilots and mechanics have been granted from the beginning,” said Patricia A. Friend, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, which is the largest of such unions with 50,000 members.
Flight attendants may be more critical of executive pay, Friend says, because they are among the lowest-paid in the industry, making an average of $26,000 annually.
The job still evokes images of the days when flight attendants, then called stewardesses, were dressed in designer uniforms and sold as part of the “Coffee, tea or me?” marketing image of the jet-set lifestyle: young, single, pretty and possibly available.
Historical battles for flight attendants have mirrored those for other women in the workforce, as they struggled with management to eliminate rules that said only unmarried women could hold the job and set standards for their appearance. Until the early 1990s, American Airlines’ policy stated that “a firm, trim silhouette, free of bulges, rolls or paunches, is necessary for an alert, efficient image. A flight attendant’s weight will be in proportion to his/her height.” Other airlines had actual weight requirements.
Christopher Cameron, a professor of labor law and associate dean at Southwestern University School of Law, said it’s not surprising that flight attendants have fought executive compensation and have been one of the most vocal groups about airport security.
“Their recent lobbying efforts are reflective not only of history, but of flight attendant unions’ struggle to find an appropriate role to play in an difficult industry where they are the most easily replaced people,” Cameron said. “They have the least bargaining power.”
Flight attendants, represented by five labor unions, say FAA certification could also prevent airlines from replacing them during a work stoppage. If the FAA certifies only flight attendants who have received training, it would make it more difficult for the airline to quickly hire replacement workers, according to Friend.
One pilot union leader, who asked not to be named, said certification for flight attendants is unnecessary. “What are they being certified to do — that they can open a door? It takes three days to be an FAA-trained flight attendant,” the pilot said. By comparison, pilots and mechanics need two years of schooling and have to take comprehensive exams. Pilots also need hundreds of flying hours to become certified.
Flight attendants counter that they receive 40 hours of training, plus 16 hours of aircraft-specific training. They also receive training on a range of issues, but no specific time period is required.
Lawmakers sponsoring the bill intend to attach it to the FAA reauthorization bill that Congress will consider this month. Steve Hansen, spokesman for House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), said the bill will receive careful scrutiny. “If it’s going to take 300 employees to do this certification and continually update this when these FAA employees could be better used certifying pilots and working on safety requirements, there would be serious concerns,” Hansen said.
Friend, of the flight attendants union, said that the membership is determined to win more respect from its peers and the airlines, and a recognition that they have taken on more duties since Sept. 11.
“We’re supposed to be seen and not heard, and we’ve been treated that way for so many years,” she said. When you add that to recent revelations about the disparities between executive pay and employee sacrifices, “it’s almost like, okay, that’s it. . . . I’m not going to put up with it anymore.”