airline which recently stopped paying into employee social security and medicare. These non-union flight attendants have begun the process to become unionized with representation by AFA — Association of Flight Attendants.
The following press release has been issued by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA:
Cathay Pacific U.S.-based Cabin Crew Organize for an Election to Join the Flight Attendant Union
Union Cards Submitted to Federal Agency on October 24
Washington, DC (October 25, 2016) — The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), on behalf of CathayPacific U.S.-based Cabin Crew, filed on Monday for a union representation election. Cathay Cabin Crew demonstrated overwhelming support for AFA with signed authorization cards asking for an election. Now they eagerly await the National Mediation Board (NMB) to call for an election.
“We are excited for Cathay U.S.-based Cabin Crew to join with us to raise the standards for all Flight Attendants. Their Cathay Cabin Crew counterparts in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Canada all have contracts with higher pay, benefits and job security. It’s past time for these hard-working American-based Flight Attendants to have a contract too. Together we will work to deny multi-national corporations from undervaluing our work. This election is about equality and fairness. It matters to Flight Attendants in the U.S. and Cabin Crew serving as aviation’s first responders around the world that these Flight Attendants have a strong voice at work,” said Sara Nelson, AFA International President.
The NMB is the federal agency that oversees union representation elections in the airline industry. Once the NMB verifies the signed union authorization cards submitted by AFA, an election will be called. A schedule for the voting period will be announced by the NMB.
Cathay Pacific is the flag carrier of Hong Kong. Cathay operates multiple cabin crew units in the U.S. in addition to Canada, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok. Cathay operates daily flights out of LAX, SFO, JFK, BOS, ORD to Hong Kong. The company employs approximately 450 cabin crew in the U.S. with bases in SFO, LAX and JFK.