Flight attendants at American Airlines are standing up to union-busting and fighting back against corporate greed. They’re issues facing employees at every airline and at many major companies in the United States.
I am flying to Dallas to stand with them on October 5th; joining flight attendants from both American Airlines (LAA: meaning those originally with American prior to the merger with US Airways) and US Airways (LUS: US Airways flight attendants prior to the merger with American) as they picket outside of the headquarters building of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) in Euless, Texas.
The APFA of today bears little resemblance to the union which called a historic flight attendant strike against American in 1993, leading to an industry leading contract.
Simply put, their union president has taken the last few years to play into a masterplan by American’s CEO to render the APFA completely ineffective. I’ve talked before about just how Laura Glading went along with his plans, and now the flight attendants the union represents have had enough.
BREAKING: Laura Glading Resigns just as thousands of flight attendants fly to Dallas to demand her resignation
A majority of flight attendants are calling for her to resign or be recalled prior to the end of her term and subsequent retirement which will have her leaving with lifetime positive-space passes; something her members feel she doesn’t deserve. I agree with them.
Isolated Union
When the merger of American and US Airways was in the process of being completed, Laura Glading vehemently resisted any discussion of joining with the largest flight attendant union, AFA-CWA, which represented flight attendants at US Airways and 19 other airlines. Glading chose to give it all away to Doug Parker while letting him also have his way with her flight attendants. In the process, American walked Glading through the process of arming herself with union busting consultants who’d help her reverse years of collective bargaining and lawyers to keep backlash at bay.
What she getting in return besides empty promises isn’t totally clear, but wherever she goes she needs to take her soiled reputation with her like a scarlet letter and the flight attendants of American Airlines may be just the ones to brand it right on her forehead!
Bevy of Betrayal
The many things that Laura Glading has done to betray her membership are outlined in a video created by flight attendants at American who are hard working, dedicated employees who have been left with no choice but to demand the resignation of the person they should have been able to trust.
Video created by American Airlines flight attendants