Flight attendants understand that it makes no sense to risk the lives of so many professionals like them and the pilots or the passengers.
Flight attendants union warns of possible airport chaos if there's another shutdown
The head of the flight attendants' union on Monday called for demonstrations at the country's airports if there's another government shutdown — and warned that her members might have to stop working.
While avoiding the term "strike," Association of Flight Attendants-CWA head Sara Nelson said the recently concluded 35-day partial shutdown had stretched the airline industry to the breaking point and "made all of us less safe."
And, she noted, flight attendants have a right to a safe workplace.
"We will not participate in a system that is not safe," Nelson said. She called on Americans to come out to the country's airports for mass demonstrations on Saturday to show their support if the government does shut down again Friday night. She urged those who were interested to sign up on the website, generalstrike2019.org.
Flight attendants threaten strike if Trump shuts down government again
The Association of Flight Attendants union warns that a second Trump shutdown would threaten air travel safety.
Flight attendants offered a stark warning Monday that if Trump decides to engage in another reckless, useless government shutdown, it will create unacceptable risks for air travelers.
That’s why, if the government shuts down on Friday because Trump and Republicans in Congress refuse to fund the government over Trump’s border wall, many flight attendants are prepared to go on strike if need be — and are calling for workers in other industries to join them in a nationwide general strike.
“If we are in a situation where we’re not safe and not secure, we cannot go to work in those instances,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents nearly 50,000 flight attendants, told Hill.TV.
Nelson also told The Hill that if Trump shuts down the government again, she is calling for a nationwide general strike and urging the public to go to airports on Saturday for a public demonstration.
Nelson called a shutdown where hundreds of thousands of people are forced to work without pay “immoral,” and said such a situation “requires really bold action.”
Zero commercial aviation will be painful to millions. It will impact the economy negatively immediately. Hey! But less CO2. One day all planes will be electrical and recharged with renewables thanks to the Green New Deal.
But I bet that Air Force One will fly to Mar-a-Loco.