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Flight attendants for United Airlines held signs and demonstrated outside of Logan Airport’s Terminal B Wednesday to urge United to complete negotiations with workers for fair wages.
The Association of Flight Attendants for United began negotiations in 2021 for a contract with the company — which reported a record $3.1 billion in net income this year — and there has been little communication with the airline since then, said Andrew Fahy, president of the local United AFA.
“We are tired of waiting, it’s been almost four full years,” he said. “Our pilots have gotten contracts in the last two years with exorbitant increases … American now has a contract, Alaska now has a contract, so we’re pretty much ready for our turn.”
In a statement to Boston.com, United Airlines wrote, “We’re having productive negotiations with the AFA, including last week, and we continue to find common ground. We’re eager to reach the industry-leading contract our flight attendants deserve.”
Lahy and four other longtime flight attendants gathered outside the terminal departure doors and held bright yellow signs with phrases like, “World Class Airline, World Class Contract,” “Ground Time Pay Leads the Way,” and “Ready to Strike!”
The Massachusetts union joined 18 other unions across the country Wednesday to call for further contract negotiations. Boston’s Logan Airport limited the number of demonstrators to 10 people.
Marcia Cardoza worked for United for 28 years and has been involved in union efforts for just as long. She said the junior flight attendants are “just barely making it” with how little pay they receive for the amount of work they do.
Even for more senior flight attendants, their salary increases cap off after working at United for 14 years, said Cynthia Flammia, the vice president of the local AFA.
“The cost of living has gone up, our gas has gone up,” she said. “It costs us more to go to work, and they’re just not communicating.”
Members of the Local 26 union, which represents workers in the hospitality industry, joined in and brought signs that read “Local 26 Unite Here!” with paper taped to the bottom stating “Support AFA Flight Attendants.”
Nelson Rodriguez, the financial secretary-treasurer of Boston’s Local 26, said they were successful in their own contract negotiations with local hotels and universities for better wages for their workers and came to support AFA in their efforts.
“We are supporting the flight attendants that way, when we are on contract negotiation, they support us and we support each other,” he said.
Fahy said while fair wages are a large part of the contract, another part is calling for more manageable schedules for workers called reserves, who are on 24-hour standby and can be called on a flight at a moment’s notice.
United has been more communicative with the union in the last six months, after several other demonstrations took place in the last three years, Fahy said.
“It’s nice to see movement, because we didn’t see any for quite some time, and now we are seeing it,” he said. “We’d like to make sure events such as this keep the company feeling the pressure to continue until we get to a place where we can be in agreement.”
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