Union takeoff
JetBlue flight attendants to vote on joining TWU
NEARLY 5,000 JetBlue flight attendants will start voting Monday in an effort to join the Transport Workers Union.
Ballots will be cast electronically or by phone in an election that will run until April 17.
The National Mediation Board is overseeing the election.
According to the TWU, an “overwhelming majority” of flight attendants last year signed cards declaring they wanted to unionize.
They were submitted in December, and the National Mediation Board then scheduled the vote.
The election follows a dedicated organizing drive from the TWU, which is headed by former Local 100 President John Samuelsen, who rose to prominence as the head of the union representing the city’s subway and bus workers.
Of the 4,800 JetBlue flight attendants participating in the vote, the largest contingent comes from Kennedy Airport.
Some 2,200 workers based at Kennedy are taking part in the unionizing effort, the TWU said.
JetBlue was not receptive to the the TWU’s efforts to unionize its flight attendants.
Inviting a “third-party” union was a bad idea, the airline wrote in flyers and emails to staffers in September.
“TWU is an opportunistic and negative third party,” the corporate messaging said.
Attempts to reach JetBlue for comment were unsuccessful.
Flight attendant Lyndi Howard said she and her colleagues were motivated by the desire to bargain on their own issues.
“JetBlue flight attendants would like the real opportunity and power to make improvements to our professional lives through collective bargaining and contractual language,” Howard said.
The popular no-frills airline began operations in 2000. It defeated attempts by workers to unionize until 2014, when its pilots joined Allied Pilots Association.
Some employees have complained that management cast the once-friendly corporate culture at JetBlue aside as the airline rapidly grew in size.
They were furious over a JetBlue initiative that offered travelers $25 for turning in flight attendants who used their cell phones during a flight, or broke some other company rule.
A flight attendant who stepped off a plane at Kennedy Airport in 2015 to call a supervisor about a safety concern was fired, the union said. The federal government on Thursday ordered JetBlue to reinstate the flight attendant.
“The bottom line is JetBlue is a corporation like any other in that it puts maximizing profits for executives and investors above treating workers fairly and with respect,” Samuelsen said. “Workers need to stand together to protect and advance their careers and their ability to take care of their families.”
The flight attendants are seeking a set disciplinary process with union representation at any hearings. Right now, they are “at will” employees who can be fired at any time.