PORTLAND, Ore. — Around 200 Alaska Airlines flight attendants picketed outside of Portland International Airport Tuesday morning.
It is not expected to delay or impact passenger travel, the Port of Portland said. The protestors will be on the upper roadway outside of the departure zone and within a sectioned area within the ticket lobby.
The flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants CWA (AFA-CWA), have held pickets at airports throughout the year in their fight for a new union contract seeking better pay.
“Their offers to date are simply insufficient," Steve Maller, the president of the local union chapter for Alaska Airlines flight attendants said.
The union said that flight attendants are upset as the airline stated their proposals were not “economically feasible," then months later announced plans to purchase Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion.
Flight attendants represented by the union will hold a vote to get permission from the National Mediation Board on whether to strike, starting Jan. 8 and closing on Feb. 13. The strike ballot, if approved, will be sent to almost 6,800 flight attendants.
However, federal law makes it difficult for airline workers to walk off the job or for carriers to lock out workers. The union itself, according to an emailed statement, is in the mediation stage of negotiations, which does not mean a strike is imminent.
Airlines are governed by the Railway Labor Act (RLA), which determines when and how strikes can occur. According to the Associated Press, airline strikes and lockouts are legal only if federal mediators take the rare step of declaring that negotiations are at an impasse and that either side may resort to “self help.” Even then, the president or Congress can block a strike that might hurt the economy.
As of the moment, the union is raising awareness of what they want from the airline.
“The truth is Alaska management can afford an industry leading contract,” stated Jeffrey Peterson, president of the Alaska chapter of the AFA-CWA. “Management’s unwillingness to present adequate proposals brought us to this strike vote announcement. Our quality of life is non-negotiable. We will not accept terms that leave us falling even further behind the industry for years to come. Enough. If you want to PLAY like a big airline, you need to PAY like one. It’s time for Alaska to pay us or CHAOS.”
Tuesday’s demonstration included hundreds of Alaska Airlines flight attendants protesting nationwide outside seven airports, including Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Anchorage and Washington, D.C.
Contract negotiations were paused in October by the union after the airline’s proposal fell short of expectation — not including main components like boarding pay and a 1% post-inflation pay increase.
“We’re not seeing any type of pay increases,” Krystle Berry, a flight attendant and vice-president of the local union said.
Alaska Airlines states, however, that the proposal included a 15% increase to the wage scale and that the airline does pay flight attendants for boarding time. The airline plans to continue negotiations with meetings scheduled with AFA-CWA in January and February.
The airline does not expect any disruption currently to their operation or services. Any employee participating in the demonstration is not scheduled to work, according to Alaska Airlines.
Alaska Airlines reiterated in a press release Tuesday that "Neither the informational picket nor a strike authorization vote have any impact on our operation or flights now or in February."
But some travelers are still worried it could impact future flights.
“I will probably plan accordingly because it’s hard to know how long something like this last,” Genean Solomon, a frequent traveler said.
Solomon said she is in full support of the flight attendants.
Though she often takes Alaska Airline flights to see her son in Washington, D.C., “I will probably have a back-up flight on another airline if I need to,” Solomon said.
If the vote is approved to strike, AFA says that they will use their trademark approach, called CHAOS (Create Havoc Around Our System), where a strike could affect the entire Alaska Airlines system or a single flight. Union officials said they could target a specific airport as well. The union said that it will decide when, where and how to strike — without giving notice to management or passengers.
This would occur if negotiations are deadlocked and both sides are released into a 30-day "cooling off" period leading to a strike deadline, according to the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the flight attendants' union.
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