Breeze Airways Flight Attendants Vote 76.3% In Favor Of Joining Union

Flight attendants working for Breeze Airways voted 76.3% to join the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA) in an election certified by the National Mediation Board (NMB).

Breeze Airways flight attendants are based in the least unionized state of South Carolina, as well as Florida, Louisiana, Utah, and Virginia – all of which are among the bottom ten. AFA International President Sara Nelson had this to say about the vote.

Our labor movement is growing. Everywhere.

Accoring to Fox 13 cabin crew is disputing several key labor issues within the hybrid carrier, such as substandard pay for time on the job, inadequate hotel accommodations, insufficient work hours, and inconsistent and disrespectful treatment from management.

The AFA’s representation of Breeze Airways’ flight attendants adds another 650 members to their union, and they now represent over 50,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines.

This vote follows a successful union representation election for Breeze pilots with the Air Line Pilots Association in August 2022. The airline was founded by David Neeleman, a seasoned aviation entrepreneur who co-founded Morris Air, WestJet, JetBlue, and Azul Linhas Aereas.

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In its first three years of operation, the carrier has increased its Available Seat Miles by nearly 300%.

The AFA leads an ongoing fight against poor pay nationwide in the USA.

In the December 5 newsletter, United AFA proposed a new concept called “ground time pay,” which would compensate flight attendants for non-flying time while they are on the clock. This concept includes compensation for boarding, waiting for a flight, and deboarding.

United AFA proposes that flight attendants receive half the pay rate for the time spent on all non-flying duties. The idea is to attach a cost to United Airlines not being on time.

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The events will be solely informational and not affect flights or scheduled operations.

Flight attendants worldwide are taking action.

Improving working conditions is a worldwide concern. In early February, Lufthansa staff went on strike, which had a massive impact on their network of destinations. Over 100,000 passengers were affected across roughly 1,000 flights that were canceled, according to Flightradar24. Lufthansa offered cancellation options for its customers, including converting the ticket to a Deutsche Bahn train ticket free of charge.

The quarter was financially challenging for the airline, with the group primarily blaming the strikes for its lackluster adjusted negative earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and net loss, which were €849 million ($909 million) and €734 million ($785.8 million), respectively. This represents a -211% and -57% change year-on-year (YoY).

The airline group had already warned about the incoming loss on April 16. Lufthansa Group said that its Q1 2024 adjusted EBIT would be €849 million ($909 million), primarily due to strikes by several groups, including ground handling employees at Lufthansa, represented by United Services Trade Union (Vereinigte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, ver. di), and Lufthansa’s flight attendants, who are united under the banner of the Independent Flight Attendants’ Union (Unabhängige Flugbegleiter Organisation, UFO).

Bottom line.

The flight attendants of the up-and-coming US hybrid airline Breeze followed their flight deck colleagues in unionizing. This process will support them in fighting for their labor rights and resolve issues with Management through a legally recognized channel.

Unfortunately, the working condition of cabin crew is a well-known issue in the industry. This does not limit itself to the USA, as the recent streak of strikes in Germany suggests.