Flight attendants hold protest at LAX, nationwide as part of ‘Day of Action’

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Flight attendants held a demonstration at several airports in Southern California and dozens of others nationwide as part of a Worldwide Flight Attendant Day of Action, demanding better pay and working conditions.

Picketers were at Los Angeles International Airport, John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana and Ontario International Airport on Tuesday.

No flights are expected to be impacted by the protest.

“This is a fight for Flight Attendants and a war on corporate greed,” the Association of Professional Flight Attendants said in a statement. “We fight for our role to be respected; we fight for our value as humans to be restored; and we fight for the job dedicated to the safety and comfort of the flying public.”

Unions representing more than 100,000 flight attendants from airlines including American, Alaska, Frontier, Southwest and United are demanding retirement benefits and more flexible schedules.

The unions also want flight attendants to be paid for all their time working. Most are not compensated for time spent waiting between flights in the airport or even time boarding the plane.

“Flight Attendants are an important part of the labor movement,” the APFA statement said. “Across the country and the world, we are organized labor with a real impact on the lives of working families today. We need respect from our employers in the form of jobs that pay living wages for our time on the job, with benefits any American would want for themselves and their families; work rules that show we are just as valued as other aviation workers; and better control of our schedules to allow us to live fully human lives.”

Eyewitness News has reached out to several airlines, among them United. A spokesperson for that airline said in a statement:

“The federal mediator requested by the AFA has scheduled our first negotiations session for March 19. We’re looking forward to working with AFA to narrow the issues so that we can continue to work toward an industry-leading agreement for our flight attendants.”

The demonstration at LAX began at 11 a.m. Flight attendants also picketed at airports in Dallas, Seattle, Las Vegas, New York, San Diego, Portland, the U.K. and Guam, among others.