bmxaggie

On my last few flights, I have noticed some AA FA's with a 'resign' sticker underneath their nametags/Airline ID tags. What does it mean?

I frankly get a little annoyed when FA's, pilots need to make a labor/union statement infront of me. Those gripes can be taken up with their bosses and I don't need to be apart of it(but maybe this has nothing to do with that)

badjuju

Here, here - it just makes the flight uncomfortable. Also, if they are so miserable, they can quit. If you're at a restaurant and the waitress is whining over her low pay, we say get another job. I don't see why they have the throw a pity party all the time. If you've been receiving pay cuts for the past 10 years, guess what you're getting next Christmas? Another pay cut. You like the perks that's why you stick with the job. As travellers, we like the perks that's why we stick with the airline.

phlux

It is indeed a union protest.

Official press release about this campaign (from April) here.

martinp13

I'm always tempted to say "Well, why don't you?" But I don't want them to spit in my Coke.

dkhc

CEOs and other execs who are too dimwitted, shortsighted, greedy, whatever to keep the company from hemorrhaging money should not get million dollar bonuses, end of story. Consumers should know this information, if not for anything other than to be aware of the corporate value system of their carrier-of-choice. If the customer feels compelled to poo-poo the FAs for expressing their Constitutionally-given right to express free speech in an airplane, then so be it.

The pins are a way to open dialogue, and I for one cannot understand why the Fox-CNN-MSNBC-mentality of "I-Scream-You-Scream-If-You-Don't-Like-The-Country-Then-Leave" is so pervasive and normative in our culture today. Good for him or her to express their views!

If the execs are so worried about the bottom line of AA, then perhaps they could forfeit their "bonuses," and the union employees make some concessions as well. That's how compromises happen...

giggy

What a wrong time to be stupid. While I think its a shame to have paycuts, fighting over it now is a deadend. AMR will go bankrupt and fire all of them, and reimmerge with willing FAs that are non-union and work for 1/3 less and are happy about it.

bocastephen

It's AA - they won't spit in your coke, they will just start screaming hysterically 'Air Marshal! Air Marshal! We're being attacked!'

Frankly, if I was the CEO of a company whose front-line employees were wearing such stickers, I would be showing them the door. There are plenty of experienced new hires who will be looking for work from other airlines over the next few months.

bmxaggie

Thanks for the information.

My entire point was not about the protest but how they are doing it. I am choosing to fly AA - not be involved in a political debate. The plane is a private space owned by AA (or the bank!) and not a public space for union politics. I hope they could find other ways to express their concerns about AA's finances.

I want to sit back, relax and enjoy my flight - I don't want to be forced to learn about union politics of flight attendant gripes.

stratofortress

I'm definitely not a union supporter - you can search my previous posts and see that; however I'm perfectly fine with them expressing their opinion on their badges if they like.

I did, however, find it within me to ask one of them why they don't just quit and go to another airline. The response: "They're even worse at other airlines..."

I dunno, I probably wouldn't be carping about being at the top of the food chain in my chosen career path. If I was unhappy with it, I'd be looking for a different line of work.

Gardyloo

I dunno either. I guess my personal data point was talking with a nice FA on a recent ORD-SEA flight who had been recalled (12 years with TWA) from a furlough that had lasted for ~7 years IIRC, and whose last job before returning to AA was as a checkout person at Lowe's. She was happy to be flying, even if it was on MD-80s instead of front cabin on TWA longhauls. She was plenty nervous about the schedule cuts coming; she didn't want to go back to the lumber department.

JHIN

While I agree with a poster here about short sighted execs and when they don't relinquish bonuses but continue to make cuts to staff - I do agree with the OP - take your union complaint to your union don't wear it like body armour on your job tisk tisk - but also my business side says any FA making mega bucks and according to a yahoo news story there are those making 80K and over the 100K mark then IMHO your salary is not justified with the work effort involved at that rate. Others will disagree and flame but I'd be willing to pay FAs a premium for their safety training but it's still a glorified food server hence the wage should match.

giggy

What food?

Hayden

I enjoy talking union politics with the crews, but I do agree that it can be unpleasant to deal with political debates in-flight. For example, I find the veneration (via IFE and in the in-flight magazines and Skymall) of consumerism and the general support of a "big business" economy unpleasant. But there it is up on the screen, or in the magazine. Whether an FA has a pin on his or her shirt, the presence of political opinions in the cabin is not really escapable.

That said, I pretty much just ignore it--much easier than taping over the monitors.

Steph3n

I think they'd be more effective to go to the shareholders and work to get the directors to hold the executive accountable for corporate irresponsibilities.

diaspora04

Marxists have no place in aviation.