My Airline wants a bailout – but workers need one first

Anonymous Airline Workers

I’m pretty nervous right now. Our manager just told us that a coworker had a positive test for COVID-19. He said everything should be okay because they had fumigated the area – but I’m thinking to myself, it’s pretty likely other coworkers are infected but don’t even know it. I might be one. There’s also the fact that several weeks ago my employer, a major airline, held a meeting where we were informed by management and a guy from the CDC that COVID-19 only lives on baggage for 6 minutes. That didn’t sound so bad, except that it’s not true. It turns out the virus lives for up to 3 days. They also said that people without symptoms couldn’t pass on the virus. We also know now that that isn’t true.

I want to be tested, but there is no testing because the federal government completely screwed things up. There could be many flight attendants, baggage handlers and ticket agents that are COVID-19 positive and are passing the virus onto passengers and other workers. There is just no way to know. I’m afraid to visit my mother because she is over 65 and has asthma.

Airline workers are also worrying about being laid off – most major airlines have cut flights by 70%. Compass Airlines, a regional carrier, just ceased operations, with more regionals likely to follow suit. President Trump has floated the idea that he might ground airlines indefinitely. Airline owners have gone to Trump to ask for $50 billion to stay afloat.

To be honest with you, most of my coworkers support giving them the money. They want to keep on working. But many are suspicious. Airline workers sacrificed in 2005 as a wave of bankruptcies hit the industry. Airline executives used that money to give themselves bonuses. Again in 2008, Wall Street gave out bonuses after we all bailed them out. Bonuses for execs, foreclosures for us.

Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, has put forward a program that would get money to the airlines, but impose some important restrictions on management.

 1. All airline workers must get 100% of their pay, whether they are on-site or not.

2. No bailout money used for stock buybacks.

3. No bailout money used for executive bonuses.

4.  No bailout money used for anti-union campaigns.

5.  No breaking of union contracts, should bankruptcy occur.

One more that should be added, though, is immediate testing for all front-line workers and providing all necessary protective equipment. 

It’s worth noting that workers are already using their union power to fight for their safety in the face of the virus. UAW members in several auto plants staged wildcat walkouts when they discovered there had been people in their factories that tested positive for COVD-19. The Big Three automakers have shut down all plants until the beginning of April because of worker action. Detroit city bus drivers used their union power by striking to eliminate fares and get other safety demands met.

It’s clear to me that workers and their unions will have to act on their own behalf for health and financial protection during this crisis, because airline owners are still considering their own profits first.