Belabored Podcast #141: Union for the Holidays

Belabored Podcast #141: Union for the Holidays

Holiday travel can be stressful, and doubly so for the workers who make that travel possible. We hear about the flight attendants and baggage handlers organizing this holiday season.

Newark airport (Max / Flickr)

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Holiday travel can be exhausting and stressful enough if you’re a traveler—now imagine being a flight attendent or an airport employee who has to deal with all those stressed-out travelers. This week we bring you an episode on the workers who make your visits home for the holidays possible. We spoke with Transport Workers Union international president John Samuelsen about the organizing campaign of JetBlue flight attendants, who have filed for a union election, and with Gueldere Guerilis and Melifaite Cine, who work in the Fort Lauderdale airport and are part of a campaign for airport employees to get a living wage.

We also discuss a pilot’s strike at European airline Ryanair, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals weighing in on the gender wage gap, the ongoing struggles of unpaid interns, and the Trump administration’s plans to slow down union elections and allow employers to legally steal tips. For Argh, we consider inequality in Silicon Valley’s labor forces, and remind you that sexual harassment is a workplace issue. 

If you think our work is worth supporting as we soldier on through Trumplandia, please consider becoming a sustaining member of Belabored or donating or subscribing to Dissent. Help keep us going for the next 141 episodes!

  

News

When women earn less than men, is gender bias always to blame? 9th Circuit to decide en banc (Reuters)

Employers would pocket $5.8 billion of workers’ tips under Trump administration’s proposed ‘tip stealing’ rule (EPI)

NLRB: Request for Information Regarding Representation Election Regulations (NLRB)

Second Circuit Holds that Hearst Interns are not Employees (National Law Review)

Ryanair pilots to strike before Christmas (BBC)

Ryanair offers to recognise unions in historic shift to try to avert strikes (Reuters)
 

Conversation 

John Samuelsen, TWU

TimeWeUnite, TWU JetBlue Flight Attendants Campaign

JetBlue flight attendants seek to form union during D.C. visit (New York Daily News)

Gueldere Guerilis and Melifaite Cine, Fort Lauderdale Airport passenger service workers

Congressman Hastings, Vice Mayor Furr, & FLL Airport Workers Launch ‘Safe Airports’ Campaign to Improve Security at Ft Lauderdale Airport (32BJ SEIU)


Argh, I Wish Id Written That!

Michelle: Charlotte Simmonds, The Silicon Valley paradox: one in four people are at risk of hunger (Guardian)

Sarah: Melissa Gira Grant, The Unsexy Truth About Harassment (NYRB Daily)