She was a ‘nonmember objector’ who had resigned union membership. She still had to pay some union dues for their representation. But she objected to how the union was spending her dues on politics, like their involvement in the 2017 Women’s March, and their support for abortion which ran contrary to her religious beliefs.

Other airline flight attendant unions share similar leanings (though pilot unions often skew more conservative). One American Airlines flight attendant shares her frustration over the left-wing activism of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants this month for May Day – a union to which she’s required to pay dues,

“After the May Day event, our union created a collage of video clip to post on their Instagram account. Some of the clips were clearly left leaning in their political views. As a rule, employees are to keep political views to themselves and even though unions are known to be liberal, their role is to represent all employees especially in public.”

Here’s a screen shot of the union highlighting ‘get rid of trump’ with 86 (get rid of) 47 (th President), the numbers for which former FBI Director James Comey is being prosecuted.

And here’s another complaining about Elon Musk, which is as far afield from airline union politics as one might get, showing the broad left-of-center views being expressed by flight attendants and endorsed by the union’s social accounts:

These are from May 1 “May Day” activism. May 1 became the global labor holiday spurred on by the Maymarket Affair and codified by the Second International.

• In May 1886, workers across the U.S. were striking for the eight hour workday. On May 3 in Chicago, police fired on strikers, killing at least two workers. In response, so-called anarchist labor leaders held a protest meeting at Haymarket Square. The meeting was nearly over, the crowd had dwindled, and it was considered peaceful, however police moved in to disperse it. Someone threw a bomb at police and police fired into the crowd. Seven to eight police officers were killed, and about 60 wounded. Four to eight civilians were killed, and 30 to 40 injured.
• Eight labor radicals were prosecuted for murder even though none were proven to have thrown the bomb. Seven were sentenced to death. Four of those were hanged, and three were pardoned six years later.
• To business, police, and much of the press, it confirmed fears of immigrant radicalism and anarchist violence. To labor movements and socialists worldwide, it became proof that the state and capital would crush workers demanding rights. May 1 was declared as Labor Day (ironically, in the U.S. celebrated in September) oby the Second International, the international coordinating body of organized socialism before World War I.

In communist states, May Day became a huge state holiday with parades, military displays, worker marches, and party rituals. For socialists and communists it celebrates worker struggle, class conflict, and revolutionary solidarity. To trade unions and social democrats, it’s about labor rights, wages, working conditions, and collective bargaining.

Ultimately, unions are political! Their strength isn’t just in worker solidarity, it’s in political activism. They can mobilize voters and political volunteers, and exercise political muscle. That’s important for:

• laws gatekeeping professions, driving up the time and cost it takes to enter which limits supply – both driving up wages, and also making it difficult for employers to hire replacement workers
• requiring employers to collectively bargain
• requiring employers to hire only union workers, either as a condition of government contracts or because of a vote of workers

To name just a few, the National Labor Relations Act gives employees the right to organize, join unions, bargain collectively through chosen representatives, and engage in concerted activity for “mutual aid or protection.” The Norris-LaGuardia Act limits the ability of courts to issue injunctions in labor disputes. And the Clayton Act gives unions antitrust safe harbor and protects picketing from being treated as restraint of trade.

A truly underappreciated Australian film about a union leader is Children of The Revolution (1996). An communist activist is invited to Moscow, where she sleeps with Joseph Stalin (played by F. Murray Abraham) on the last night of his life. She also sleeps with a spy played by Sam Neill that same night. She becomes pregnant. Her son grows up to become a police officer – but also union activist – and authoritarian figure. Is he dangerous because he is Stalin’s biological son, because he was raised to become a revolutionary union activist, or because political systems themselves create little Stalins?

Credits: American Airline

The post American Airlines Crew Member Objects to Union Politics first appeared on AircrewNews.com.

The docile cat looked very peaceful while it was taken down the plane, as crew members and travellers alike had an opportunity to stroke the animal. Despite the attendant making a couple of laps round the plane, no one claimed the errant kitty.

Eventually – someone looked up from their tablet and saw that their pet was on the loose, claiming the cat as their own. The animal was safely placed back in its carrier for the Thanksgiving holiday.

A hilarious video has emerged of the entire affair, surfacing around four days ago on Instagram and viewed 2.6million times. It is unclear whether the plane was delayed by the cat’s escapade, but the incident appeared to certainly bring some smiles to passengers on the busiest travel days of the year – Thanksgiving.

“It’s like the cat is checking tray tables in preparation for arrival,” one Instagram user joked.

“Cat behaves better than many people on planes these days,” said another.

“Why does this never happen on my flights?” said another commenter.

Southwest Airlines rules state passengers are allowed to bring cats aboard domestic flights for $125 (£90), provided the animal is over eight weeks old and can fit inside an airline-approved carrier that fits under the seat of the ticket-holder.

In 2023, JetBlue flight crew were treated to a rather fluffy surprise this week after they discovered an unusual passenger wandering down the aisle.

At the rather unexpected presentation of the feline Yi wrote: “On last night’s @JetBlue flight, ONT-JFK. ‘Is anyone missing a CAT. A grey-and-white CAT.’ Yes I woke up for this.”

Eventually, it was found out that the cat – a cheeky chap named Brian – had confounded his owner and escaped his carrier.

But on the other end of the spectrum, in 2021 shocked plane passengers reportedly watched on in horror as a woman started to breastfeed her cat onboard a flight.

The bizarre news came from a message from Delta Air flight DL1360 to Atlanta, seemingly from the crew, suggesting that the woman was refusing to stop what she was doing.

The Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System message read: “Req Redcoat meet AC Pax (passenger) in (seat) 13A is breastfeeding a cat and will not put cat back in its carrier when FA (flight attendant) requested.”

Credits: Southwest Airline

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The post ‘Grinning cat’ escapes on plane and presents pre-takeoff safety demonstration first appeared on AircrewNews.com.