1.27.23 – APFA Leadership on Capitol Hill- January 24, 2023

Friday, January 27, 2023

On Tuesday, January 24th, following a successful morning of picketing across all eleven bases, APFA National President Julie Hedrick departed Washington National Airport for Capitol Hill. Julie, along with APFA Government Affairs Representatives Allie Malis and Lori Glattly, met with both the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Majority and Minority, as well as Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who oversees aviation issues in the Senate.

Lori Glattly, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Julie Hedrick, and Allie Malis

We provided our elected representatives with an update on our contract negotiations with American Airlines as we head into some of the most contentious sections. Despite helping the airline survive a global pandemic, our contract became amendable in 2019, and Flight Attendant wages have since stagnated. We also relayed how inadequate staffing levels continue to plague our workforce, which has led to exhaustion, minimal schedule flexibility, and as a result, increased attrition. We raised how returning to pre-COVID staffing levels would prevent many operational issues.

Software reliability is a hot topic at the FAA and with the airlines. We discussed the impacts these system meltdowns have on Flight Attendants, including lost trips/wages, lost crewmembers, and the cumbersome manual recovery process.

FAA funding is set to expire later this year, and Congress must pass a bill to reauthorize the FAA by September 30th, 2023. The last FAA Reauthorization Bill was passed in 2018. Through Flight Attendant advocacy on Capitol Hill, the legislation included the 10-hr minimum rest FAR provision, a study of toxic fume events in airplane cabins, and a requirement that the FAA conduct evacuation simulations to ensure that the 90-second evacuation standard is able to be met considering numerous new factors of modern-day air travel.

In 2023, we hope to build on the previous cabin air quality legislation, especially as our members have been penalized for being injured in fume events.

We continue to work with Congress to address a number of Flight Attendant and aviation safety issues, including establishing cabin temperature minimums and maximums (particularly during boarding) and putting measures in place to protect us from disruptive passenger abuse. Stay tuned for more information throughout the year on how you can help us ensure the next FAA reauthorization bill is pro-Flight Attendant!

In Solidarity,

Allie Malis
APFA Government Affairs Representative

Lori Glattly
APFA Government Affairs Representative

[email protected]