Breeze Airways Flight Attendants Vote To Unionize

Flight attendants at Breeze Airways have just voted to unionize, roughly three years after the airline launched…

Breeze flight attendants join the AFA union

Breeze Airways flight attendants have just voted to join the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA). The election was certified by the National Mediation Board (NMB), with 76.3% of participants voting in favor of unionization.

Breeze has around 650 flight attendants, based in Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia. The union states that it hopes to tackle issues with constantly changing work rules, substandard pay, inadequate hotel accommodations, insufficient work hours, and inconsistent and disrespectful treatment from management.

This development also follows an August 2022 vote among pilots at Breeze, to join the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). With this, all major work groups at Breeze are now unionized.

Here’s how, Robynne Martino, a member of Breeze’s AFA Organizing Committee, describes this development:

“Management broke out all the tired old union busting, but together we weren’t intimidated or fooled. Our work group spoke clearly. It’s time for Breeze to treat us with the dignity we earn every day on the line. We call on management to come to the table and negotiate a fair contract without delay.”

Meanwhile here’s how Sara Nelson, President of AFA International (and often referred to as the world’s most powerful flight attendant), describes this development:

“Breeze Flight Attendants filed for an election two weeks after taking their campaign public in January and kept organizing together to turn out a clear mandate to address their concerns at work. Today they gain the legal right to bargain and have a voice in their future at Breeze. We are inspired by their solidarity and thrilled to welcome them to our AFA family. Our labor movement is growing. Everywhere.”

Good for Breeze Airways flight attendants!

I don’t have particularly strong feelings on unions, other than believing that workers have the right to collective bargaining, and if they feel being part of a union would help them, they should vote accordingly.

For example, Delta flight attendants aren’t unionized, and I think that seems like the right decision for them. That’s because Delta generally takes a good faith approach when it comes to labor. The airline wants its employees to have among the best overall compensation in the industry, and offers generous profit sharing as well as proactive pay raises.

Historically Delta flight attendants have been the best compensated in the industry, and I imagine that will continue to be the case, even if unions at competing airlines negotiate new contracts. If Delta flight attendants aren’t paid competitively anymore, then they absolutely will unionize.

But Breeze Airways hasn’t taken the same approach to labor relations as Delta. I’m not sure how things have changed since launch, but it seems like the airline almost hired flight attendants in a way that was intended to limit their potential. The airline initially hired flight attendants who were enrolled in online university, and put them in shared company housing, with shockingly low pay.

That has definitely changed since then, but it seemed pretty clear that Breeze was focused on any possible method that would limit total compensation. So it also shouldn’t be a surprise that if the airline looks to cut corners with flight attendant pay where it can, then it’ll also lead to unionization.

Bottom line

Breeze Airways flight attendants have voted to unionize, with over 76% of flight attendants voting in favor of joining the AFA. This follows Breeze’s pilots voting to unionize back in August 2022. When Breeze launched, it seemed that low labor costs were a big priority. That only works for so long, though, as the airline is now finding out.

What do you make of Breeze flight attendants unionizing?