Airline trade group Airlines For America said Tuesday that Thanksgiving holiday air travel will be the heaviest ever this year, with about 3 million passengers on each of the five heaviest days between Tuesday Nov. 26 and Sunday Dec. 1.
The demonstrations represent the union’s latest effort to secure improvements in pay, health care and working conditions for airport caterers, who prepare the food for onboard service. “You can’t take on every airline,” Taylor said. “You have to deal with the largest. If American agrees that helps overall.”“American Airlines respects and supports the rights of workers to join a union and bargain collectively— in fact, 84 % of our team members are represented by unions,” said American spokesman Josh Freed.
“Gate Gourmet has made significant improvements for our people in wages and benefits across the U.S.,” Jewell said. “We are disappointed by the union’s unreasonable and unaffordable demands for wage increases and medical benefits which hinder the long-term sustainability of our industry, create unrealistic expectations and delay progress.”
Next week’s demonstrations will take place at a time when national support for labor appears to be gaining – an August Gallop poll shows 64% support for labor unions – even as union membership remains around 10.5%, down from about 35% in 1954.