Your AFA

For more than 60 years, AFA has represented Flight Attendants on the job, on Capitol Hill, before federal agencies and at the bargaining table. With AFA, you are guaranteed that your voice will be heard at every level of the union, and your interests will be represented with your employer and with government officials.

AFA engages its members in this advocacy process, bringing Flight Attendants to Washington to speak directly with their members of Congress. When it comes to our profession, Flight Attendants are the experts, and agencies and legislators seek out our opinion and our input.

AFA experts in the Government Affairs and Legal Departments also provide written and in-person testimony on issues important to us. As a result of our work together through our Flight Attendant union, we have achieved important improvements in our workplaces, and for our careers, benefiting every Flight Attendant, no matter what airline.

Important AFA-sponsored legislation and rulemaking have included:

• Duty day and crew rest protections
• Minimum staffing on aircraft
• No height, age or gender restrictions
• Women’s rights to purser positions
• Partner benefits
• Improved cabin safety, including floor-level exits and less flammability of aircraft
• Improved cabin air quality, including a ban on smoking
• Whistleblower protection
• Equal access to Family and Medical Leave

The first Flight Attendants, called Sky Girls, began blazing the trail for our profession in the 1930s, not long after airlines began shuttling passengers across the country.

In the early days of our profession, these stewardesses fit a very narrow description: young and single women who were registered nurses and met strict age, height, weight and appearance requirements. The average length of a stewardess’s career was just over one year.

As Ada Brown, the founder of AFA noted, “We had no rights, let’s put it that way. We were at the mercy of the company.” By 1945, stewardesses at United Airlines hadn’t had a pay increase in 15 years, and they had no rules or regulations about flight time. If a stewardess didn’t show up to replace you on multi-stops across the country, the company would just say, “You have to continue flying.”

That’s when Brown began the first drive to organize Flight Attendants for representation.  She understood that the only way to have a respected voice with her company was to have a legally binding contract. Within months, she had signed up 75 percent of her fellow employees at United Airlines to join the Airline Stewardesses Association, which became the Association of Flight Attendants, AFA, in 1972. Originally an affiliate of the Air Line Pilots Association, AFA was given a charter as an independent affiliate of the AFL-CIO in 1984.

Today, affiliated with the Communications Workers of America and with a seat on the AFL-CIO Executive Council, AFA is regarded as the “go-to” organization for information about Flight Attendants, and is helping to raise the standards for our profession throughout the industry.

No one knows your job and your issues like other Flight Attendants. That’s why the Association of Flight Attendants believes we need to unite in one union focused exclusively on Flight Attendants to take full advantage of the leverage we have as a union of Flight Attendants, by Flight Attendants and for Flight Attendants.

Flight Attendants hold every elected position – from your local domicile and the United Master Executive Council, to the International union. AFA’s three top officers are current Flight Attendants: International President Veda Shook is an Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant and International Vice President Sara Nelson and Secretary-Treasurer Kevin Creighan are United Flight Attendants.

Our union is organized to represent Flight Attendants only, and we have the support of the Communications Workers of America, and the AFL-CIO. Our advocacy has gained the respect of legislators and regulators alike, and AFA is the voice of Flight Attendants on the Hill.

We encourage every Flight Attendant to become involved, to raise your voice and be an activist. Run for office. Tell us what you think. Your voice will resonate from your domicile to the MEC in Chicago to the International union in Washington. In AFA, every Flight Attendant’s voice counts.

AFA was the first professional organization to represent Flight Attendants, and it has grown with the passion and experience of its members, nearly 60,000 Flight Attendants at 23 airlines. Together we are better.

AFA considers the Whole Flight Attendant – your life away from work as well as on the job. That’s why we’ve focused in bargaining to provide you relief from an endless workday, time to rest, time to be yourself. With AFA, you have guaranteed health care and retirement options spelled out in the contract, and not just subject to the whims of your airline.

You’ve told us in surveys that these are important to you, and we honor your wishes. That’s how AFA rolls.  Even before we sit down to negotiate, AFA asks you what is important to you. You have a voice in the negotiations process, and everyone’s concerns are taken into account.

Besides the opportunity to participate in the Negotiations Committee, Flight Attendants can join a number of other important committees, experts in specific areas of our contract, the law and policy affecting us on the job to address problems on and off the aircraft.

The AFA Safety, Health and Security Committee at your airlines constantly work with the airline and federal officials on the safety of our crew and passengers. The Government Affairs Committee coordinates our efforts to gain new legislation and rulemaking, and the Hotels and Transportation Committee ensures that our layover hotels meet contractual standards, and we get there safely and without complications. The Communications Committee ensures our union is transparent and ensures members are educated on all of the issues so we can address them together.

Flight Attendants are known for our caring nature, and through the Employee Assistance Program Committee, we get to take care of each other. AFA’s EAP program is unique. With AFA, we have the means to address personal and professional issues in our family – and that’s what we have, a family of Flight Attendants.

We’ve all faced moments of crisis in our professional and personal lives, when our problems overwhelm normal coping strategies. AFA makes sure you have someone to talk to – in fact, we train your peers to help you solve your problems without resorting to company involvement.

AFA EAP is a confidential resource available to all AFA members, their families and their partners. It provides three distinct but interrelated services, including:

• Assessment, support and resource referral
• Advancement of professional standards through conflict resolution
• Response to critical and traumatic incidents.

No problem is too small for AFA EAP! In fact, we encourage Flight Attendants and their immediate families to call when a concern first develops. Remember, reaching out for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Usually the sooner you share a problem, the sooner you begin to find a solution.

AFA has trained EAP representatives at every airline, in every domicile. You can also call a 24-hour help line at AFA International Headquarters in Washington, DC., staffed by licensed and certified mental health professionals. The number is 1-800-424-2406. We offer resources as well as referrals to your AFA EAP Reps to assist members and their families.

FEATURED IMAGE: Recently completing AFA EAP/Professional Standards Training are these Continental and United Flight Attendants from Newark, Cleveland and Houston.  These trained volunteers will now be working hard for us locally, with the assistance of the entire AFA EAP network – all 23 AFA airlines and AFA International.

Today, AFA has grown to become the world’s largest organization of Flight Attendants, representing some 60,000 Flight Attendants at 23 airlines.  Our goal, as defined in AFA’s Constitution and Bylaws, is to bring the benefits of unity and legally binding contracts to every Flight Attendant through AFA.

We are truly stronger together. No airline management can undermine the standards and protections of our profession if we are united in our commitment to advancing the careers of Flight Attendants everywhere. We support each other. AFA promotes the sisterhood and brotherhood of all Flight Attendants.

As the voice for flight attendants at your workplace, in the industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill, AFA is able to help you negotiate for better pay, benefits, working conditions and work rules at your airline, and to improve your safety on the job. AFA has a dedicated professional staff that can help you with negotiations and enforcement of contracts, as well as concerns about your career and interpersonal relations.

If you want to stand up for yourself, your flying partners and your profession, Join Us. [Links to signup page]