In what could be a precedent-setting,
game-changing breakthrough, Alaska Airlines' flight attendants will now get paid to help you
board during the seating process.
It’s part
of a tentative agreement between the flight attendants and management. Nobody deserves it more.
It was always kind of an injustice that flight attendants were not paid until the cabin doors shut and everyone was seated. For the amount of work that they did, it was almost criminal.
But according to a tentative agreement,
they will get a minimum 18 percent pay increase – some as much as 32 percent – and
extra pay to help you board.
“We are pleased to present a
groundbreaking Tentative Agreement (TA) for your consideration,” the union said in a statement.
“It took 20 months of hard bargaining, but our dedication paid off. (Association
of flight attendants union and) Alaska is the first carrier to secure boarding
pay in a legally binding contract."
"With boarding pay, we achieve significant
pay increases that position us at the top of the industry at all steps," the statement continued.
The agreement is especially good news
for other carriers in the United States, specifically American Airlines, which is still involved in negotiations
between flight attendants and management.
“We’re pleased to reach a
deal with (the union) and
look forward to our flight attendants working under a new contract as soon as
possible,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement.
But it’s not just an agreement. The boarding pay aspect is massive, as the attendants were previously doing work for free. Now, the union says, the boarding compensation could add another eight percent to what was already negotiated in the agreement.
It doesn’t sound like a lot on its own, but wouldn’t you love to get an overall pay increase of 26 percent?
And it’s not so much the money
as it is the inclusion of the provision. Boarding pay has been a bane of the
industry for decades. Now it lays the groundwork for everybody else.
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