Today, your Transport Workers Union, AFL-CIO (TWU) sends a well-deserved congratulations to JetBlue IFCs celebrating your first Labor Day with a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). With the TWU standing beside you, you negotiated and ratified a historic first contract during the most challenging time our industry has every faced.
This Labor Day, your Union is making a simple request to make this a day of action. As we try to negotiate improvements for ALL IFCs, please go to our Petition and send the message to JetBlue that you stand together to uphold your contract and negotiate much needed improvements for Qualified Roles and all IFCs. It’s time to stop the Union Busting, negotiate in good faith and honor the contract they agreed to. Please take a moment to put your name on our petitionto remind JetBlue that we are not five people sitting at the negotiating table - we are over 6,000 hardworking IFCs standing together with 150,000 TWU Members standing behind us.
You have faced another summer dealing with sweltering aircraft, daily passenger assaults, record cancellations, and delays, the residual effects of COVID-19, and Management who continues to play fast and loose with contractual requirements and even their own work rules. While it feels like we have settled into a "new normal," none of this is normal. The difference is that you now have a legally binding contract to hold the Company accountable. Your interim Grievance Committee has resolved dozens of grievances resulting in compensation and removal of unfair discipline for hundreds of IFCs, in addition to resolving issues before even having to file a grievance. They continue to fight—and to win these fights—on a daily basis.
This Labor Day, the TWU wants to thank you for your trust and support as we move forward with chartering your Local 579. Elections are underway and you will soon have your own elected Executive Board made up of JetBlue IFCs to move you forward even further! Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 to honor the contributions and significant sacrifice of the labor movement in the 19th century. Prior to the accomplishments of organized labor, people worked long hours, while fair work practices and safety standards weren't considered by their employers. The positive changes in work hours and conditions only came to fruition once workers banded together and demanded them. Labor Day honors the sacrifices and struggles of those earliest activists and honors the contributions we continue to make in the present day.
