Protests have erupted around the country by immigrants and their allies decrying deportations, and ICE raids in schools, hospitals, and communities. Women’s organizations held a march of 35,000 in downtown LA on March 8 to defend abortion rights. Special actions have been taken to protest the Secretary of State Marco Rubio-issued deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student with a green card and a U.S. citizen pregnant wife, due to his support for Palestinian rights.
Unions are pushing back against Trump’s executive orders and the attacks on working people’s rights that have been won over decades — in LA and nationally. As the National Labor Relations Board was gutted, the Environmental Protection Agency was dismantled, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was virtually eliminated, education funds and the Department of Education were slashed, and working people were taken to the streets.
There was a picket of 50 United Airlines flight attendants, pilots, and supporters from the Communication Workers of America, the International Association of Machinists, and UNITE-HERE Local 11 at the Los Angeles International Airport. This was one of 20 staged in major cities nationally demanding a contract without concessions.
Tanya Livingston, Local 12 council secretary of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) at United Airlines, told Random Lengths that members are out raising awareness about the contract talks, but the company has been dragging its feet.
“We need livable wages, and we are tired of corporate greed,” Livingston said. “United Airlines is making record profits while we have flight attendants living in their cars.
“We have been making some progress in recent talks which is great but there are still some sticking points such as a reserve call out of two hours and one of the biggest … ground pay.”
Fortunately, Alaska Airlines, which is represented by the same union, ratified their contract, which includes ground pay. This is paving the way for United Airlines to do the same. Among the issues the union is negotiating is the pay for the two hours during boarding before the plane doors are shut.
“Everybody knows when you’re flying on an airplane and getting on the plane, that’s when a lot of things can happen,” Livingston said. “You could be giving CPR on the airplane when the door is open and you’re not getting paid. How ridiculous is that.”
Livingston explained that United once had a tier pay system for new hires — a pay scale that gave weight to knowledge and years of service, but no longer.
The demonstrations have been ongoing in other major cities throughout the country, including San Diego and San Francisco.
The Association of Flight Attendants picket then marched over to join the American Federation of Government Employees at the International terminal.
On another front, Victor Payes, secretary-treasurer of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 1260 told Random Lengths that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said DHS would no longer be recognizing collective bargaining agreements and has stopped recognizing the union.
“So overnight, they pretty much retracted everything under the sun that was covered by that agreement, and have stopped communicating with us,” Payes said. “What’s happening in the interim is they are trying to really scare the officers. If they miss work, they’re going to be in trouble, possibly placing their livelihoods [at risk].”
Payes indicated the union is undeterred and will be staging actions on April 5 at a Palm Springs airport and another on April 19 at Ontario airport.
LA Federation of Labor (AFL-CIO) president Yvonne Wheeler brought a message of solidarity, along with a dozen staff members.
LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn joined the strikers in solidarity.
“We are absolutely appalled at the Trump administration ripping up a seven-year contract between their union and the federal government,” the county supervisor said.
“The bedrock of workers’ rights in this country is that union contracts are CONTRACTS! They are legally binding documents. The terms that are painstakingly agreed upon by workers and their employers are not empty promises — they are supposed to carry the weight of the law behind them.
Hahn called the Trump administration’s dismissing of workers’ right to collective bargaining an attack on all workers, a right workers have long fought and sacrificed for.
Hahn concluded her remarks, with a reminder that in “Pedro an injury to one is an injury to all.”
“So, we wonder which union is next, unfair. We’ve seen something, and we’re going to say if something is wrong, then we want to fix it,” she said.