Hawaiian Airlines flight attendants are calling for increased wages and benefits…but doing so in unique and admirable way.
Flight attendants at Hawaiian Airlines have been negotiating for a new contract for several years. With a new contract still elusive, many have become fed up over the prolonged delay. In November, the flight attendants at Hawaiian voted to authorize a strike. While the strike is on hold pending mediation, that has not stopped picketing at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) in Honolulu…but aloha-style.
When I think of airline picketing, I think of workers marching around airport sidewalks carrying yellow signs and protesting for high wages via loudspeaker and collective chanting. Hawaiian flight attendants have engaged in this approach in the past.
But that is not how Hawaiian flight attendants have chosen to protest this week. Instead, flight attendants are taking a much more personal approach. Pull up to the curb at HNL and you just might be met by a Hawaiian flight attendant. That flight attendant will be holding a cart and happy to help you unload your bags and help you into the terminal.
During the walk, the flight attendant will explain why they are seeking higher wages and ask you to let Hawaiian know that you support them. No tips are necessary.
Hawaiian is offering pay raises to flight attendants, but would concurrently require increased flight attendant contribution to healthcare and retirement. That, says flight attendants, amounts to no raise at all.
Flight attendant Jaci-Ann Chung told Hawaii News Now:
“I don’t think that they truly understand the disconnect, the aloha spirit we bring to work everyday. So even though we’ve been languishing over contract negotiations for three years, we still show up to work and do our job as professionals.”
CONCLUSION
I think the idea of helping passengers rather than obstructing their path is a great strategy that will elicit more support for their request for higher wages.
What do you think about this “aloha-style” picketing?
That gets more attention by passengers. Very clever.
Hearts and Minds
Smart move. I think both traditional picketing and this move have their uses. The former catches your attention and piques your interest. The latter is on a smaller scale but is more engaging.
@Matthew, as an aside, is there any way to have the email subscription pop-up be less intrusive? On mobile browsers, it takes up the whole screen. And I have to click on the X every… single… time… :-\
+1 on both points. Also, how do I stop the recurring popup on the bottom of the screen? It makes visiting BA blogs a lot less enjoyable.
I will ask the Boarding Area people. The cookies message and the pop-up is only supposed to appear the first time you visit the site.
I have also noticed the bottom banner add is constantly appearing each you move or advance a page. I am constantly having to X to make it go away. It really detracts from the article and cover the Boarding Area icon link.
I realize you have no control over the banner adds and we need them as your great info is provided free. But in the case of the bottom of the screen adds they detract from the article..in my opinion.
I apologize for this Mike. I’ve asked the Boarding Area people what we can do. It’s out of my hands.
While they are carrying my bags of o form them that higher wages for them translate directly into higher fares for me. Now that they are making things so personal I’d ask them if they are getting far under average competsation given the market, and if they are providing far superior customer satisfaction at these low rates. If they can’t provide hard numbers on Either point I’d let them know that I’d have to contact the airline and support keeping fares down.
Good move by the natives – this will foster a lot of positive sentiment.
Being a local dude, HA Fa’s deserve a fair contract no doubt. BUT, im not feeling sorry for them when HA charges a RIDICULOUS $600+ fare to LAS. You can go to Japan from HI for that price on a MUCH better Japanese airline experience.