1 min read

Season 5, Episode 14

Sun Country Airlines Flight Attendants resume six-year contract fight

Picture of awfblog awfblog January 18, 2024

Jobs Health, Welfare, and Safety AWF Contracts Teamsters

AWF-Blogo-Logos-Template-400x400_teamsters

 

Guest Name:

Elaine Rishovd

Guest Website:

teamsterslocal120.org 

Guest Social Media:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

LinkedIn

Mentions:

Chief Steward for Teamsters Local 120, Elaine Rishovd, joined America’s Work Force Union Podcast to talk about the six-year contract negotiation with Sun Country Airlines. Rishovd discussed their timeline of events and what the contract that expired in 2018 has done to the workforce.

Rishovd started her career in aviation working for a small helicopter and airplane operator that closed its doors nearly 30 years ago. She became a Flight Attendant and sought a different career path. Along the way, she became a shop Steward in 2012 for about 5 years before she moved from Minnesota to Florida. There she eventually became Chief Steward, taking part in negotiations with her new union.

Sun Country Airlines has some of the lowest paid workers of all the airlines in America, Rishovd said. Workers are fighting for a livable wage and have been fighting for a new wage standard since 2018. The original contract was written in 2016 and based on 2016 standards, and the 5 years of negotiations have dragged on, including taking time off during 2020 due to the pandemic.

The bargaining unit is fighting for the pay raise they deserve after saving the company nearly $4 million during the pandemic, Rishovd said. The company has posted profit increases over the past two years, and should be able to afford the wages the workers are seeking. The bargaining unit voted with 96 percent support to turn down the company's previous contract offers. Since that contract offer, the two parties met in December where the workers provided a reasonable contract that still provides livable wages for the flight attendants, she said.

Hear more about the flight attendants' contract fight with Sun Country by listening to the show above.

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

SUBSCRIBE ON:

Group 342

Group 341

Group 343

Group 339

Group 397

Group 397