Flight Attendants To Have Safety And Health Protections In The Cabin

AFA Commends Obama Administration for Extending Safety Standards to the Cabin

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) today successfully achieved Occupational Safety and Health protections for commercial aircraft, after tireless advocacy to improve safety and health standards in its members' workplace.  AFA commends the Obama Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA) for their collaborative approach to reach the policy statement released today that will correct a nearly four-decade old exclusion of OSHA in the passenger cabin.

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"AFA looks forward to continuing work with the FAA and OSHA as we finally bring vital safety and health protections to our nation's Flight Attendants. We welcome the opportunity to serve as the voice for Flight Attendants as we close this long overdue loophole," said Veda Shook, AFA International President. "AFA Flight Attendants have been forceful advocates for OSHA protections, and appreciate the efforts of FAA and OSHA to ensure safety and health standards for those working inside our nation's aircraft cabins; a change that will also benefit the millions of passengers who travel on commercial flights." 

In 1975, the FAA claimed exclusive jurisdiction over workplace safety and health for all crewmembers, preventing OSHA, the agency that regulates the safety and health of most U.S. workers, from protecting Flight Attendants and other crewmembers while working on board commercial airline flights. AFA has pursued legal and regulatory solutions to extend OSHA safety and health protections to workers in the airline industry. Today's FAA policy announcement comes after AFA aggressively advocated for Flight Attendant safety and health protections to be included in the FAA reauthorization bill that was signed by President Obama in February 2012.

Flight Attendants currently have OSHA protections at work in places other than where they spend the majority of their time -- the passenger cabin.  The new policy statement extends many of the OSHA protections already in place to the aircraft cabin. 

The FAA/OSHA policy statement can be viewed here.

The Association of Flight Attendants is the world's largest Flight Attendant union. Focused 100 percent on Flight Attendant issues, AFA has been the leader in advancing the Flight Attendant profession for 67 years. Serving as the voice for Flight Attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill, AFA has transformed the Flight Attendant profession by raising wages, benefits and working conditions.  Nearly 60,000 Flight Attendants come together to form AFA, part of the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afacwa.org.

SOURCE Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO

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