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Flight Attendants To Have Safety And Health Protections In
The Cabin
AFA Commends Obama Administration for Extending Safety Standards
to the Cabin
Washington, DC – 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.
“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.
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