When we see our union’s name, we read it as” Association of Flight Attendants-CWA-AFL-CIO.” That’s a lot of letters following our name. I am not about to lecture you about the Labor Movement or the American Industrial Revolution. Hopefully, you got that covered in school. If not, there are some great historical podcasts for you to try and books for you to read. I even dare say when the History Channel isn’t talking about aliens, the documentaries on the subject are superb. Yes, the details are murky, and the tales about the mafia are so captivating that we can get easily sidetracked from what matters. 

For those of you normals, you have the Labor Movement to thank for all your “Fri-yay!”

The work-free weekend, the eight-hour work day, the forty-hour work week, the overtime pay, the health benefits, and the fact that there’s a minimum age for you to get a job are some benefits unions have provided you.

The idea of unionism is simple: the conception of a just society calling for equality, honest labor, and righteous citizenship.

In the mid-1800s, some trade workers formed associations to demand fair pay for their job. Eventually, in December 1886, The American Federation of Labor was formed. They had “pure and simple unionism” ideals. They believed that self-organization along occupational lines would focus and obtain job-conscious goals. The AFL made a formal policy to represent all workers, regardless of skill, race, religion, nationality, or gender. Extremely progressive for the time and obviously easier said than done. More often than not, they get a lot of judgment for that statement. We’ll get back to it in a minute.

It is now the Great Depression, and in 1935 a group of miners didn’t see eye to eye with the AFL, and they broke off affiliation and created the Committee for Industrial Organization. So in 1938, the CIO was formally established as The Congress of Industrial Organizations.

In 1955 the AFL and the CIO came together. Their joined forces became an economic powerhouse for workers. Remember that representation for all statements? That became apparent in the crucial role AFL–CIO played in the battle for civil rights legislation around 1964-65. Not without raising some eyebrows and making some enemies in high places.

While all this was happening, in 1931, the Air Line Pilots Association was the first white-collar union to be created. In 1945 they assisted the efforts of the United Airlines Stewardess to self-organize. A year later, The Airline Stewardess Association negotiated its first contract. By 1960 ALPA had two divisions, one for pilots and one for stewards and stewardesses. In 1973 Flight Attendants chose self-determination and formed the independent Association of Flight Attendants, leaving ALPA, making us the one union from Flight Attendants to Flight Attendants. Later in 1984, the AFL-CIO granted us a charter.

As the country’s economic landscape changed, so did the unions’ involvement in our society. The anti-union sentiment that was simmering in the early days grew more robust and peaked with Ronald Regan’s election giving massive power to an anti-union administration. Since the 1980s, there’s been a steady decline in the unionized workforce. But, there is strength in numbers. When one union is fighting, all unions are fighting; win or lose, the precedent is there, and it will roll over to all of us. Many chapters or trades have to affiliate or merge to keep the pressure on the fight for fair workers’ rights. For example, in 2004, the AFA affiliated with Communication Workers of America.

So now you have it, our full name is:

The Association of Flight Attendants in affiliation with Communication Workers of America, a charter of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Now that you know our family tree, I will discuss how AFA works next week and who bears the most crucial role in our union. Spoiler alert! It’s you!