WASHINGTON, DC—Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), made the following statement in support of the FAA’s final policy statement addressing flight attendant workplace safety in conjunction with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA):
“Today’s announcement by the FAA means that America’s flight attendants who work every day to enhance the safety of air travel, will finally be covered by basic and long-overdue safety and health protections.
“For too long flight attendants have fallen through the cracks of federal safety protections resulting in high injury rates and decades of exposure to avoidable hazards. We commend the Obama Administration for finally closing a policy loophole that effectively deprived a generation of flight attendants the basic safety protections enjoyed by most Americans.
“I want to thank Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez for their support for this important policy change and for the leadership their agencies have brought to this issue. And today’s advancement in worker safety would not have been possible without the work, collaboration and commitment of FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety David Michaels.”
Contact: Jennifer Michels, jenniferm@ttd.org, 703.395.2195