WE’RE IN! (APFA-USA)

October 23, 2011


The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) accepted APFA’s petition for membership this week. (The APFA is the Association of Professional Flight Attendants of the USA (*) )

The ITF is an organization of nearly 800 unions representing over 4.6 million transportation workers in 155 countries and is a powerful voice on issues affecting jobs, employment conditions and safety in the worldwide transportation industry.

A major function of the ITF is informing and advising unions about developments in the transport industry in other countries or regions of the world. The ITF also maintains a specialist education department, dedicated to the development of strong and democratic transport unions.

The ITF also organizes international solidarity when transport unions in one country are in conflict with employers or government and need direct help from unions in other countries. The kind of solidarity needed can range from protest messages, demonstrations and political pressure, to direct industrial action in the form of strikes, boycotts, etc.

“I am very pleased to announce our acceptance into the ITF,” said APFA President Laura Glading.“Federation memberships bolster the credibility and autonomy of their member-unions. In the past few years, the APFA has made great strides in aligning ourselves with domestic coalitions and now with our membership in the ITF, our interests will be represented by a worldwide organization. APFA’s efforts to work closely with multi-union coalitions not only provides additional support for our positions but it gives APFA members a bigger voice in the national and international debate about the future of labor and the industry. This announcement represents a great deal of hard work and persistence and reflects the APFA’s strong reputation. We can all be very proud of this accomplishment.”

ITF General Secretary David Cockroft commented, “I am very pleased to welcome a major global cabin crew union into the ITF family.  All of our affiliates, particulaly those in the One World Alliance, look forward to working with them.“

Article published by the APFA of the USA in APFA.org

(*) About APFA (from APFA.org)
Founded in 1977, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) is the largest independent Flight
Attendant union in the nation. It represents more than 18,000 Flight Attendants at American Airlines.  APFA
Members live in almost every state of the nation and serve millions of Americans as they travel the nation and
the world. In 2003, APFA played a major role in keeping American Airlines solvent and out of bankruptcy by
giving back an employee bailout of $340 million in annual salary and benefits, for a total of over $2 billion
and counting. Today, American Airlines is one of the nation’s leading air carriers and after three years and
over 125 meetings APFA is still in frustrating and stalled contract negotiations with company management.
Laura Glading is serving in her first four-year term as president of the union

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