Sara Nelson (union leader)

Sara Nelson (born March 11, 1973) is the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO.[1] A United Airlines flight attendant since 1996, she previously served as AFA's International Vice President for a term beginning January 1, 2011. Today, AFA-CWA represents nearly 50,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines.

Sara Nelson
Born (1973-03-11) March 11, 1973
Corvallis, Oregon, U.S.
EducationPrincipia College (BA)

Early career

Nelson has been a flight attendant with United Airlines from August, 1996 through the present.[2] Soon after beginning her career, based in Boston for United Airlines, Nelson became an activist in the Boston AFA Local. She served there in a variety of roles including the elected position of Council Representative. In 2002 Nelson was tapped by AFA leaders at United Airlines to serve as Communications Chair.[3]

In nearly 10 years as the union's chief spokesperson for United flight attendants, Nelson played a central role in the union's strategic response to every major event affecting the airline industry and, by extension, the members she helped to represent. In 2002, a year after the devastating impact of the September 11 Attacks rocked the airline industry, the SARS outbreak devastated international air travel. Airlines including United Airlines undertook cost-cutting measures, and Nelson served as the primary spokesperson for the union during those extensive pre-bankruptcy reorganization negotiations.[4] By December 2002 when United Airlines filed the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history, Nelson was leading both the internal and external communications response to what would become one of the longest corporate bankruptcies when it finally ended over three years later. When United used the bankruptcy to terminate the flight attendants pension plan, Nelson announced AFA's intent to engage in a strike.[5]

She later served simultaneously as the union's CHAOS strike chair during two rounds of labor negotiations, and provided communications support to other groups of AFA flight attendants including those at Northwest Airlines where she served as AFA spokesperson during bankruptcy negotiations and strike preparations.[6] In 2011 Nelson left the communications post when she was elected International Vice President, the union's number two leadership position.

Organizing

Shortly after her election as International Vice President, Nelson undertook the leadership of AFA's internal and external organizing efforts. Under her leadership AFA prevailed in an representation election versus the International Association of Machinists for the bargaining rights covering the combined flight attendant workforce of United Airlines, Continental Airlines and Continental Micronesia following the merger of those carriers. Covering nearly 25,000 workers, that campaign culminated in one of the largest private sector union elections in decades. She later led the union's successful organizing drive to represent the combined unit of flight attendants from Mesaba Airlines, Colgan Air and Pinnacle Airlines, following the merger that created Endeavor Airlines.

Nelson also led AFA's No Knives Ever Again Campaign in 2013.[7] The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reversed its decision to allow knives on passenger flights, after first announcing it would lift the knife ban. Their rationale was that national security would be advanced if TSA officers spent less time looking for knives and more time watching for explosives. AFA, with VP Sara Nelson leading the campaign, persuaded TSA executives that knives have no place on the aircraft.[8][9][10] Featured on the Today Show, Nelson was able to effectively challenge the TSA lifting the ban on allowing knives on passenger airplanes.[11] Morning Joe featured an interview with Nelson, citing "Growing Outrage" about the lifting of the ban.[12] Featured on BBC, Nelson took the campaign international to add growing pressure.[13] Forbes later interviewed Nelson, after the ban was reinstated.[14] According to Nelson, the campaign succeeded because it worked as a coalition with congressional leaders, was backed by a legal team, arranged demonstrations at airports, and exerted "pressure from all sides."[14]

International office

Nelson was elected to the position of AFA International President in April 2014 and took office June 1, 2014.[15] As International President, Nelson is the top officer of AFA, responsible for the overall leadership and direction of the union. She serves as chair of the union's annual convention, the AFA Board of Directors, as well as the union's Executive Board. She is the chief spokesperson for the union, and the primary liaison with other unions and labor organizations, airlines, industry groups and governmental agencies.

Taking office as International Vice President of AFA in 2011,[16] Nelson was responsible for the union's organizing, communications and leadership development programs. Nelson also testified regularly before the United States Congress on issues of importance to flight attendants, like the Known Crew Member Program and the No Knives Campaign.

In 2019 Nelson was widely credited for playing a key role in ending the 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown.[17] On January 20, 2019, nearly a month into the shutdown, Nelson called for a general strike.[18] In a viral speech on January 24, 2019, Nelson excoriated government officials for the shutdown, citing 800,000 federal workers who were forced to work for free or furloughed without pay. Nelson argued that TSA officers and air traffic controllers were distracted by the burdens the shutdown placed on them, and that was eroding the safety of the airline industry.[19] The shutdown ended the next day as flights began to be cancelled at New York La Guardia Airport due to air traffic controllers no longer able to serve safely due to the impact of the shutdown.[20]

Nelson's militancy as a labor leader[21] and her remarkable skill as a communicator[22] have both been recognized as key to her effectiveness in the shutdown fight and beyond. Even pop culture outlet InStyle Magazine took note, naming Nelson as one of its “50 Badass Women”.[23]

  • passage of the FAA Reauthorization bill;[24]
  • sexual harassment in the workplace;[25][26][27]
  • the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max[28] and,
  • even mobilizing to free a flight attendant wrongly held in an ICE detention facility[29]

Following her role in these and other public policy battles, many news outlets have mentioned her potential to become not only the first woman to lead the AFL-CIO, but also the one to lead a resurgence of Labor more broadly: [30][2][31][32]

Other positions

On August 12, 2014 Nelson was elected to the Aviation Steering Committee of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), the global federation of transportation unions from 148 countries, representing a combined membership of 4.5 million, at the ITF Congress in Sofia, Bulgaria.

On May 13, 2020 Nelson was named co-chair of the Economy Task Force formed by Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders to create a unity platform for the Democratic Party.[33]

Education

Nelson graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from The Principia in 1995. She majored in English and Education.[34]

gollark: The upcoming iPhone 13: is actually named the iPhone XRsMV Max++ 1000, is a 5mm thick aluminium block with screens on both sides, costs $5000, will immediately break if it is dropped, hit hard, or held wrong.
gollark: You could use a KVM switch or some VNC-type thing.
gollark: Buying some sort of very cheap computer which can still run MacOS and running something saner on your main one might be viable.
gollark: How Apple of Apple.
gollark: There are, IIRC, ways to make VMs which most stuff won't detect as virtual, but then you lose performance a lot.

References
  1. "Corvallis native elected president of flight attendants union". nwLaborPress.org. Portland, Oregon. June 4, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  2. Kelly, Kim (May 13, 2019). "Sara Nelson's Art of War". Retrieved Dec 16, 2019 – via The New Republic.
  3. "Flight attendants say morale is near rock bottom - USATODAY.com". usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  4. reporter, Susan Chandler, Tribune staff. "Deadline stalking United, unions". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  5. "U.S. Takes United's Pensions". Los Angeles Times. Jul 1, 2005. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  6. "Northwest Airlines crews prepare to walk out - USATODAY.com". usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  7. "Knives On Planes Outrage Grows: Will Passengers And Crew Be Safe?". International Business Times. Mar 10, 2013. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  8. "U.S. security agency scraps plan to allow small knives on planes". Jun 5, 2013. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019 – via www.reuters.com.
  9. "Flight Attendants vs. Knives: Anatomy of a Regulatory Win". Associations Now. Jun 6, 2013. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  10. Nelson, Sara (Mar 27, 2013). "Opinion | Don't Let Knives Back on Planes". Retrieved Dec 16, 2019 – via NYTimes.com.
  11. "Flight attendant: TSA change 'is outrageous'". TODAY.com. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  12. "Outrage grows over TSA knives decision". MSNBC.com. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  13. "Backlash over knives on US planes". BBC News. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  14. Reed, Ted. "Flight Attendant Unions Score With 'No Knives' Campaign". Forbes. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  15. "Welcome Ms. Nelson; SMS is a vehicle for AFA to expand its Aviation Safety Program | JDA Journal". Jdasolutions.aero. 2014-06-05. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  16. "Bloomberg - Are you a robot?". Investing.businessweek.com. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  17. Kitroeff, Natalie (Feb 22, 2019). "The Shutdown Made Sara Nelson Into America's Most Powerful Flight Attendant". Retrieved Dec 16, 2019 – via NYTimes.com.
  18. Loomis, Erik (Jan 25, 2019). "Is a General Strike What's Needed to End the Shutdown?". The Atlantic. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  19. "Lives are at risk because of the gov't shutdown, and these airline workers want Trump to take that seriouslypic.twitter.com/5IwW4zocWr". Jan 24, 2019. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  20. Keshner, Andrew. "Why the LaGuardia delays may have played a special role in ending the shutdown". MarketWatch. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  21. "Meet the Militant Flight Attendant Leader Who Threatened a Strike—And Helped Stop Trump's Shutdown". Common Dreams. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  22. Jr, Bill Murphy (Mar 14, 2019). "With Just 22 Words, This United Airlines Flight Attendant Brilliantly Explained What's at Stake With the Boeing 737 MAX". Inc.com. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  23. "The Badass 50". InStyle.com. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  24. "AFA Testifies on Implementation of 2018 FAA Reauthorization Bill". Retrieved Dec 16, 2019 – via www.youtube.com.
  25. https://www.c-span.org/video/?442710-1/hearing-focuses-combating-sexual-harassment-service-sector (at 27:50)
  26. Staff, Post Opinions (Dec 8, 2017). "Opinion | The one best idea for ending sexual harassment". Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  27. "How a History of Sexism in the Airline Industry Echoes Today". Retrieved Dec 16, 2019 – via www.youtube.com.
  28. "Boeing 737 Max Aircraft | C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  29. Garcia, Eric (Mar 22, 2019). "DACA recipient flight attendant released by ICE". TheHill. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  30. "Sara Nelson, the new face of labor unions". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  31. Jaffe, Sarah (May 10, 2019). "Sara Nelson Is Not Afraid to Strike Back". Retrieved Dec 16, 2019 – via www.thenation.com.
  32. "Sara Nelson Wants to Go All The Way to the Highest Seat in Labor". Splinter. Retrieved Dec 16, 2019.
  33. Sprunt, Barbara. "Biden And Sanders Announce Task Forces To Find Party Unity Over Policy". NPR. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  34. "Corvallis native elected president of flight attendants union". nwLaborPress.org. Portland, Oregon. June 4, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
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