CWA Airline Industry Workers Continue to Fight for Hazard Protections

Last week, CWA representatives joined other industry experts and labor organizations at the Ramp Worker Safety Forum in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Agenda topics included approaches to ramp worker safety, engine ingestion and jet blast hazards, training challenges, and best practices. This forum was the result of CWA’s successful campaign to include a mandated review of ramp worker safety in the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Bill.

Forum participants, including CWA Local 3645 Shop Steward and Piedmont Airlines Ramp Agent Joy Goings and AFA-CWA Safety Chair for PSA Airlines Robin Coombs, identified areas for improvement, including better ramp task scheduling, reassessing staffing needs, and increasing appropriate training opportunities. CWA Deputy Director of Health and Safety Micki Siegel de Hernandez, along with representatives from IAM and TWU, led the morning labor presentation about ramp hazards. The FAA will now evaluate feedback from the meeting to help craft a report to Congress and procedures to “minimize or eliminate ingestion zone and jet blast zone accidents.”

While at the Capitol, CWA Deputy Director of Health and Safety Micki Siegel de Hernandez joined Goings for a meeting with the staff of Rep. Alma Adams (N.C.) to discuss the realities of ramp work and support for improved safety regulations and training.

In 2019, CWA Local 3645 member Kendrick Hudson died on the job at Charlotte Douglas International Airport when the vehicle he was driving flipped over after hitting a piece of baggage left on the tarmac. In 2023, Courtney Edwards, a CWA Local 3645 member working at the Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama, also died in a tragic and preventable engine ingestion accident. Both members were employed by Piedmont Airlines.

CWA-represented Piedmont Airlines passenger service and ramp agents have been bargaining for a new contract for over 18 months. Click here to send a message to CEO Eric Morgan to show you stand with them in their fight for a fair contract.

AFA-CWA Flight Attendants at PSA, ATI, Air Wisconsin, GoJet, Omni Air, Mesa, Horizon, Avelo, Breeze, and Frontier are fighting for new contracts that reflect their value as aviation’s First Responders. Learn more on the AFA-CWA website.

 
CWA Deputy Director of Health & Safety Micki Siegel de Hernandez (middle) and CWA Local 3645 Shop Steward Joy Goings (right) met with staff for Rep. Alma Adams (N.C.) while in Washington, D.C., for the FAA’s Ramp Worker Safety Forum. AFA-CWA Safety Chair for PSA Airlines Robin Coombs (not pictured) also attended the forum.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.