American pilots and flight attendants fear epidemic and refuse to fly more bonuses – 02/01/2022 – Market

Pilots, flight attendants and flight attendants To us They are opposed to working overtime during the holidays, even with higher financial benefits.

According to industry unions, employees are fearful of dealing with passengers who do not comply with health measures due to the epidemic, and in addition, there is a growing fear that they will be exposed to Govt-19.

With the new Omigron variant, infections have reached a record worldwide in the last seven days, with an average of more than 1 million cases detected per day.

Last Thursday (30), more than 1,200 domestic and international flights were canceled, according to the flight monitoring website Flight Aware.

Christmas is usually the peak time for air travel, however Rapid spread of the new variant, Most pervasive, airlines that were forced to cancel flights as part of pilots and crew had to be isolated.

The current increase in United Airlines Govt-19 cases has had a direct impact on its operations. Jet Blue also reduced the number of flights to more than 1,200 by January.

The FAA (US Federal Aviation Agency) has confirmed that the number of industry employees who tested positive for Covid-19 is increasing.

In the aviation sector, inventory was added with greater difficulty in flight cancellations Convince the groups to stay in the air longer.

According to the unions, workers were able to negotiate holiday incentives to reduce operational problems.

Companies took advantage of the pre-holiday months to re-employ employees who were laid off during epidemics.

Airlines offer triple pay for employees working on bonuses and vacations, but few agree.

Team members complain that the relationship with the passengers has become too difficult. The FAA says the number of unruly passengers referred to authorities to start a criminal investigation is on the rise.

In October, a 20-year-old man was accused of assaulting a flight attendant on an American Airlines flight from Colorado to California, forcing pilots to turn the plane around.

In this tense environment, many employees believe that working overtime is not worth it, union representatives say.

Mass output from the labor market

In addition to concerns about Govt-19, the United States is experiencing waves of resignation. Known as the “big resignation” (Big denial).

The redundancy wave began in late 2020, when the country began to reopen after locks in the early months of the epidemic.

In April, the number of people leaving work in the country in a single month reached 3.8 million, a record, according to the Office for Labor Statistics. In August, it reached 4.2 million, up from 4.3 million in September.

The exodus of millions of Americans has occurred in various sectors of the economy – from transportation and industry to finance and entertainment.

With Reuters