The Importance of Unions in the United States

This Labor Day weekend we’re joined by flight attendant and AFA President Sara Nelson! To begin, we discuss the challenge of summer air travel (6:14), the union’s fight against stock buybacks (9:45), and the history of harassment and sexism in the industry (18:33). Then, we walk through Sara’s early years at United (22:35), the physical toll of being a flight attendant (26:44), and how she found her way into the labor movement (30:37).

On the back half, Sara recounts 9/11 (34:42), the colleagues she lost (36:59), the United furlough that followed (45:29), and the recent boom in union petitions across the country (53:20). To close, she reads a passage from her preface of Jeremy Brecher’s Strike! (56:25).

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