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AFA-CWA Union Leader Sara Nelson on Labor Solidarity: "If One Group Is Under Attack, We're Next" [EPISODE]

Jul 23, 2025

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Synopsis: In a call to action, Sara Nelson, President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO, urges workers to move beyond defense and set the agenda for change, declaring "our world is burning" but asserting that collective power can be used to create a better future.

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Description: Sara Nelson knows how to leverage worker power — and so do the 55,000 flight attendants she represents. A union member since 1996, she’s been the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO since 2014. You may remember her integral role in threatening a strike, which helped pressure the Trump administration to end the 2019 government shutdown. But under the second Trump term, the administration plans to gut many government agencies and has canceled one million contracts for federal workers so far. “We have to understand that if one group is under attack, we're next,” she tells Laura Flanders in this exclusive interview. “So we have to rush to each other's sides.” In this episode, Nelson and Flanders explore labor movement tactics and strategies, wins and losses, and why general strikes and cross-industry worker solidarity are critical in this moment. What is her message and her mission for 2025? All that, plus a commentary from Laura on floods and profits.

“We have to understand that if one group is under attack, we're next. So we have to rush to each other's sides. But we can also turn this around and not just be on defense. . . We are in a crisis. Yeah. Our world is burning. We can actually set the agenda and make things better.”

Guest: Sara Nelson: International President of the Association of Flight Attendants- (AFA-CWA) (representing 55,000 Flight Attendants at 20 airlines)

Watch the episode released on YouTube July 18th 5pm ET; PBS World Channel July 20th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast July 23rd.

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

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*Recommended book:

“The Work of Living: Working People Talk about Their Lives and the Year the World Broke” by Maximillian Alvarez, Get the Book*

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AFA-CWA Union Leader Sara Nelson on Labor Solidarity: "If One Group Is Under Attack, We're Next" [EPISODE]

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