US pilots and flight attendants fear pandemic and refuse bonuses to fly more

Pilots, flight attendants, and airline support staff across the United States are resisting working overtime during the holiday season, even with greater financial incentives.

According to sector unions, employees fear dealing with passengers who do not comply with sanitary measures due to the pandemic, in addition to a growing fear of becoming infected with Covid-19.

With the new omicron variant, infections worldwide have reached a record in the last seven days, averaging more than 1 million cases detected per day.

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

Christmas is normally a peak period for air travel, but the rapid spread of the new, highly transmissible variant has forced airlines to cancel flights as part of the pilots and crew members had to be quarantined.

United Airlines said the current spike in Covid-19 cases had a direct impact on its operations. JetBlue also reduced the number of flights by more than 1,200 by January.

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

In the airline industry, the balance of flight cancellations was added to a greater difficulty in convincing teams to spend more time in the air.

According to unions, workers have been able to negotiate vacation incentives to reduce operational problems.

The companies also took advantage of the months leading up to the holiday season to rehire employees who had been fired during the pandemic and were expecting teams to accept overtime.

Airlines offer bonuses and up to triple the pay for employees who work while on vacation, but few accept.

Crew members also complain that the relationship with passengers has become more difficult. The FAA reported that the number of unruly passengers referred to authorities for the possible opening of a criminal investigation is increasing.

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

In this tense atmosphere, many crew come to believe that it is not worth working longer hours, union representatives say.

MASS OUTPUT FROM THE LABOR MARKET

In addition to concerns about Covid-19, the United States is experiencing a wave of resignations, which has become known as the “Great Resignation”.

The wave of dismissals began in late 2020, when the country began to reopen after lockdowns during the initial months of the pandemic.

In April, the number of people who left their jobs in a single month in the country reached 3.8 million, a record, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In August, it reached 4.2 million, and was 4.3 million in September.

The departure of millions of Americans from the workforce has occurred in different sectors of the economy — ranging from transportation and industry to finance and entertainment.

with Reuters