Flight attendants at Breeze Airways, airline that serves CT's Bradley, vote to join union

Windsor Locks — Flight attendants who work for Breeze Airways have voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing — a far-reaching decision that will affect the airline with the most routes operating out of Bradley International Airport.

About 76 percent of the flight attendants who voted chose to join the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA), in an election certified Tuesday by the National Mediation Board, according to a statement issued by AFA. The vote follows a campaign that started at the beginning of this year and since attracted widespread attention, including support from several members of Connecticut’s Congressional delegation.

“Breeze flight attendants filed for an election two weeks after taking their campaign public in January and kept organizing together to turn out a clear mandate to address their concerns at work. Today, they gain the legal right to bargain and have a voice in their future at Breeze. We are inspired by their solidarity and thrilled to welcome them to our AFA family,” AFA International President Sara Nelson said in a statement. “Our labor movement is growing. Everywhere.”

Breeze officials acknowledged their disappointment in their own statement, but indicated that they would accept the result. 

“Although this was not the outcome we had hoped for, we pledge to work alongside the AFA and our flight attendants to build on the already tremendous success of our young airline,” Breeze officials wrote. 

Ballots were mailed for the “representation election” on March 12. Among 462 eligible Breeze flight attendants, 316 cast a vote, equaling a turnout rate of 68 percent, according to AFA officials. In total, Breeze has more than 650 flight attendants, including about 120 based at Bradley in Windsor Locks, according to AFA officials. Other Breeze flight attendants are based in Florida, Louisiana, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia. All Breeze flight attendants are working without a contract.  

“Management broke out all the tired old union busting, but together we weren’t intimidated or fooled,” Robynne Martino, a Breeze flight attendant who is based at Bradley and a member of the Breeze AFA Organizing Committee, said. “Our work group spoke clearly. It’s time for Breeze to treat us with the dignity we earn every day on the line. We call on management to come to the table and negotiate a fair contract without delay.”

As a sign of the scrutiny of Breeze flight attendants’ organizing, five members of Connecticut’s all-Democratic Congressional delegation — Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney, Rosa DeLauro and John Larson — sent a letter in early March to Breeze CEO David Neeleman that called on the airline to not meddle in the flight attendants’ voting. 

“I wrote Breeze CEO David Neeleman with my delegation colleagues in March cautioning him and his company to respect the collective bargaining process at a time when there had been reports of anti-union activities," Larson said in a prepared statement Tuesday. “Executives have an important role to play by respecting workers’ right to form a union and refrain from interfering in the process. I am pleased with the result of the flight attendants’ vote and urge Breeze executives to continue to adhere to their assurances that they would respect their employees’ choice to organize.”

In their own statements, DeLauro, Courtney, Blumenthal and Murphy all took similar positions.

“I have always said, when workers organize and fight together, they win. And when workers win, America wins," DeLauro said. “With this decision, workers prevailed, and that is what matters.”

Courtney said the overwhelming vote among flight attendants to form a union is a great step to building and retaining a strong workforce. "As the union turns to the negotiating table, I urge airline leadership to honor the flight attendants’ voice and swiftly negotiate a fair contract,” he added.

“This great news for Breeze flight attendants will mean fairer pay and working conditions for the hardworking men and women who keep us safe and comfortable in the skies,” Blumenthal said.

Murphy agreed, saying that the overwhelming vote to unionize gives Breeze flight attendants the power to collectively bargain for better pay, hours, and working conditions. "It’s time for Breeze to come to the table, and I hope management will continue to respect their workers’ rights in a fair negotiating process,” he said.

Breeze officials said in their new statement that they respected the voting process through measures such as providing, “factual information about the voting process, including how to obtain and submit ballots, mailbox locations in each base and details about the election timing.”  

The statement added that, “we also made it clear that, while we would prefer to maintain a direct relationship with our flight attendants given how young we are and that nearly 200 of our newest flight attendants would not be eligible to vote in the election, they needed to ensure their voice was heard.”   

In the past few months, AFA officials have argued that the status quo is not producing sustainable working conditions at the Salt Lake City-headquartered Breeze. The flight attendants have organized for a union and what would be their first contract due to, “ongoing issues with constantly changing work rules, substandard pay for time on the job, inadequate hotel accommodations, insufficient work hours, and inconsistent and disrespectful treatment from management,” according to AFA’s news release. It added that the flight attendants have, “faced an aggressive anti-union campaign run by management up to the CEO.” 

Breeze’s March statement gave a contrasting account of relations between flight attendants and management. 

“The airline's senior leaders and its flight attendants continue to collaborate on a number of significant enhancements benefiting the flight attendant group, including several pay increases and other improvements to work rules,” the March statement said. “These important advancements have been put in place in record time, underscoring the effectiveness of our direct relationship, which is only getting stronger by the day.” 

Following the Breeze flight attendants' vote to join AFA, the National Mediation Board planned to certify AFA as their representative on Wednesday.  

AFA also represents flight attendants at Avelo Airlines, which established a base at Tweed New Haven airport in 2021. Avelo’s flight attendants voted to join AFA in 2022, and AFA is negotiating a contract for them, according to AFA officials. 

In total, AFA represents more than 50,000 flight attendants, across 20 airlines.

The AFA news release added that Breeze flight attendants’ vote, “follows a successful union representation election for Breeze pilots with the Air Line Pilots Association in August 2022.”

Amid the flight attendants’ organizing, Breeze continues to solidify its position as the carrier with the most routes serving Bradley. Since its launch in 2021 by Neeleman, a serial aviation entrepreneur whose previous startups include JetBlue, Breeze has established about 20 nonstop routes that connect Bradley to cities along the east coast, in the Midwest and as far west as Phoenix. The expansion includes routes to Cincinnati and Myrtle Beach that started last week and routes to Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina; New Bern, North Carolina; and Orlando, Florida, that are scheduled to start at the end of May. 

In February, 2022 Breeze announced that Bradley would become one of its bases. The airline plans to create more than 200 jobs in the state and could receive a state grant of up to $1.26 million if it meets its hiring goals.

Officials with the Connecticut Airport Authority, the quasi-public agency that owns and operates Bradley, deferred all comments to Breeze.