Call Your Senator to Keep Good Jobs in the U.S.

Urgent: 300,000 good U.S. aviation jobs are at risk.

Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Transportation cleared the way for Norwegian Air International (NAI) to begin operating in the U.S. From the name, you would think that NAI was based in Norway. But in fact, it is "flagged" in Ireland and is structured so that it can hire crews from countries with the lowest labor and safety standards, such as Malaysia or Thailand.

Call today to ask your Senator to reverse this decision and stop NAI from lowering wages and standards for flight crews. Call 855-980-2232 or click here to connect to your Senator’s office.

Calling Senate offices is easy and makes a real difference. Here's what you can say when you are connected:

Hello, my name is _________ and I am a constituent. I'm calling to urge my Senator to take action to STOP Norwegian Air International from flying to the U.S. under a completely new set of rules which mean fewer U.S. jobs and lower safety standards.

The person answering the phone may ask you for your name and address to confirm that you are a constituent. And that's all you need to do!

If NAI is successful with this "flag of convenience" scheme, other airlines will follow. Already this tactic has had a devastating impact on U.S. shipping jobs.

AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson urged Congress and the Obama administration to immediately withdraw this harmful decision and stand up for working people.

"It is a betrayal to hundreds of thousands of aviation workers," she said. "The DOT decision overrides carefully negotiated worker rights and designs a new playbook that rolls out the red carpet for foreign corporations by trampling workers' rights. This decision puts a rubber stamp of approval on the 'flag of convenience model' that destroyed over a hundred thousand U.S. shipping jobs. The U.S.-EU Open Skies agreement contains the only labor provision in all 120 Open Skies agreements. Labor provisions in trade agreements apparently mean nothing to this administration."

Nelson added, "Aviation was born in the U.S. and built faithfully by the workers who make our airlines fly. Flight Attendants, Pilots, Mechanics, Ramp Service, Agents and thousands of workers who support aviation have fought hard for good U.S. jobs, the highest standards of aviation safety and security, the critical service to each of our small communities and the networks that allow the United States direct connection to the rest of the world. We have sacrificed and our families have been hurt to keep our airlines flying and our nation in business. These are the people the administration is double-crossing."