Veteran Flight Attendant Leader Steps Down

United flight attendant Pat Friend served four terms as president of the Association of Flight Attendants.
By Ted Reed ,

WASHINGTON (

TheStreet

) -- During a 44-year airline industry career, Pat Friend became a leader in a world shaped by two key societal trends: the emergence of women and the diminution of the labor movement.

Friend, 64, will step down at the end of this month as president of the Association of Flight Attendants, the largest flight attendants' union with about 50,000 members, 84% of them women. President since 1995, Friend has served four four-year terms; she is also one of eight women on the 47-member AFL-CIO Executive Council. She has tirelessly fought regulatory and legislative battles, often to alter policies that affirm workplace gender inequalities, and she was often victorious.

Patricia Friend, President, Association of Flight Attendants.

At the same time, although it provided Friend with a platform to enable change, the labor movement lost influence during her career. Her biggest disappointment, in fact, came last month, when an effort to unionize

Delta

(DAL) - Get Report

was defeated in a narrow vote.

"It's not for me that I am disappointed," Friend said. "It's really for the

Northwest

flight attendants, and the destruction of their 63 years of collective bargaining, and for the core group at Delta, who have been fighting for this since 1996. "

Friend reminded that the union is appealing the result, but said the potential loss at Delta "is not the way I thought

my career would end."

Nevertheless, since Friend came to the union's Washington headquarters, "we have been successful legislatively," she said. "We were able to raise the profile not just of our union but of the entire flight attendant profession. Of the things that will still be here after I am gone, one is the recognition that we can take a lot of things off our bargaining table through legislation."

One big achievement involves the Federal Medical Leave Act, which protects workers' jobs by requiring large employers to offer unpaid leaves for reasons such as illness or care of a newborn. When the law passed in 1993, it defined the number of hours required to qualify, leaving out flight attendants whose hours are calculated in a way that makes them appear to be minimal.

"We were forced to negotiate with each employer the number of hours to qualify a flight attendant to use the law," Friend said. "Finally, this year, we got legislation passed that defined a full-time flight attendant in the law." Friend worked first with New York Senator Hillary Clinton, then with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington.

In another effort, in 2003, the union convinced the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a certificate to a flight attendant who completes training at an airline. "We worked for that for years," Friend said. "It recognizes that this is a profession and requires a certain amount of competence."

Friend has also battled, not yet successfully, to have flight attendants covered by OSHA. Under the law, if another federal agency -- in this case the FAA -- has jurisdiction over a workplace, OSHA does not apply. In 2000, AFA approached a solution as the two agencies agreed to negotiate joint guidelines. When the Bush Administration took over, talks ceased.

Under President Obama, and with the help of AFA ally

Rep. James Oberstar

(D., Minn.), joint jurisdiction was written into the FAA Reauthorization Act. But now, Oberstar is leaving the Congress and Friend's last hope is action by the lame duck Congress. "The roadblock is the FAA," Friend said. "If it doesn't get passed in this session, it dies."

Early Career

Born in Benton Harbor, Mich., Friend grew up outside Tulsa, Okla., the daughter of a career Army officer. After two years of college, she decided to become a flight attendant. "My father claims my early years made me a gypsy," she said. She applied at

United

(UAL) - Get Report

,

Braniff

and

TWA

, so it is evident this early career choice was a fortuitous one.

Friend joined United in 1966 and spent 25 years based in Chicago. She started on the Boeing 720, 727 and the DC-6. In the mid-1970s, she became involved in a marriage to a United pilot, which did not last, and in union activities, which continued.

During a round of contract talks, ""I called the local office to see what I could do," Friend said. "I started stuffing envelopes. I always tell young activists that the union hierarchy hooks you in. They always say 'It's not a lot of work -- it won't take much time at all.'"

In 1984, Friend was elected president of United's AFA chapter. She stepped down in 1990, preferring to fly full time. At the time, newly-appointed CEO

Stephen Wolf introduced an innovation: service to Europe. Friend worked as an international flight until she took over as union president in January 1995.

In retirement, Friend plans to serve on boards for several organizations, including the National Endownment for Democracy, United Way Worldwide and Emerge America. She also plans to travel, as she retains United flight privileges. She lives in Fairfax, Va.

Weathering Labor Frustrations

Mike Flores, president of the AFA chapter at

US Airways

(LCC)

, lost decisively when he challenged Friend for the union presidency in 2006. He is, nevertheless, an admirer.

"This business went from one that was fun to one that is not fun," Flores said. "It once provided a good way to make a living, but now thousands of AFA members have lost either their jobs or thousands of dollars a year in wages and benefits.

"In that situation, it's very easy to get mad at union leadership," he said. "But Pat managed to weather that. She won re-election three times, which you cannot do without being well-liked. She is well-spoken, she is not afraid to make a decision and she knows the industry."

United flight attendant Sara Nelson said Friend has been a leader of the women's movement. "There is new leadership coming into AFA, including two top officers who are working mothers," said Nelson, a working mother who will become AFA vice president. "A lot of the work Pat has done through her career, fighting for equality for women, and for people of all genders to be able to do this job, has led the way to those possibilities."

When Friend joined United, she had to agree to step down when she turned 32 or got married. Eventually, the courts found both requirements illegal. But to the end, Friend fought to overcome the perception that flight attendants were ornaments, not professionals. Weight checks continued at some airlines until the early 1990s.

Friend has a chance to reflect on the changes recently when she spoke to a class at Cornell University. "I told the class that I lived through that period, and I wasn't willing to accept the limitations the industry put on women," she said.

Senior lecturer Lance Compa, who invited Friend to speak to his Cornell class, called her "one of the most experienced and effective leaders not just in the airline industry but in the American labor movement. She has provided a steady hand at the helm of AFA while maintaining the union as a model of a democratic, membership-driven organization.

"My students were enthralled by her presentation" Compa said. "She convinced at least some of them to think seriously about going into airline industry labor relations as a future career path."

-- Written by Ted Reed in Charlotte, N.C.

>To contact the writer of this article, click here:

Ted Reed

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