Who decides labor regulations for airline workers? We might find out sooner rather than later
There’s a California law that gives pilots and flight attendants based in the state more rest and meal breaks than they are guaranteed under federal regulations.
Under the law, California-based flight crews must be free from all job duties for 10 minutes every four hours and for a 30-minute meal break every five hours, even during flights. Last year, the law was upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco after a lawsuit was filed by flight attendants for California-based Virgin America, which was bought by Alaska Airlines in 2016.
Airlines for America, an industry trade group, wants the law blocked by the Supreme Court.
The group commissioned a study by Canadian consulting firm InterVistas, which estimates that airlines would need additional pilots and flight attendants, as well as have to make more frequent stops, to comply with the California law, The Associated Press reported. The changes would cost the industry between $3.5 billion and $8.5 billion a year, according to InterVistas.
In order to cover the exorbitant costs, airline officials would most likely reduce flights and raise fares, an unappealing move after recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and while still contending with historic inflation. Furthermore, 19 other states have rules on employee breaks and could apply them to flight crews, creating a complicated patchwork for airlines to adhere to....
GB News presenter Alex Armstrong and right-wing social media commentator Bernadette Spofforth have apologised and paid substantial damages to Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali after falsely sug...