Flight attendants desperately need legal protection to ensure their right to pump on the job—but airline industry lobbying cut them out of a law that will provide just that for millions of workers.
Rachel started working as a flight attendant when she was 24. She wanted to do something fun before she figured out what career to pursue. But despite getting degrees in the years since, she still works as a flight attendant at United. “I just don’t think I could do a 9-to-5 job,” said Rachel (a pseudonym to protect her from retaliation).
Fourteen years later, at 38, she gave birth to a daughter. United allowed her to go on unpaid leave and to keep her health benefits for 90 days, then forced her onto COBRA. Although Rachel had paid her bills ahead of time and put some money into savings, her financial buffer quickly ran out. She returned to work when her daughter was about 4 months old.
Rachel was determined to feed her daughter only breast milk, which meant pumping when she was at work. Each time she flew with new coworkers, she’d explain that she would need time to pump and ask them to cover whatever passenger needs came up during her break. She never knew whether she’d be able to get ice on a flight to keep her milk cold, so she would bring a freezable lunch sack and an ice pack. Rachel tried waiting until after the drink service was over to pump, but “it’d be stressful getting to...
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