By Carl Campanile and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
New York Post
September 6, 2020
There’s pin-demonium brewing at American Airlines.
Top brass at the nation’s largest commercial jet carrier are facing turbulence from within after it announced that flight attendants are now allowed to wear Black Lives Matter pins on their uniforms while on duty.
The move has irked some of American’s white New York staffers, including those who have spouses or relatives who are cops — because they consider the BLM movement divisive and anti-police, saying it promotes or condones violence.
“I take offense to this,” one veteran flight attendant said in an email to airline management obtained by The Post. “Serious offense. My husband is a LEO (Law Enforcement Officer), as was my deceased father and as far as I’m concerned ALL LIVES MATTER.”
“I am completely disgusted at the fact that we can’t show support for our GOD, our COUNTRY, our LEOs but when it comes to BLM organization (which is controversial in itself), American Airlines says that’s obviously different,” she wrote. “And we can. How is that right? Well, I don’t feel included.”
Another flight attendant who asked to be identified only as John said staffers who refuse to wear the pin will now “be ostracized and labeled as racist,” and described BLM as “a terrorist organization that promotes violence to further their agenda.”
“If this pin is sanctioned, I will wear my NYPD pin supporting the police department,” he said.
A top official at the airline defended the decision, saying she had been “taken aback” by “widespread” complaints from black AA workers about “implicit bias and direct racism from customers and other team members.”
“American is truly committed to having an inclusive culture that is welcoming to all and a reflection of our country and world,” Jill Surdek, the airline’s senior vice president for flight services, said in an email response to ticked-off workers.
“One symbolic way to show our support is through a uniform pin,” she said. “We are working with our Black Professional Network on designing a specific pin that may be worn with the uniform. In the interim until this pin is produced, to recognize the significance of this moment in history, we are allowing people to wear a Black Lives Matter Pin.”
In a statement to The Post on Sunday, the airline said the company has employee “resource groups” working on several pin designs for various causes, including charitable groups that include UNICEF and others.
“Our Christian, veterans and LGBTQ groups, for example, have developed their own pin that can be worn as part of the uniform,” the statement said.
American said it views the BLM pin push “not as a political cause but as a universal cause about humanity and equality. Fundamentally, Black Lives Matter is an expression of equality.”
“It doesn’t mean other lives don’t matter, rather that in our society black lives should matter and be valued the same as others. That’s not political.”
But angry airline employees accused American of jumping on the Black Live Matter bandwagon to keep up with rival Delta Airlines, which reportedly has designed its own BLM pin for its flight attendants to wear.
AA recently announced it was laying off 19,000 workers because of the coronavirus-fueled recession that crippled the travel business.
BLM protests have been held across the country since the May 25 police-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and subsequent incidents of black people killed or injured in clashes with police.
Floyd died after a white police officer held his knee on Floyd’s back for nearly eight minutes.
Top brass at the nation’s largest commercial jet carrier are facing turbulence from within after it announced that flight attendants are now allowed to wear Black Lives Matter pins on their uniforms while on duty.
The move has irked some of American’s white New York staffers, including those who have spouses or relatives who are cops — because they consider the BLM movement divisive and anti-police, saying it promotes or condones violence.
“I take offense to this,” one veteran flight attendant said in an email to airline management obtained by The Post. “Serious offense. My husband is a LEO (Law Enforcement Officer), as was my deceased father and as far as I’m concerned ALL LIVES MATTER.”
“I am completely disgusted at the fact that we can’t show support for our GOD, our COUNTRY, our LEOs but when it comes to BLM organization (which is controversial in itself), American Airlines says that’s obviously different,” she wrote. “And we can. How is that right? Well, I don’t feel included.”
Another flight attendant who asked to be identified only as John said staffers who refuse to wear the pin will now “be ostracized and labeled as racist,” and described BLM as “a terrorist organization that promotes violence to further their agenda.”
“If this pin is sanctioned, I will wear my NYPD pin supporting the police department,” he said.
A top official at the airline defended the decision, saying she had been “taken aback” by “widespread” complaints from black AA workers about “implicit bias and direct racism from customers and other team members.”
“American is truly committed to having an inclusive culture that is welcoming to all and a reflection of our country and world,” Jill Surdek, the airline’s senior vice president for flight services, said in an email response to ticked-off workers.
“One symbolic way to show our support is through a uniform pin,” she said. “We are working with our Black Professional Network on designing a specific pin that may be worn with the uniform. In the interim until this pin is produced, to recognize the significance of this moment in history, we are allowing people to wear a Black Lives Matter Pin.”
In a statement to The Post on Sunday, the airline said the company has employee “resource groups” working on several pin designs for various causes, including charitable groups that include UNICEF and others.
“Our Christian, veterans and LGBTQ groups, for example, have developed their own pin that can be worn as part of the uniform,” the statement said.
American said it views the BLM pin push “not as a political cause but as a universal cause about humanity and equality. Fundamentally, Black Lives Matter is an expression of equality.”
“It doesn’t mean other lives don’t matter, rather that in our society black lives should matter and be valued the same as others. That’s not political.”
But angry airline employees accused American of jumping on the Black Live Matter bandwagon to keep up with rival Delta Airlines, which reportedly has designed its own BLM pin for its flight attendants to wear.
AA recently announced it was laying off 19,000 workers because of the coronavirus-fueled recession that crippled the travel business.
BLM protests have been held across the country since the May 25 police-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and subsequent incidents of black people killed or injured in clashes with police.
Floyd died after a white police officer held his knee on Floyd’s back for nearly eight minutes.
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