Blaming the victim: Compass Airlines flight attendant fired for revealing her low income qualified her for food stamps

by B. N. Sullivan

If this isn't a classic case of blaming the victim, I don't know what is:  A Compass Airlines flight attendant has lost her job because she dared to say publicly that, due to her low wages, she qualified for food stamps.  The flight attendant was fired by the regional carrier after revealing in an interview on a local television show that she had been approved for food stamps in order to compensate for her low income.

Even though the flight attendant worked a full-time schedule at Compass Airlines, she was paid poverty-level wages.  She applied for food stamps to supplement her inadequate income -- and she certainly is not the only poorly paid flight attendant to have done so -- but she didn't keep her mouth shut about it.  She spoke out about her situation during a television interview.

Oh, the audacity!  You are SO fired for revealing the dirty secret that the airline pays many of its line employees so poorly that they can't make ends meet without public assistance.

Since late 2009, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA)  has represented the flight attendants at Compass Airlines, which conducts regional flying on behalf of Delta Air Lines.  Currently, the AFA is  engaged in contract negotiations with Compass Airlines for their first agreement.  At present, Compass flight attendants are paid at or near the minimum wage with a starting flight attendant annually making between $13,842 ($1,153.50/month) and $15,453 ($1,287.75/month), according to the union. That would make most Compass flight attendants eligible for assistance.

Well, you might think to yourself, if the job pays so poorly that the flight attendant had to apply for food stamps, why didn't she just quit and get another job?

Right.  Good jobs are plentiful just now.  If she left her job at Compass Airlines, she probably could have her pick among many well-paying jobs.  Not!!

While I don't know this particular flight attendant and her circumstances, I do know that many flight attendants are thankful that they have a job -- any job, even a poorly paid one -- in the current economic climate.  Which is worse?  Being employed in a low-paying job and having your meager income supplemented with food stamps?  Or being unemployed, with dim prospects in these times, and the risk of ending up on the welfare rolls?  You decide.

You also might wonder why this flight attendant took the job in the first place.  I mean, she must have known about the low pay before she signed on.  But who can say what her aspirations were, or what her situation was at the time she began working for Compass Airlines, and who knows how that situation may have changed in the meantime.  There might be any number of reasons why a person would accept a low-paying position, but that is not the point here.

The point is that the flight attendant in question spoke publicly about her low pay and her struggle to make ends meet, and was terminated by her employer for doing so.  That is just wrong.  It's not like airline pay scales are a closely guarded trade secret.  More likely it's that Compass Airlines was embarrassed by the public revelation that they do not pay their front-line workers a living wage.  So, as punishment for embarrassing her employer, the flight attendant was fired.

As I said at the outset, it looks to me like a clear case of  "Blame the victim."

Addressing this case, Patricia Friend, AFA-CWA International President said, "Poverty is not a crime and it is despicable that Compass Airlines would fire an employee for speaking the truth.  Unfortunately there are flight attendants across the country who have to rely on federal and state assistance to make ends meet.  Instead of paying hardworking flight attendants a living wage, airline management would rather shame them and make them fear for their jobs."

The AFA is calling for Compass Airlines to immediately reinstate this flight attendant.  I, too, hope they do so.

UPDATE Sep 3, 2010: From AFA:  Compass Airlines Flight Attendants will protest poverty level wages:

"You Can’t Silence the Truth – Give Kirsten Arianejad’s Job Back"

• Tuesday, September 7, 2010
• Time: 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm
• Picketing: Across from ticketing – upper level; Minneapolis – St. Paul International Airport; Minneapolis, MN

Flight attendant allegedly set fire to aircraft lavatory

This is just mind boggling: Remember the recent story about the in-flight fire in a lavatory on a Compass Airlines plane? It turns out that one of the flight attendants working the flight allegedly set the fire intentionally.

When the news broke yesterday I couldn't believe it. I thought it was a sensationalized rumor. But now the Associated Press is reporting that not only has the young man been arrested, but he also has confessed to the FBI that he started the fire. In fact, he made his first court appearance yesterday, and has been ordered held without bail.

The AP article, citing court documents as a source, claims that the 19-year old flight attendant "told authorities he was upset at the airline for making him work the route." He brought a lighter on board the flight he was working. The lighter was later found inside an overhead bin. Court documents say that as "he was preparing his cart to serve the passengers, he set the cart up, went back to the lavatory and reached in with his right hand and lit the paper towels with the lighter."

A short time later an indicator was activated on the flight deck, showing smoke near the rear lavatory. A pilot alerted the flight attendant to check the lavatory. Both flight attendants then used fire extinguishers to put out the fire. Yes, that's right -- the flight attendant who allegedly started the fire then had a heroic role in extinguishing it.

The aircraft, which had been en route from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan, diverted to Fargo for an emergency landing. Fortunately no one on board the aircraft was injured.

The thoughtless bonehead flight attendant has been formally charged with setting fire aboard a civil aircraft. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Flight attendants fight fire on Compass Airlines regional jet

A fire broke out in a lavatory on a Compass Airlines Embraer 175 regional jet, operating as Northwest Airlink Flight CPZ 2040 between Minneapolis-St.Paul and Regina, Saskatchewan on the evening of May 7, 2008. The aircraft diverted to Fargo, North Dakota, where it landed safely. The 72 passengers and four crew members on board were not injured.

According to news reports about the incident, the flight attendants reacted quickly to extinguish the fire. They donned Protective Breathing Equipment (PBE) [smoke hoods] and used fire extinguishers to control the fire , which was in a lavatory in the rear of the aircraft. They also moved passengers forward to an area where the smoke was not as heavy, and prepared the cabin for the emergency landing.

An article about the incident in the Calgary Herald quoted passengers who were on the flight. One man said:

"I heard the commotion, turned around. (There was) a lot of smoke, a lot of people looking really terrified. The next thing you know, the last probably eight or nine rows were running to the front of the plane because of the smoke. Next thing you know they were all sitting in the laps of the people up front ... (A flight attendant) came on (the intercom) and said, 'Electrical fire and we're going to be making an emergency landing.'"

Another passenger said:

"One of the attendants had on big headgear or something and was yelling and running up and down the aisle. Some people were getting up (to help) and they were yelled at and (told) to sit down, put their seat belts on, stay sitting ... We just kept declining fast. I was thankful the pilot, he was great. He went right down, he got us there quick."

According to various news reports, crew members and passengers were interviewed by local police and FBI agents at Fargo's airport. The cause of the fire is still being investigated. The aircraft has been taken out of service.

[Photo Source]