Organizations representing flight attendants, air marshals and other concerned groups protested a new policy, announced by the Transportation Security Administration, that would allow small knives and other potentially dangerous items to be carried on to commercial flights. Labor and community groups say that allowing these items on planes breaks down one of the integral layers keeping the U.S. aviation system secure.

Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) President Veda Shook said:

Flight Attendants will not stand silently by as knives are re-introduced to the aircraft cabin. Flight Attendants serve as the last line of defense in aviation security, and we are responsible for ensuring the safety, health and security of everyone on board.

Even as the right to join a union is under attack across the country, more than 40,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees in 450 airports today made a strong statement for workers’ rights by electing AFGE as their exclusive union representative. The 8,903-8,447 vote came in a runoff with the National Treasury Employees Union.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council welcomed Veda Shook and Walter Wise as new members today.

Shook took office Jan. 1 as president of the Flight Attendants-CWA, succeeding Patricia Friend, who retired and also resigned from the Executive Council. An AFA-CWA member since 1991, Shook says she plans to keep right on flying. Before her election as president, she served as an AFA-CWA vice president since 2007.

Across the United States and around the world, thousands of working people marched today to demand that Mexico’s government allow its workers to enjoy the freedom to form a union, to create safe workplaces and bargain for family-supporting wages. The marches are part of a global six-day week of action, which began Feb. 14, to call for an end to the intimidation and labor rights violations of workers in Mexico.