Sun Country flight attendants demand wages, work rules to match industry peers

Sun Country flight attendants, members of Teamsters Local 120, held informational picketing Jan. 10 at MSP Airport.

Nearly five years into their campaign for a new union contract, flight attendants at Minnesota-based Sun Country Airlines are still fighting for their fair share of the company’s growing profits.

Members of Teamsters Local 120, which represents about 600 flight attendants at Sun Country, held informational picketing Jan. 10 outside Terminal 2 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, showing support for their bargaining team just weeks after its first round of mediation with the airline.

The two sides, who began their most recent round of contract talks in 2019, filed jointly for assistance from a federal mediator after flight attendants voted overwhelmingly to reject a “best and final” offer from Sun Country last May, with 96% of participating union members voting “no.”

Union negotiator and veteran flight attendant Tanya Devito said her union introduced “realistic” proposals during the first mediated session that would establish pay and work rules on par with flight attendants at Frontier, Allegiant and other airlines comparable to Sun Country.

“They can do with it what they want, but this group is not going to accept anything less than that,” Devito said. “We would rather have shot for the moon, but we didn’t. We put in realistic expectations that we need in order to get a (tentative agreement) voted in.”

Specifically, Sun Country flight attendants are looking to advance through their wage scale faster in a new contract.

Devito, who has 32 years of experience with the airline, is still two years shy of Sun Country’s top wage rate. Meanwhile, flight attendants at Allegiant Air reach top scale in 12 years. At Spirit Airlines it takes 13.

“We’re losing good people,” said Elaine Rishovd, a flight attendant and chief steward for Local 120. “Many junior flight attendants, they maybe last a year or two before they’re gone. They can’t live on the salary they pay here. They could be three or four years into the scale here, and within a year or two they’re going to be beyond that someplace else.”

Additionally, Local 120 members want contract language that will lower the cap on “duty hours” they can be required to work during a shift. Currently, Sun Country can schedule flight attendants to travel up to 22 hours on a shift, but that doesn’t mean they’re earning wages the entire time.

“We check in one hour before flight to do our pre-checks while passengers get on, and we’re not getting paid,” Rishovd said. “Maybe there’s a weather or a mechanical delay. We do not get paid until that door closes. On the other end, when the door opens, we don’t get paid anymore. There are so many hours when we are on duty but we’re not getting paid.”

Sometimes Sun Country flight attendants will work four flights in shift that lasts 14 duty hours – and collect just six hours’ worth of wages, said 27-year-veteran flight attendant LaNeia Huberty.

“Those days are really hard, really rough,” Huberty said. “And technically, we’re there for safety. You don’t want your flight crew exhausted. We need to be sharp.”

The so-called “hometown airline” can afford to do better by its flight attendants, too, Huberty and other members of the bargaining team said.

Sun Country has grown steadily since emerging from the pandemic travel disruption and reported record profits in 2023 – thanks, in part, to sacrifices made by its flight attendants, who estimate that they saved the company $4 million by taking voluntary, unpaid leaves after the 2020 outbreak.

“We’ve always put ourselves last, always thought about the company and if it’s doing good or bad,” Huberty said. “We want Sun Country to be here and grow, but we want to be compensated. It’s time for us to get paid.”