Horizon Air pilots in WA to picket

Welcome back to Good Day Seattle. Horizon Air Pilots will be out on the picket line later this morning, and some of them are out there now, to let the public know about their ongoing fight to get a new contract. John Hofsetz is in studio now and has more on what the pilots are accusing their parent company of corporate greed leading up to this. John. Yeah, Erin, as you mentioned, there they are. This is what passengers are seeing this morning as they head to the entrance of SeaTac right now. Some of them look like they just got off the plane. They're in their pilot garb. The Teamsters representing nearly 650 of these pilots are accusing the airline of drawing out negotiations right now because they want pay raises, higher staffing levels as well. These pilots are holding what they call an informational picket. It is not a strike, but they're trying to get their word out about their frustrations right now. And you can see they're making themselves heard. Their Horizon Air subsidiary of Alaska Air Group and Teamsters say their pilots perform nearly the same amount of flying as their sister carrier, Alaska Airlines. Union also says Horizon Air has shown a pattern of mismanagement and corporate greed that has affected the negotiating process here. So while these pilots are on that informational picket line, down the street, Horizon Air flight attendants also planning to hold a demonstration outside of the company's headquarters. They're also demanding what they say is a long overdue living wage contract. Workers say flight attendants have not had a pay raise in three years. So we reached out to Alaska Airlines and they got back to us. They say we're hopeful to reach new contracts for both groups as soon as possible. By the way, they add they've reached a tentative agreement on 12 of the articles right now. They also say we respect and support the right of our flight attendants and pilots to engage in lawfully protected activities like informational picketing to express their views. So the union for both Horizon Air pilots and flight attendants now using public picketing to put pressure on management into potentially getting a new deal. And if you're heading out to SeaTac right now, this is one of the things you'll see greeting you as you head to the airport, guys. All right. Thank you, John.