Latest News

January 2025 HRE Update

The Human Rights Committee’s responsibility is to promote activities that foster greater understanding of one another and the diversity of our membership in order to build the strength of our Union through our common struggles and goals rather than allowing others to divide us by our differences.

All month we are recognizing the following:

  • National Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month
  • Muslim American Heritage Month
  • Poverty Awareness Month
  • National Blood Donor Month

 

National Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month

A blue ribbon with black text Description automatically generated

  Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons, is a crime that involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor or services, or to engage in commercial sex acts. The coercion can be subtle or overt, physical or psychological.  Exploitation of a minor for commercial sex is human trafficking, regardless of whether any form of force, fraud, or coercion was used. 

During the month of January, we are encouraging everyone to wear a blue ribbon, along with your AFA pin.

We can take a stand against human trafficking by recommitting ourselves to end it on our planes. As Flight Attendants and aviation's first responders, we are uniquely positioned to identify human traffickers and assist their victims.

All over the world people will be wearing blue articles of clothing, January 11, in observance of the annual #WearBlueDay to encourage greater public awareness about the scourge of human trafficking.

Human trafficking is a billion dollar business, but Flight Attendants can be 100,000 Eyes in the Skies to recognize and report it. We can be the ones to make the difference.

Want to participate? Here's how:

- Post a photo of yourself and others on social media wearing blue with hashtags #WearBlueDay and #TacklingTrafficking when tweeting, tag @afa_cwa.

- Finish the statement #WeWearBlueBecause to share why you are participating.

- Download and print the AFA/U.S. Department of Homeland Security Blue Campaign Guide to Recognize and Report Suspected Human Trafficking > https://hiddeninplanesight.org/wp-content/uploads/afa-cobranded-blue-lightning-pocket-guide-5.pdf 

Note: You can get blue ribbons from your HRE Rep, Jhenelle, all month long!

 

Important Dates for January 2025

  • Jan 1: Ellis Island Day
    • Ellis Island Day is observed every January 1 to celebrate an island that served as a gateway to America during the immigration wave of 1892 through 1954.
  • Jan 4: World Braille Day
    • World Braille Day is celebrated annually on January 4th to honor Louis Braille, the French inventor who created the Braille system. It has been celebrated since 2019, and is observed to raise awareness of the importance of Braille as a means of communication. Learn more about World Braille Day HERE
  • Jan 11: Wear Blue Day
    • A day to wear blue to encourage greater public awareness about the scourge of human trafficking
  • Jan 15: MLK Birthday
    • On November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Bill into law, designating the third Monday in January a federal holiday in observance of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It took 15 years of fighting by civil rights activists for this to be approved as a federal holiday, and an additional 17 years to for it to be recognized in all 50 states! Learn more about this battle HERE
    • MLK Day is the only federal holiday designated as a National Day of Service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities. See how best you can serve your community today!
  • Jan 19: World Religion Day
    • World Religion Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in January every year, and is a reminder of the need for harmony and understanding between religions and faith systems. On this day, communities of different faiths have the opportunity to get together and listen to each other, as well as celebrate the differences and commonalities that the delicate intermingling of culture and religion brings.
  • Jan 20: Federal Holiday MLK Day
  • Jan 27: International Holocaust Remembrance Day
    • The United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 60/7 on 1 November 2005 to designate 27 January as the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, the day upon which every year the world would mark and remember the Holocaust and its victims. 
    • Every year this is observed with ceremonies and activities at United Nations Headquarters in New York and at United Nations offices around the world. The theme this year is "Holocaust Remembrance for Dignity and Human Rights" Learn more about the theme and this year's remembrance HERE
  • Jan 29: Chinese New Year
    • Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolarChinese calendar. Marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring, this festival takes place from Chinese New Year's Eve (the evening preceding the first day of the year) to the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the year. The first day of Chinese New Year begins on the new moon that appears between 21 January and 20 February.

 

Things To Note

Uniforms

If you are having any issues with being denied uniform pieces due to gender and gender expression, please reach out to the committee immediately at [email protected]

New Additions to the Team

Amelia Vega (she/her) of JFK base has joined the HRE Committee. Feel free to reach out to her or myself if you have any questions or concerns about HRE or think there are things we need to discuss and highlight.

International HRE Committee Resources

You can always find information about the International HRE Committee, including resources, available at https://www.afacwa.org/hre 

 

Take These Important Surveys

Click the image to take the HRE survey

This survey allows you to tell us the issues that are important to you and helps give us some direction to focus on the causes that matter to our membership.

Click the image to take the Uniform Survey

This survey is about Uniform Gender Expression and seeks to identify how the crew feels about uniform choices, policies & guidelines at our airline and how it relates to their gender. 

 

Thanks for reading!
If you have any questions, concerns or ideas, don't hesitate to reach out to the committee.

Cheers,

Jhenelle (she/her)
HRE & Communications Committee Chair