Flight attendant case tests if state labor laws trump FAA rules

A California law requiring rest and meal breaks for workers has become a fierce battleground between airlines and flight attendants that may soon draw in the US Supreme Court. At stake is whether carriers are subject to local labor laws, or can instead follow federal aviation rules that are more focused on passenger safety than working conditions. Airlines say having to abide disparate state regulations could cause chaos at a time when the industry is already struggling to cope with a surge in travel demand amid a worker shortage. Within days, the high court’s justices are set to decide whether to hear an airline appeal in a suit brought by flight attendants, and backed by their unions, who are demanding California’s labor protections. For the flight attendants, the case is part of a far broader fight to receive basic labor protections that they say have been systematically stripped from them. It comes as US labor unions are enjoying somewhat of a revival amid growing power for workers in a tight labor market and victories organizing workers at companies including Starbucks and Amazon.com. “It’s been really frustrating seeing airline workers getting left out of numerous state worker protections,” said Allie Malis, the government affairs director for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, a union at American Airlines Group Inc. Story has details. <br/>