WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), representing Spirit Flight Attendants, together with a coalition of unions and public interest groups, achieved an historic win for worker privacy protections in the sale of the former airline’s data to Google. Last night, the objections to the sale were withdrawn in the bankruptcy court due to the privacy protections achieved:
- Affirmed exclusion of employee data such as: health and medical information, records related to drug and alcohol testing, disciplinary records, records from safety programs, and identification documents. Read the full detailed list.
- Affirmed highest deidentification standards.
- A rigorous de-identification process pursuant to a higher robust international standard (ISO 27559) than the U.S.-based standard Spirit intended to use;
- The de-identified data will also now be reviewed by an independent verification agent chosen in consultation with AFA and other unions.
- Google is prohibited from attempting to reidentify the data, and is required to process it in a secure environment and treat it as confidential.
“Worker data privacy in the age of AI has become a whole new worker’s rights issue,” said Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. “Without our union, there would have been no one to speak for workers in this fire sale of their private information. We fought and we won brand new protections. Now we will take this issue to all of our employers to secure contractual protections and demand lawmakers protect workers everywhere through federal and state law.”
While there currently exists some privacy protections for consumers under the law, there are no privacy protections for workers in the Bankruptcy Code, federal, or state law. Former Spirit employees and their unions are on the leading edge of this fight for worker protections.
“De-identification and using these standards is especially important now as more and more personal and sensitive information is being used for training AI and incorporation into AI models,” said Nathan Good, PhD of Good Research, LLC, a privacy and deidentification expert to private and public sectors. “Protection at the onset reduces the need for protections down the stretch where things can get more complicated. It is important that data is protected before it is used rather than retrofitted later.”
AFA filed an objection in the bankruptcy court immediately following the notice of the sale, which was buried in a mid-August Friday night court filing. The union’s objection successfully stopped quick approval of the sale and forced a delay to review objections. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), Professional Airline Flight Control Association (PAFCA), Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) Local 570, Allied Pilots Association (on behalf of members who are former Spirit Pilots), and Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (on behalf of members who are former Spirit Pilots) joined AFA’s objections in September, and together the coalition won.
Last month, 121 Members of Congress, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Steven Horsford, sounded the alarm on the proposed sale of Spirit worker data.
“When Senator Warren and I led 119 members of Congress in demanding real, enforceable safeguards before any employee data changed hands, we were standing with workers who were already fighting back,” said Congressman Horsford. “Today, those workers won. Sensitive records are excluded. The data will be held to a higher standard and independently verified. And Google cannot re-identify it. Innovation should never come at the expense of workers’ privacy, and this outcome proves it doesn’t have to.”
AFA has four additional active filings before the Court in the Spirit Bankruptcy case.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA is the Flight Attendant union. AFA has been the leader in advancing the Flight Attendant profession for over 80 years. Serving as the voice for Flight Attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill, AFA has transformed the Flight Attendant profession by raising wages, benefits, working conditions, and public awareness about the role of aviation’s first responders. Over 55,000 Flight Attendants come together to form AFA, part of the 500,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afacwa.org.
