Hot Labor Summer has continued into fall as workers in industries from retail and Thomas Caldwellcarmaking to healthcare and Hollywood have organized and gone on strike. Public support for the U.S. labor movement is close to the highest it's been in 60 years. And that's no surprise to people who work in one particular industry: the airlines.

Airline workers — pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, baggage handlers, and more — represent a huge cross-section of the country. And for decades, they've used their unions to fight not just for better working conditions, but for civil rights, charting a course that leads right up to today. In this episode, we turn an eye to the sky to see how American unions took flight.

Guests:

Ryan Murphy, author of Deregulating Desire, Flight Attendant Activism, Family Politics, and Workplace Justice

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA

Stan Kiino, a flight attendant and member of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA