Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Jack Speer this week promises to be a momentous one on Capitol Hill the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump if the articles are passed Trump would become just the 3rd president to be impeached setting up a trial in the Senate N.P.R.'s to Macas more the House Judiciary Committee released a $658.00 page report late Sunday describing why it had advanced the 2 articles of impeachment on Tuesday the House Rules Committee will hold a hearing at outline the parameters of the debate on the House floor the following day lawmakers will debate whether the president committed abuse of power and obstruction of Congress the 2 allegations against him there have already been some significant political shifts Democratic congressman Jeff Andrew has signaled he will vote against impeachment and become a member of the Republican Party and many Democrats in tight swing districts spent Monday explaining their view on impeachment to their constituents to mak n.p.r. News Washington Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says President Trump this week will announce a drawdown of u.s. Troops in Afghanistan Graham says he expects the beginning next year the president will lower troop numbers to 8600 from the current 12000 Graham has been a vocal opponent of a full withdrawal of u.s. Forces speaking in Kabul today he said America's withdrawal from Afghanistan must be condition based He also said the Taliban must keep promises made during recently resume talks which are again on pause after an attack last week outside Baghran Air Base north of Kabul a bipartisan government spending bill is on track to provide money for the 1st time in $2.00 decades for federal research on gun safety under reported deal the spending bill said for a House vote as soon as tomorrow would provide 25000000 for gun violence research divided evenly between the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Here's N.P.R.'s Martin cost a federal spending and guns. Eyelets research has been limited by Republican and Ari opposition to anything that looks like advocacy for gun control especially by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Jeffrey Swanson is a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for gun policy and research I think it sends a message it's the 1st time in 25 years that the c.d.c. Has been able to devote this amount of money specifically to gun violence without having to you know hide it under the radar the c.d.c. Already collects data on firearm deaths and other agencies do gun violence studies but Swanson says this money could expand research into new topics such as the effectiveness of red flag laws which temporarily remove guns from people at risk of violence Martin costy n.p.r. News stocks climb sharply higher on Wall Street today the rally driven by report showing better than expected economic growth in China the Dow is up 100 points the Nasdaq rose 79 points today this is n.p.r. . The Broadway community gathered today in tribute to late director producer Harold Prince Prince had 21 Tony Awards and dozens of shows to his credit including West Side Story Fiddler On The Roof Sweeney Todd and Phantom of the Opera reporter Jeff Lunden was in the audience on the stage of the majestic Cedar where Phantom Of The Opera has been playing for the past 31 years Prince's friend and frequent collaborator songwriter Stephen Sondheim said it was an equation to quote celebrate hell not to mourn him and a parade of Broadway vets from composers Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jason Robert Brown to actors Carol Burnett and Laura Linney shared anecdotes and others saying songs from the shows he directed including Joel Grey who sang Ville Coleman from hell Prince's 1966 hit cabaret the man the venue where. The director died on July 31st at the age of 91 for n.p.r. News I'm Jeff Lunden in New York 5 Snowmobilers are safe after an overnight rescue in a snow storm their remote lake in Montana was a look County sheriff's office says one of the riders fell through the ice and others got wet trying to pull the snowmobile out of the lake the riders build a fire to deal with freezing temperatures while they waited for help took 9 hours for rescuers to cut a path through several feet of fresh snow to reach some sheriff's officials say everyone is Ok and the fire likely help them survive crude oil futures prices continue their upward climb oil up $0.14 a barrel to end the session at $6020.00 want to barrel the New York Mercantile Exchange I'm Jack Speer n.p.r. News in Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include the n.p.r. Shop where visitors can browse Public Radio nerd and n.p.r. Gear at npr dot org and the Arcus Foundation dedicated to the idea that people can live in harmony with one another and the natural world. You know you look at the bad guy. The bad guy. The bad guy. Terrible horrible state. Tonight on 91 point one. From Delaware Public Media. This is one day I'm Joshua Johnson in Washington back in January President Trump stood at a podium in the White House Rose Garden and said what the nation had been waiting more than a month to hear thank you very much my fellow Americans I am very proud to announce today that we have reached a deal to end the shutdown and reopen the federal government Hours earlier a handful of air traffic controllers did not show up to work effectively grounding many flights on the East Coast by many accounts that led Congress and the president to reach an agreement and end America's longest government shutdown but the air traffic controllers had help a vocal partner who demonstrated at airports to social media and spoke on cable news to warn of how the shutdown would affect airline workers this is not America. Flight attendants we have more contact with the public than nearly anyone else use your influence right now talk about your job your safety your security for all of us and impress upon the lawmakers that they need to open the government today that was Sara Nelson the president of the Association of Flight Attendants her defense of her fellow union workers led the New York Times to call her America's most powerful flight attendant now Congress faces another deadline this Friday to avoid another shutdown and attendance at one airline are preparing to hit the picket lines tomorrow how is the airline industry doing with all of this as many of us prepare to fly for the holidays joining us here in studio is Sara Nelson the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants the union represents 50000 flight attendants at 20 airlines Sara welcome to want to say it's great to be here Sarah let's start with the federal budget we mentioned your role in ending the previous government shutdown now less than a year later we may be staring down the barrel of another one this seems to be a new holiday tradition in Washington these days what is your perspective on the possibility of another strike and the possible impact it could have on your members Well let's be very clear that everyone in Washington understands that this cannot happen again we went through 35 days of a government shutdown people missed 2 paychecks there was incredible uncertainty and what that led to was incredible fatigue and stress we had 2000000 a 1000000 people who were out of work these were federal sector workers and contractors who couldn't do their job which made it very difficult for us to do our job in the private sector as flight attendants and pilots and other aviation workers and so we have been very clear that if this were to happen again we would threaten the same action because people will not be looking at this as a day one of a shutdown they are going to immediately revert back to all the uncertainty that was in place on day 35. But what I'm hearing is that Congress has gotten the message and that they do in fact have a funding bill in place and ready to vote on this week so I'm feeling fairly good that we're going to have that in place that will also include the mine workers pensions and health care I'm hopeful so that we can make sure that we can ensure that what we promise to mine workers is there but we're feeling pretty good about it but we should send the message once again the we're always going to stand up for safety health and security of the traveling public it's funny how air traffic controllers kind of were the place where rubber met road for a lot of Americans something about air travel I think as a as a kind of an implied obvious modern convenience to not be there in a reliable way seem to hit people in the gut in a way that made the shutdown feel real well look it took a lot of work by people on the front lines telling the stories of what people do every single day to keep air travel safe and air traffic controllers go to work behind chain link fences and secure areas into a lot of times dark holes leaving their cell phones aside they have to retire at age 56 because it's such a stressful job in any other job if you get 99 percent of your job right you're going to get awards air traffic controllers that's several 100 flights going down a day so these are people who have to be totally focused have no distractions and what could be more distracting than not getting a paycheck for your family so we did a lot of work to help the traveling public understand how important their job is how important it was that they had all the resources that they needed to do their job and what risks were involved in not having that in place how did this strike affect you and other flight attendants I totally hear you in terms of air traffic controllers What about the differences that you noticed in terms of just the way that flight attendants worked while all of this was going on this was very concerning So as we started to realize what was happening during the shutdown were always opposed. Shutdown because we need all the resources of the government to work hand in hand with the airline industry to make safety and security work and so we knew that for example there was 40 percent of the cyber security in it at v.h.s. That was on furlough just not doing their work there were safety programs that were completely halted and not being put in place to address things like near misses and so as flight attendant started to understand more and more about what was going on and the breakdown in the holes in security that's there they were getting briefings from their flight deck to say normally you wouldn't contact us during a sterile cockpit area when we're 1st taking off but in this case we're really concerned you need to be extra careful that there could be somebody who slipped through the system and got onto our plane so let us know right away contact us right away these are the kinds of conversations that were happening on the front lines with flight attendants and with pilots and we were on high alert because we knew that there were gaps in the system but I want to make sure I'm not I don't want to deal in hyperbole but it sounds like what you said is that during the shutdown because there were cyber security officials at the Department of Homeland Security who had been furloughed you were less certain that someone who presented a risk to a flight had been caught you basically were told we think we're Ok but we're not as sure as we would normally be so now you are more of the front line than you normally would be Am I hearing you right yes no I wouldn't directly relate it just to cyber security that's an example but f.b.i. Agents were on furlough as well we had a lot of people who do work every single day to make these systems safe and safety and security is a whole layer of of events that happen and people who do work to make sure that nothing slips through the u.s.p.s. Agents who had to kind of stay on their post to absolutely the t.s.a. Agents who were having to stay focused even though they weren't getting paychecks. And some of them didn't even have enough money to pay for a tank of gas to get back and forth to their homes so they were sleeping in their cars so they could continue to come to work and serve the nation and that that was very concerning because there were so many distractions going on you know we learn is flight attendants in our training the very 1st thing you do when you're performing safety work is to cut out all distractions let everything go and focus only on your task at hand and this was entering so many distractions and so many risks that it was not even possible to calculate in fact the air traffic controllers and the pilots in our union put out a letter saying exactly that we couldn't even we couldn't even determine how many risks were in place because the shutdown had gone on so long and the system was being stretched so much we're speaking to Sara Nelson who is the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants we would love to hear from you one day at am you dot org I want to get a little bit into your background sirup from long before you became the international president of a faith I understand you are from small town Oregon is that right Alice Oregon or Valentino believers What made you decide to become a flight attendant is it something you always wanted to do was there a moment where you kind of pivoted toward that well I went to school to be a teacher a secondary teacher English teacher in high school and I was actually doing my student teaching and had just finished that in mid year was planning to work in St Louis the following year and I was working 4 jobs and just scraping by and look staring down incredible student loans and trying to think about setting up my classroom and it was a very cold day in February in St Louis I remember when I was feeling. Really underwater and my friend who had become a flight attendant and we kind of kind of chuckled about that we didn't really know anything about it as we were graduating from college but she had become a flight attendant she called me from the beach in Miami she said Yeah I've got my toes in the water right now feels pretty good and it's cold blooded It was terrible I mean it was. Awful. It was it was a really rough moment for me but then but then she said you know what all kidding aside I just need to tell you about this job and she told me about the pay she told me about the health care she told me about the flexibility on the job in the work rules and she told me about the pension and that sounded pretty good to a 23 year old working 4 jobs and wondering how long I was going to have to do all this and I got in my car and drove to Chicago the next day and interviewed with United Airlines What about the training surprised you. Well the training I used to call it a powderpuff boot camp and 7 weeks of unpaid training and you're in a dorm like situation with people who are actually all ages and and you're really under the gun and being watched the whole time and we had a make up day even where the guys got the day off but we had to go and learn how to put on makeup and if we didn't have it we had to buy some and so it was it was a real shock to me actually growing up in Oregon and having a lot of freedom in my life to suddenly be in this sort of rigid environment but made it through because the the on the other side of that it was really a great career and my friend actually called me a couple times during training and she said you're probably feeling pretty pretty lockdown right now but just know it gets better and it's a competitive line of work I understand that Delta hires less than one percent of its applicants. Yes Well it is a competitive line of work people want to become flight attendants but it's not easy and it's it's it's something that requires a lot of skill not everyone can do it incredible emotional intelligence the flight attendants used to keep people calm in a very confined space and Delta is not one of the f.a.a. Covering as I believe its members have voted to join a f.a.a. They are working on it right now I do want to talk to you about that and about kind of the future of a f a when we continue our conversation with Sara Nelson the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants I'm Joshua Johnson and you are cruising along with one egg from w a n u and n.p.r. Hello my name is Don and I was a United flight attendant for 21 years I left in 2008 and started a new career I feel that all of the training and situational awareness problem resolution and many other skills that I have changed as a flight attendant. Help me with my new career and actually Excel and so many people marginalize. Lighted. And I can say from my own experience and I wife who is still active I did Tenet nothing could be further from the truth. Jeff Flynn is back with a new album called from out of nowhere 3 plays almost every note on every instrument something he hasn't always been able to do. This big brown Spanish which the strings were about half an inch above the fret so I want to play. Everything from his 1st guitar to his latest album on the next World Cafe. Sunday evening at 8 on w.t.v. 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This is one a I'm Joshua Johnson we're discussing air travel with Sarah Nelson the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants which is a union that covers 50000 flight attendants at 20 airlines the New York Times referred to as America's most powerful flight attendant flight attendants are powerful people in their own rights but few of us really understand what it takes to do that work or some of the issues that this labor force deals with and that's what we're discussing today was a huge worth emailed I was a flight attendant for nearly 20 years back in the seventy's the workplace for female flight attendants was just like the workplace for the women on the t.v. Show Mad Men the appearance requirements were demeaning but nothing compared to the sexual harassment we faced from all sides to which the company usually turned a blind I definitely want to ask you about this Sara I mean even just from us going from saying stewardess to flight attendant Here's a clip of an ad for Eastern Airlines remember them kids if you don't remember Google it or ask your parents here's an ad from 1967 that's called the losers now in the video which we tweeted out you see a stream of women step in front of the camera in what's basically a casting call here is that ad from Eastern Airlines. Very friendly. But she too. She's right. She went last as honey and not know the other oh no oh. Well. Well Eastern presents the losers in that you're 19 out of 20 girls we see you never get to be an Eastern Airlines steward is probably good enough to get a job anywhere they want but at least. And we're very choosy about whom we let certain you want to play it may make our job a lot harder but it makes your flying a lot easier we want everyone to fly on the ground with the glasses and know the way that ad called the losers from Eastern Airlines which aired back in 1967 we have tweeted the video of that ad out you can follow us on Twitter at one a Sarah I don't even know where started with just the guy was like oh she's with Oh she's pretty low she's back. Yeah somebody punch him in the slot now it's not even as recently as the 70s I understand they were very strict requirements on how old a flight attendant could be how much they could weigh how tall they were they had to be single I don't hope things have changed since then well it's only because of our union that they've changed so we 1st organized our union in 1905 we had our 1st contract in 19061 of the very 1st things that we negotiated was a seniority list and that gave us the basis to negotiate everything else and fight in the courts fight in the streets and fight in our contract battles to try to change the career into a change the job into a career that can be for anyone with the heart of a flooded time in fact I often say we also made sure that men could have the same rights as women on the job and we had to beat back things like not being able to be married or having a wet step on a weight scale until 1993 that Eastern Airlines ad was emblematic of how flight attendants were objectified but it's not even maybe the worst of what was put out there to the public with ads like I'm Cheryl fly me or I'm Amber fly me all the way to Mexico or the hot pants and go go boots that we were put in and the way that the job was sexualized you know this job started with Ellen church who was a pilot and wanted to serve as a commercial airline pilot and she was told that women were too emotional to be in the flight deck and so instead she promoted this idea that there could be women in the cabin to take care of the I like to say emotional men who were getting sick because their travel so rough and. Were such a delicate creature that your so so the flight attendant career began with that and it was really women who were registered nurses who were tough and who were taking care of the men on board and we really had to fight in our own right for our place in aviation and that meant. Beating back incredible discrimination so by the time we got into the seventy's and eighty's and even ninety's we were really taking on the issue of sexism but we weren't able to do it in a way that where we recognized that management was going to change anything for us we defined our role we became certified safety professionals we changed the title of stewardess to flight attendant but I was our union doing that and promoting the idea that we were safety professionals and gaining that recognition for our safety work and through our work we were able to really put ourselves in a position where when this me to movement broke we could really start to talk about the realities of sexual harassment and take that on so we conducted a survey of our members and found that 68 percent of them had experienced sexual harassment in their career one in 5 had experienced vision physical sexual harassment in the previous 12 months alone and that only 7 percent had ever reported these issues to the airlines because there was this idea that no one would care no one would take it seriously do you think that there is something about working in the airline industry that makes this kind of harassment and abuse more endemic or is this just reflective of what women in the workplace are dealing with all over and we're just kind of paying attention now well look I think it's a little bit on steroids in the airline industry and yes we're just now starting to pay attention there's incredible sexism and harassment of women still today because sexual harassment is not about sex it's about power and today we don't even have laws on the books that say that women are full and equal partners in this country and so until we take care of that this is going to continue to exist so we're hoping come on Virginia let's pass the r a n make this the law of the land but you know we we called out the airline industry when the me too movement broke and we said you have got to stand up C.E.O.'s in this industry have got to stand up and denounce the airline industry sexists past because all that marketing gave people an idea that you can act differently when you come to the door of an airplane and that's what we experience we experience it from things like oh. I'm going to order tomato juice or ginger ale and I don't do that anywhere else in my life and people people come and they've had trouble define for them and they think that they get to act a certain way and it gives rise to sexual harassment that we face on the job also not only sexism but also racism as I understand it the 1st black woman to graduate flight attendant training was in the early seventy's even though the industry of the Union existed since the mid forty's yes absolutely we've had to push in every area to beat back discrimination and one of my mentors who taught me almost everything that I know in the in the movement was a black woman who passed on this past year but she was one of the 1st African-Americans to fly for a major carrier and she pushed through a lot of barriers and became a leader in our union and taught the rest of us how to take action how to push back against anyone who may try to set you aside or or belittle you and I learned more from her than probably anyone else in my life what was really Linda Farrow I saw you go somewhere when you started to think about her yeah actually I thought about her I had a dream about her during the shutdown in during the time that we were getting ready that that my board was voting to say that we would refuse to work on safelights in the shutdown we were making that very clear that there was going to come a point here where flattens would refuse to work and shut down the system and the night before we made that clear to the rest of the country I had this dream that I was in a burning building everything was coming down I had everyone that I cared about following me and I stepped out of out of this doorway and didn't know which way to go and there she was and she said you know which way to go Sarah Susie it's that way and I woke up from that dream and with more conviction than ever before about what to do and everything came back to me about all the lessons she had taught me in my in my early years of union work it's time. Of that as you describe that dream it feels like also part of the essence of what it is to be a flight attendant is to know what to do in a ray of situations when you know people are asking for you know their 3rd bottle of Kalu or there's a crying baby or there's someone who's you know in-flight entertainment screen isn't working and you still have to pay attention the cockpit like you you have to have your head on a swivel from the minute we leave the ground Absolutely and actually the boarding process is an incredibly intensive process as well because we're checking to make sure that we can leave problems on the ground I want to give a shout out to a flight attendant crew that actually delivered a baby in the middle of a security threat did not created sort of an operating room and did this and deliver the baby with complications with no medical personnel on board safely delivered that baby 4 to the potential security threat and kept in contact with the flight deck the entire time and that is just an example of what flight attendants have to do every single day maybe not to that extreme but you're right we've got to be totally situationally aware we've got to keep everybody calm and deescalate conflict more than ever because you've got humans pressed up against each other on planes like never before in smaller seats closer together and we've got less staffing than ever before to be able to deal with these things I do want to ask you about the smaller seats in just a minute but we've been getting some stories from you about your encounters with flight attendants Karen wrote on our Facebook page I gained a new appreciation for flight attendants when I had a medical emergency on a trip last year the flight attendants displayed skill and experience in immediately assessing and responding to my situation I will forever be grateful for their skills compassion and professionalism sorry I know plenty of people like Karen who have stories like that but then we also see the stories like the guy who was dragged off the. I did flight or you know things that just reinforced the worst stereotypes and suppositions about how are treated the kind of herded like cattle onto a plane into ever smaller seats where does that come from one things like that incident on United plane happen what do you trace that back to well 1st of all I want to be really clear that flight attendants had no part in that incident at all that was the personnel from Chicago airport who dragged the man off the flight but what led to that incident was the decrease in staffing at the gate the inability to for people on the front lines to be able to make decisions to be able to take care of people a lot of that got fixed in terms of decision making and giving people on the front lines the resources to be able to do that but the staffing has not returned and the real ability to be able to give people an extra bit of your time to be able to listen that has been made very very difficult because we have so many more people to deal with so much less time and so fewer of us but let me be really clear that no flight attendant has ever been involved in abusing in passenger in that way or any other way and we take real pride in the way that we take care of people we got a lot of listener input about the kinds of people who are able to be flight attendants including this comment Ruth from Chicago left this in our inbox I was wondering if there are still requirements regarding the bodies of Flight Attendants maybe in regards to hair or makeup or dress and I was wondering how they have impacted why did you are people of color and how they have actually to work e-mail . Or gender nonconforming because I imagine that the policies are felt differently for different kinds of people you know Ruth thank you for sharing that in Ruth's not the only one who commented on appearance in particular Meghan tweeted I have a. And who's a flight attendant and I was really surprised to learn that they can't have visible tattoos piercings or brightly colored hair brightly colored hair I understand the need for uniforms but this seems extreme I think it's time to move into the 21st century Sarah what about that standards on makeup on appearance on hair which can affect black women differently than white women on gender presentation which can affect people who are transgender or non-binary or gender nonconforming What about that well we are 80 percent organized in the airline industry so 80 percent of flight attendants have a union who can help them address these issues when they bring them forward and we have had to beat back a lot of discriminatory practices regarding our uniforms and also safety and security issues so we used to have to wear all the same shoes for example when I started you had to wear at least a 2 inch heel in the Congress we've we've actually gotten rid of many of those requirements but we're continuing to press forward because there are certain rules for the way that you need to wear your hair the appearance that you have the tattoo reference was correct any piercings any of that and and we're pushing forward to. Get the airlines to come along with the times now in terms of people of color especially women of color black women the issue of how they wear their hair is a real issue that we're hearing from members and that they need support to take this on many of the airlines are trying to be more open and. Lax with their parents' policies but it makes it very difficult when they have a certain set of policies and other people bring their own biases because they don't understand how someone lives their life or how or the way that they were born and the natural qualities that they have as a human being and these are real issues that we're taking on today and they're not they're not fully addressed yet in the airline industry one. Question that I think is worth mentioning it's a quick one but it constantly comes up is it still Ok to use the word stewardess. Please know. And I say that because you know it is part of our history so sometimes we actually joke will be on the plane and say you know look out to each other stewardess working stewardess working so we may joke with each other but stewardess is associated with a time that's a real painful time for flight attendants where that sexism and objectification was at its highest level and at its greatest height and encouraged people also to move into eating disorders even because they had to deal with the weight program so we associate that word with a lot of the painful past and unless we're talking about it in a Habs historical perspective it's really not a nice thing to say You mentioned the shrinking compartments in terms of having more people packed on flights Michael asked about that Michael wrote on our Facebook page why don't flight attendants push back on the ever shrinking seat pitch I don't see how over cramming passenger compartments can be even remotely safe and the flight attendants have to deal with trying to load and unload passengers on a daily basis yeah this is a big issue for us and we are opposed to the shrinking seat size and also seat pitch and we have been promoting this issue actually on a safety Avenue in the f.a.a. Bill of 2018 We've got an evacuation standard study that should look at the realities of the aircraft cabin today and whether or not this shrinking seat sizes in addition to other things will actually deter us from a safe and occupation and so the f.a.a. Has not fully implemented that or move forward on that study yet but this is a big issue for us and we are probably the passengers best advocate on this issue Carolyn tweeted I have a lot of respect for flight attendants especially as airlines increasingly add charges to services that used to be a part of your plane ticket it makes flyers anxious and. Angry and flight attendants must deal with these heightened emotions daily speaking of heightened emotions Catherine emailed I must say that after the horrible and tragic events of 911 I gained a new respect for flight attendants I see them now as playing a critical role in maintaining passenger safety on airplanes as well as diffusing agitation displayed by unrelieved passengers and performing instant conflict resolution I would like to talk to you bore about some of the safety issues that we face when we continue with Sara Nelson the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants also want to get your perspective on the Boeing 737 Max The company is rethinking it and speaking of safety I've always wanted to ask something about that briefing Do you always have to tell me how to buckle a seatbelt Yes And I'll tell you stay close. This week with the art of a great party with a musician. Holiday table that works for all kinds of eaters spend time with one of America's greatest pastry chefs and learn about some of the celebrate George edition of the African-American kitchen that's coming up on the table from. From Delaware Public Media. Coming up on the next one point President trumps executive order defining Jewishness as a nationality or race does it help fight discrimination on college campuses or enable him to Semitic tropes plus allow me to read. Names Jay z. At 50 Michael Eric Dyson joins us on why he believes the hip hop superstar is also one of the greatest poets of the American story that's coming up with an exam point from n.p.r. . From Delhi where public media. Sometimes the most important lessons you learn are in the unlikeliest of places already being or not wired for. One thing one day and only you know how. Would you choose to do what they're. Really up to the person. Learning life lessons from surprising places that's next time on the Ted Radio Hour from n.p.r. . Saturday to on w d t from Delaware public media support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from the school foundation partnering with social entrepreneurs and other innovators to confront the world's most pressing problems at home and abroad learn more at s k o l l dot org from the side Sims foundation since 1905 supporting advances in science education and the arts towards a better more just society more information is available at size Sam's Foundation dot org And from the John d. And Catherine team MacArthur Foundation at mac found dot org. We'll continue in a moment after a quick heads up about tomorrow's program the latest results from an international standardized tests show that America is still lagging behind the rest of the world reading is among the subjects where kids in the u.s. Do worse than children in other industrialized nations what is your child experienced that might explain why our students do not read as well as they should leave us a voicemail 855236181 essay now on the flip side perhaps you or someone in your school community is succeeding at raising those scores what have you seen that works tell us your story 855-236-1818 or send us an audio file with our app one a Vox Pop We'll share some of your stories tomorrow on one essay. Back to our conversation with Sara Nelson the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants a lot of you called and wrote with a lot of love for flight attendants here just a few of the stories you left in our inbox as we were boarding the plane the flight attendant now down and introduced herself to my 3 year old son and set the time to explain what her job was and what he was going to do during the flight she then took him in and got the pilot and this flight attendant was walking up and down hooting him holding the baby so the mother can go through that not only that she's really really sweet to everyone I had eaten something bad and started vomiting about 5 minutes once we got up in the air and the stewardess let me spend the entire 2 and a half hour trip in the bathroom I had been diagnosed with shingles while on a business trip when we got up to cruising altitude the purser came back to me and coach and invited me to come up and 1st class so that I could lie down and rest the whole trip I am forever grateful. These flight attendants really have big hearts thank you all very much for sharing your stories with us Sarah how much of that is training in terms of what you are taught to do as a flight attendant and how much of it is just the intrinsic quality that people bring to the job this is who flight attendants are and the last clip about flight attendants have really big hearts this is one of the biggest reasons that I am so grateful and honored to be the president or our flight attendant Union because license are just amazing people who are better at taking care of people than almost anyone else in the world Sebastian wrote on our Facebook page as the product of a divorce I flew unintended as a minor between 3 years old and 15 years old starting about 198384 the flight attendants that I came across were always kind careful and very watchful of me as I dealt with an exorbitant amount of strangers I don't have much to say other than thank you let's talk about safety we know that 911 changed everything in the airline industry this Christmas is the 10 year anniversary of the so-called underwear bomber Christmas Day 2009 how much our flight attendants train these days in for lack of a better term counterterrorism and how much is that a part of the job compared to everything else look since $911.00 every single day that we go to work we know that we're not only aviation's 1st responders responding the safety and health of everyone on board but we're also this nation's last line of defense Navy security and so it's on our mind all the time in fact when we have a medical emergency we're very aware that that could be a diversion for a. Plot to connect something harmful on the flight and so we have to be very aware and vigilant all the time and it's just ever present in our thoughts. What about in terms of safety one of the other issues that we've discussed recently is the $737.00 Max and problems with the production of that 2 of these planes crashed within a 5 month span Boeing has said it expects the planes to be back in commercial service this month next month but then shares of Boeing and its suppliers fell today on reports that Boeing could temporarily halt production of the $737.00 Max they could be taking a write down well in the billions of dollars just over the $737.00 how do you feel and how do your members feel about the $737.00 Max Well we feel that this was a real shaking of public trust in what happened with the survey cation of the max and what we've learned since then and with the 346 deaths that were caused by that failed sort of cation process of the $737.00 Max And so normally we would be expecting everyone to be doing their job to make sure that and airplane is safe to fly but we've been very clear that we are not going to get back on the plane until we have the sign off from pilots and engineers and the regulators and our airlines and regulators around the world as well this is going to have to take everyone and it's going to have to take a recognition that flight attendants are going to be the ones that the public is looking to for a gut check about whether or not those planes are safe and so we not only have to feel comfortable and have all those box checked boxes checked but we have to be able to explain to people why it's safe now and we're going to have a bigger role in doing that if the plane is going to get up and fly again what about the economics of the airline industry it's a industry that brings in a lot of revenue but has a lot of people costs some airlines are making billions of dollars a year there are profitable airlines What is your sense of the future of air travel economically speaking especially since we as passengers sometimes can feel like we're just getting nickel and dime for every little detail like airlines are constantly finding more ways to get money from us how do you see the economics of the business well let me just start with this what's happening with the Boeing. 737 Max is going to in is already affecting many people and their own personal economics and this is really hurting Americans right now who work at Boeing and who also work at many of the airlines that are especially impacted by the grounding of this fleet so it's very concerning that when we don't have a regulatory process that works the outcome of that can be incredible economic harm and we saw that also a little bit out of our control with 911 for example but in terms of the airline industry on the whole the airline industry has really rebounded and learned how to learn how to maximize its revenue with every single seat learn how to put in place segmentation of pricing so that they can get the most out of those seats even though air traffic air travel is more accessible to people than ever before because on the whole the baseline for those tickets is lower than it was even before deregulation if you think account for inflation All right let's get to some more general questions about air travel one of them will start with mine because I was going to take moderator's privilege because this is a question I have always had if you remember the Comedy Central series Key and Peele it came up in a sketch on that series here is a little piece of that sketch. Yeah you think you see the fasten seat of time zone I'm just going to go to the bathroom for a 2nd I'll be right back Ok Anderson what you want to do unfortunately I mean you didn't observe the past. And image machine. Is I but on the Internet that it's not against the law for me to go to the bathroom while the fasten seat belt sign is on some things but is it against the law though. It does follow. You see that there's a picture of. You know that it can't stop on. That sketch from Key and Peele 1st of all. Is wrong because in the safety briefing it says that f.a.a. Regulations require you to comply with crewmember instructions lighted signs and posted placards So yes it is against the law but on the flipside the seat belt thing like it's always a bone of contention including the safety briefing where you have to say the stress in your seat thought insert the metal into the buckle to let clicks to lift you do I really need to hear that every single time yes why every and every component of that safety briefing is in place because there was blood that was lost by someone in the airline industry because of an accident and so someone did not know how to get out of that seat belt and not getting out in time didn't allow them to get safely out of the plane so you know we fly to every corner of the earth when some can only dream crossing borders we interact with all of humanity all around the world and air travel is accessible to everyone and we see on our planes all the time people who are getting on an airplane for the very 1st time and in fact let me just give you this quick story so we were leaving Nigeria on one of our major airlines and a man in the back of the plane motion to a flight attendant to say he's motioning to his lap me saying I need to use the bathroom and that's fine you can get up and go and he sat there and looked confused the flight attendant came back later and he was still sitting there and he was motioning again to his laughing so I need to get up and use the bathroom and all the sudden the flight attendant realize that the man didn't know how to operate his seat bill in order to get up out of his seat and it was a real reminder that everything that we do is to make sure that everyone on the plane is on the same page with all of the safety regulations and so even though that is often used as you know in funny sketch and people ask why are we doing that it's because air travel is excessive to everyone and we have to make sure that every single person has given the same safety briefing and having has the same chance to succeed on that flight and by the way don't be that guy let's just go just don't be that guy who's like well you. But does the law you know it just please don't just don't just don't just don't just don't be that guy but to that point Porter woman tweeted what can I do as a passenger to make things better for the flight attendants how can I be a good passenger the 1st thing you can do is look up from your phone when you get on the plane and say hello say good morning so we can see your face and see your eyes and know that your friendly person coming on our plane that would be great and and then just look around you know the best passengers of the ones who are aware of the people around them and are courteous and helpful and and that helps us our do our job as well and let us know when there's a problem as soon as you can let us know so that we can get to that and fix it and keep temperatures down Bill Pittsboro emailed What is Ms Nelson's view of putting your seat back on a flight some people insist it should not be done but if so why do the airlines have seats that recline why do their lines have seats that recline or announcements that say sit back relax and enjoy your flight. So yeah listen if you're going to put your seat back can you please at least just look behind you see if someone has a computer there or a coffee on their seat maybe kind of make eye contact with them and let them know you're going to go back a little bit for long legs with me so yeah like me yeah you know just just be a little courteous and you know what if they see someone like you with long legs on their knees that maybe it's just maybe on that flight you just a little bit less comfortable marginally based tweeted load the plane back to front please why is it the other why is it by class or or in other ways when the back to front there's entire departments at all the airlines that really do the loading of planes all the time and what they found generally I understand is that it doesn't really matter how you do it because everyone has to put their bags away and everyone stops the full flow of traffic anyway so you know they've spent they've done all kinds of studies on how you can do this faster and. They just keep redoing it and keep people. Employed I think while there are redesigning this everything would be easier if we checked more of our backs so what we have seen actually is that on flights like Frontier and spirit where they charge for everything they charge for you to even bring a bag on board the plane the fewer people are actually bringing those bags on board and the boarding is faster on those planes because people don't have as many bags I'm Joshua Johnson You're listening to one. Sarah emailed our flight attendants blessed with ears that do not hurt on ascent or descent or do they do something to prevent ear pain Well you know this is a big issue for flight attendants and oftentimes we stay in that 1st year of flying get your air legs underneath you and that includes sort of a climatized in your body to do this work we are very careful with our ears because this can be this can be a career ending injury if you get it really wrong and so we're very aware that when we're plugged up or have sinus issues that we've got to get that cleared right away and we've got all kinds of tricks for doing that we often will have requests from passengers to help them with some of those tricks and that's what's your best one well sipping tea and then also having to tell it to your ear and making sure that you've got a cough drop to step on it about the holding your nose and blower boy that you know that can be a problem because that can go really wrong for you so hopefully you take some Sudafed before the flight and you get your tea and and ideally you're not traveling while you're sick because you're coming into our workspace then we would rather have you stay home and get healthy Cynthia e-mailed how the flight attendants feel about pets on planes as one of millions of Americans with lung issues and or allergies I'm dismayed that we're forced to share our space with pets with no forewarning Oh my goodness so there is pet program in almost any airline but what we have seen in the past couple years is an explosion of what people are calling emotional support animals and so these are this is there is no way for the airline to plan how many animals are coming to the plane when people are declaring them as emotional support and so the airlines and our flight attendant Union have been working together to try to get the d.o.t. To have regulations that make this commonality of Noah's Ark on our planes less and less likely but we have we recognize that there are people with allergies and actually if you pay attention while you are buying. Your ticket you can alert the airline to those allergies and when they're planning on the pet program they can have the Pats in a different area of the cabin please leave your emotional support monster at home you know his cage Tom emailed I'm going to have a face to face interview for flight attendant soon what advice would you give to land the job Listen listen very closely before you start answering questions and think about what kind of service work that you have done it's really important to be able to talk about that and hey if you speak another language that is a real plus Linda asked as your guest have suggestions for people like me who feel anxious and confined in a plane to flight attendants have tips or tricks I sometimes need to take 12 or 24 hour flying trips and it's always a bit tough on my mental health Yes Well we encourage you to have some music that is soothing loaded onto your in your phone or wherever you can access that and make sure that you're traveling with a headset helps you with that and bring a book that you can get into and read while you're listening to that music and into your own space more super quick things I want to ask you about I know why an airline's flight attendants are set to pick its morrow they voted to authorize a strike basically unanimously What's the one big sticking point the one big sticking point is that the airline is making tons of money and asking for concessions from the flight attendants and that is just not going to fly and Gregory emailed I am an air traffic controller who attended a rally in Washington last year during the shutdown where Sarah spoke she is amazing easily the most powerful speaker of the group including my own unions president she should consider running to head the a.f.l. C I o I would support her or you considering that run what's next for you that's it Grigory what's next for me is helping Delta flight attendants get a union finally at their airline and we're working around the clock to help them we the last time they had a vote was 9 years ago and since then the seniority list has turned over by over 40 percent there is a favor ability of unions today and there are. She's going on a Delta right now that we're helping these flight attendants dressed like toxic uniforms that are giving rise to the fact that Delta doesn't have a sick leave policy or a sick leave bank and when people get sick or hurt on the job they're really on their own so they need a union and they need a contract in their working with us to get that done but any plans to run for the top job an e.f.l. C.e.o. Well we'll see what comes but I'm about raising the standards for all working people across the country Sara Nelson is the international president of the Association of Flight Attendant Sara thanks for talking to us thank you so much we're a great companion on a long flight the one a pod cast you can find all the links to listen at the one a dot org You can also find more information about our team this conversation was produced by James Morrison until we meet again I'm Joshua Johnson thank you for listening and safe travels this is one as. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from the ring foundation in support of N.P.R.'s continued mission to create a more informed public one challenge and invigorated by a deeper understanding of events ideas and cultures from the Lemelson foundation committed to improving lives through invention in the u.s. 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Sunday at 4 pm from Delaware public media the House votes on whether to impeach President Trump no one not even the president is above the law will he be brought to trial for abusing his power and obstructing Congress to use the power of impeachment on this nonsense is an embarrassment to this country I'm Mary Louise Kelly join us for a live special coverage of the House floor debate and the historic vote from n.p.r. News Thursday night at 8 on public media from the campus of Delaware State University this is $91.00 w d d eat over also broadcasting on $88.00 w m h s Wilmington in collaboration with the University of Delaware and the brand you want to read clay school districts This is Delaware public media source for n.p.r. News. Now. In the morning. Practice we leave the house we go to work to school to meet other people these are good things the good people do for any of those things that we do the groceries oil changes the laundry that can be indistinguishable from the actions of some ill intent. And sometimes it's hard to know who's who and what's what. Today on snap judgment the search for donate a portal. And yes mistakes on May storytelling at the beach right after this break snap. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Jack Speer the House Judiciary Committee is laying out its case for the impeachment of President Donald Trump in a sweeping 648 page document Democratic lawmakers accusing Trump of abusing the power of his office for personal political gain and of obstructing Congress House vote to impeach the president would set the stage for a Senate trial next year Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer calling a new for fresh evidence and testimony from key White House officials including former national security advisor John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney I haven't seen a single good argument about why these witnesses shouldn't testify with these documents be produced unless the president has something to hide and his supporters want that information hidden if the House moves to impeach would be only the 3rd time in u.s. History such action has been taken against a u.s. President Boeing will temporarily stop production of at $737.00 Max jetliner next month as it waits for regulators to approve changes to the troubled plane all Max planes have been grounded since March after 2 deadly crashes.