Flight attendants union head Sara Nelson, who is trying to organize at JetBlue founder Dave Neeleman’s startup Breeze Airways, took to social media to blast the airline’s employee handbook as antiquated and outdated. She compares their conflict of interest policy to a “pregnancy and the weight program” from 1952. Except the airline’s policies seem… downright reasonable?

Wait ⁦@BreezeAirways⁩! You left out pregnancy and the weight program. If you’re going back to 1952, don’t leave anything out! pic.twitter.com/4rIbvNfDZx

— Sara Nelson (@FlyingWithSara) April 15, 2024

The section begins in a pretty anodyne way:

Team members should avoid situations that create a conflict of interest with their employment with Breeze. A conflict of interest occurs when a Team Member becomes personally involved outside of the workplace with a competitor, vendor, or subordinate Team Member o the Company in a manner that interferes with the Team Member’s ability to perform their job duties or to exercise independent judgment on the Company’s behalf, and where the conflict constitutes a disruption of Company operations or can bring accusations of favoritism. Engaging in a conflict of interest may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

Then it’s the stuff of basic sexual harassment law: don’t become romantically involved with a subordinate or supervisor. Those situations can end badly for the company’s liability, so they’re forced to prohibit it.

What’s interesting about the policy is that it also says “this includes instances of temporary leadership such as Pilot in Command or other lead role” but honestly don’t sleep with the pilots is good life advice for any flight attendant.

Finally, “full-time team members may not have a second job while employed by Breeze” without written permission, and by the way don’t take a leave of absence and work another job.

Breeze doesn’t pay pilots enough not to have a second job, it’s pretty much de rigueur at an airline for a pilot to have an insurance side business or otherwise. But for a headquarters employee this is pretty standard stuff.

Unions gained prominence during the industrial revolution, highlighting excessively long workdays and life-threatening conditions from dangerous machinery. Is the union class struggle today really focused on… tearing down prohibitions on sexual harassment?