Stewardesses reflect women's role:
A social calm set in after World War II, and the stewardess role reflected aspects of a woman's place within American society. Wearing longer skirts, gloved hands, girdles, hats, and navy and white spectator shoes with tailored suits, the stewardesses at United often projected an image of a middle-class "girl next door."
The "feminine mystique," described by author Betty Friedan as the glorification of women's role narrowly defined to the home, reached high social acceptance during the early post World War II years. Stewardesses still were required to remain single as a condition of employment. However, men first added in 1950 to work as stewards on the popular Hawaiian routes, could be married.
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Business as usual--1950s style:
United in 1953 introduced "Executive" all-male passenger flights. The men enjoyed free gifts such as cigars, which the stewardesses often lit for them. A reporter for Playboy magazine wrote, ". . .the only girls aboard are a couple of unobtrusive stewardesses. . ."
The popular Executive flights flew 10,500 segments, with a load factor of 80 to 90 percent, from 1953 until they were discontinued in 1970.
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Complimentary alcohol, measured in cruets, was added to first class flights in 1956, and passengers were restricted to a two-drink limit. Stewardesses monitored the drink ration.
Mid century:
The nation's moods shifted throughout the 1950s. The global cold war set in and McCarthyism forced introspection for many Americans. Some stewardesses at United worked aboard military designated flights to airlift medical supplies, weapons, and technicians for the Korean War efforts.
Unable to obtain their own American Federation of Labor (AF of L) or Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) charter, the stewardesses at United in 1950 voted to leave their independent status to join the nearly 3,300 cabin attendants from the nation's trunk and feeder lines under the stronger Air Line Stewards and Stewardesses Association (ALSSA) which was affiliated with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).
Underlying the deceptive social calm of woman's place in society, fissures were apparent.At the first convention for ALSSA, in 1951, the cabin attendants wanted certification for their occupation. ALPA disapproved of certification for stewards and stewardesses. ALSSA wanted union shop to require all cabin attendants to pay dues while the pilots' union opposed union shop. In a direct challenge to ALPA, the cabin attendant delegates mandated their officers to seek an independent charter from the AF of L. An uneasy and unequal partnership began.
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The ALSSA created a lobbyist position in 1953 to contact legislators in Washington, D. C. United Stewardess Iris Peterson was the union's first official lobbyist and, in addition to safety issues, she worked with legislators on gender-based, equal pay for equal work concepts.
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Peterson recalls her working relationship with Michigan Congresswoman Martha Griffiths and Assistant to the Secretary of Labor Esther Peterson who were very supportive in striving to eliminate gender-based inequities. It was a different story convincing others on Capitol Hill as Peterson recalls: "The reaction was. . .sometimes patronizing, sometimes I was treated as a pest, and on a few occasions given apparent support when none was forthcoming. . ."
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Measures were taken to improve crash worthiness of airplanes within the airline industry. United Stewardess Edith Lauterbach helped conduct the industry's first evacuation tests in 1952. After enjoying scenic flights over Niagara Falls, 265 unsuspecting passengers were prepared for emergency evacuation at the Buffalo Airport. The Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory and United conducted the tests with representatives from the Civil Aeronautics Administration. That same year the cabin attendants received the first Civil Air Regulations to require attendants aboard all U. S. commercial aircraft as cabin safety personnel.
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Gearing up for the jet age:
By the late 1950s, United blueprinted a new stewardess training center as part of the executive office campus to be located near Chicago's newly expanded O'Hare Airport.
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When the DC-8 in 1959 joined United's fleet of DC-4s, DC-6s, DC-7s, and Convair 340s the cabin attendants' workplace was still called a Mainliner. The new jets shrank the main line by carrying double the number of passengers and cutting the flight time almost in half in comparison to the propeller-driven airplanes.
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At the end of the l950s the stewardesses' unique workplaces ranged from small puddle-jumpers with fewer than 50 seats to a jet plane with 100 passengers cruising at over 500 mph. The jet age brought new challenges to the cabin attendants as they worked under outdated workrules and wages crafted for the slower propeller-driven airplanes.
With the advent of the jets, the pilots' and cabin attendants' tenuous union alliance fell apart. Stewards and stewardesses desired an increased crew complement and a reduction in flight hours, while the pilots desired earnings tied to base pay, mileage, night flying, weight, and capacity. Although ALSSA and ALPA negotiated separately and independently, the cabin attendant union quickly fell behind in negotiations as it became bogged down in a three-way struggle, seeking its own AFL-CIO charter, rejecting the pilots' claim on their class and craft, and fighting off efforts of outside unions' attempts to raid them.
The l950s ended in chaos as an irreconcilable schism occurred between ALSSA and ALPA. The United stewardesses and Hawaiian stewards, along with around 10,000 cabin attendants from the nation's other carriers, sought new affiliations. Contracts had to be renegotiated to update work rules for the jet age and some pilots at United began a drive to keep the stewardesses and stewards aligned with their union.
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