Turmoil in the skies. Guam-based United Airlines flight attendants staged a demonstration at the airport today to draw attention to operational concerns, and to demand that management fix ongoing problems as employment frustrations continue to soar.

Members of the local flight attendants union took to the picket lines in a nationwide protest of the current management policies at United. Rsei Isim is the United Flight Attendants Guam president, and told KUAM News, "We believe that its time for management to actually acknowledge that there is a problem because they seem to think there is no problem. However, the union believes there is a problem and we're trying to find ways to mitigate those issues."

Another union representative, Rich Delin, says examples of the problems include not only management’s failure to properly staff crew schedulers, but also to centralize them at their Chicago headquarters with little knowledge about conditions in the far away locations such as Guam.

"Because some of the excuses we get is like is it already, cause its the 27th here, its the 26th in the states and they react to it like, 'Oh, you guys are a day ahead?', and it's always our excuse, its like thousands of calls like that. And we're like, 'What are you talking about? Yeah, we're ahead!'. Well, no, I thought its only the 26th, no its the 27th, and you want me to leave in an hour to go on a flight, how am I going to do that? You know?" he stated.

The union says other staffing shortages, from support crew to catering, have resulted in more than 67,000 flight delays and nearly 7,000 cancellations in the last four months alone, leaving passengers and flight attendants waiting for answers for hours at a time.

Delin added, "It's been two years and its the same problem. And we try to tell them, 'Hey, look - you need to manage it more better as far as resources-wise.' We've got limited resources, we're not able to do that. How do you want us to be the brand and tell our customers we don't have your drink, we don't have your food, we don't have your stuff, but yet you advertise it like we can have that for you. So we're left to make excuses for management side for their lack of resources."

United Corporate Communications released a statement to KUAM News saying, "We've worked hard to reduce wait times for flight attendants to talk to a crew scheduler, including hiring and adding digital options for some items."

Meanwhile, the union says enough is enough. President Isim said, "We just haven't been able to come together to find solutions to these issues. That's the drive here. We want to sit down with management and create solutions that would benefit both customers and the working crew members, as well."

Guam's picketing was the first of the demonstrations, which are scheduled for 20 other airports across the country and in London. No disruptions in air service are expected.