US labour leader, Sara Nelson will join the Festival via Zoom at 4:00 pm on Thursday to send a message of solidarity across the Atlantic to the gathering. She has a special affinity with the life of Cork born, Mother Jones and has been active in the US in promoting efforts to construct a statue to Mother Jones in Chicago.

Sara Nelson is a 30 year Union Flight Attendant and International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO, representing 55,000 of aviation’s first responders at 20 airlines. 

The New York Times called her “America’s most powerful flight attendant” for her role in helping to end the 35-day Government Shutdown, InStyle Magazine put her on their Top 50 Badass Women list, and Lawrence O’Donnal called her the most effective advocate in labor when she won $54 billion to keep aviation workers in the jobs during COVID. 

She also serves as chair of the International Transport Workers’ Federation Civil Aviation Section, representing nearly 1 million aviation workers around the world. Sara’s ancestry includes family on her mother’s side who emigrated from County Cork.  All are welcome to participant at the Zoom conversation in the Maldron Hotel, Shandon at 4:00 pm.