American Airlines is preparing for a flight attendant strike ahead of the busy summer travel season.
The current contract expires in 2019, and cost-of-living adjustments have remained stuck at levels negotiated in 2014.
No matter what you think of unions, workers are suffering in the Biden economy.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) issued a statement to members advising them to prepare for a strike.
Association Negotiations Update #56
In-depth mediation failed to reach agreement;
Flight attendants should prepare for strikeThe National Mediation Board (NMB) office in Washington, D.C., failed to reach an agreement with American Airlines after two weeks of intensive mediation. The meetings followed three weeks of mediation by DFW. At NMB’s request we cannot disclose specific details. We remain divided on the key economics of the deal and the company’s completely unacceptable demands for scheduling concessions.
More information on the status of negotiations and next steps will be released soon. We believe the board will convene all parties within the next two weeks for a final effort, but this has yet to be determined. We believe we will have more information from the NMB on Monday and will send an update. If we are unable to reach an agreement, the matter will be referred to the NMB to decide whether to release us. While these delays are frustrating, we also know that the company’s ability to stall these negotiations is quickly ending.
All flight attendants need to be prepared for a strike. Strike brochures will be mailed to your address on file with APFA.
Our right to strike under the Railway Labor Act has not changed. However, we cannot strike until the NMB is issued and after a 30-day cooling-off period. There will be no unauthorized or illegal work practices, including but not limited to concerted efforts to slow down/stop work or refuse to pick up open trips. Please do not jeopardize yourself or our collective efforts by advocating for or participating in unauthorized or illegal activities.
Yet the company remains deaf. On Flight Attendant Appreciation Day, airlines offer cold sandwiches, but pay is also low.
The comments on Instagram were brutal:
“Thank you FA for committing to an industry leading contract!!!”
“Why not post the last 4-5 days of operations? About FA being stuck across the country with no hotel and waiting hours for tracking/dispatch without getting paid? ?
“I’ve been on vacation the past few days and have been receiving texts and calls from FA since 3am because you are deliberately leaving them stranded, lost in the system, abandoned and unsupported. We don’t need IG’s big guns Shout out, we need reliable infrastructure and consistency from the companies we work for. Step up and for the love of God leave the stale cookies and congealed ham sandwiches in your draft folder next time. Pay us back the money you owe us.
Some directly singled out American Airlines CEO Robert Isom, whose new compensation soared to more than $31 million in 2023.
“@robert_isom Honest question; do you think you work 2,100 times smarter or harder than a flight attendant? I don’t think that’s physically possible considering we’re already working to the absolute limit. 17 hour days, It’s not uncommon to take 6 hours off. So why are you paying yourself over 2,100 times what your flight attendants make? Your flight attendants want to get on with their lives, buy cars, buy homes, and start families, not because of it. Anxiety in the grocery store when you can’t afford food.
“You have let us down. Signed @robert_isom @americanair, 27,000+ flight attendants who don’t need your degrading ham sandwiches today but would really prefer a contract. Thank you.
Under the Railroad Labor Act, the State Conciliation Commission generally does not allow strike, but The bipartisan group of 168 lawmakers urged the committee to “use every tool at its disposal to encourage a resolution to these negotiations.”
We write this letter to express our concerns about the number of protracted contract negotiations underway at the National Mediation Commission. As you know, thousands of workers across the country are currently going through protracted contract negotiations, and we urge you to use the tools available to you to ensure these cases are resolved promptly.
First, we would like to thank the National Mediation Board (NMB) for its work in dealing with the unprecedented levels of negotiations that have emerged in recent years due to pent-up demand caused by delays in negotiations during the coronavirus pandemic. With the assistance of NMB, the majority of negotiations were resolved, reflecting the professionalism and hard work of the Board and staff. We’re committed to providing you with the resources to do your job.
However, we are concerned about the increasing number of contract negotiations at NMB that are unfairly prolonged to the detriment of workers. We know that some ongoing negotiations have been delayed for up to five years, and we have heard from workers who have legitimate concerns that they are being unfairly delayed in the negotiation process. For example, we know that more than 100,000 flight attendants are currently in contract negotiations, many of whom are under contract terms that are now years beyond the contract modification date. Additionally, many of these workers have been on the front lines during the coronavirus pandemic, making countless sacrifices to keep their companies financially healthy, and it is important that they are able to benefit from the collective bargaining process in a timely manner.
We are also concerned that negotiations are increasingly protracted in part because workers have recently been unable to use self-help means to resolve labor disputes. It has long been argued that the best way to achieve labor peace is through collective bargaining, backed by the threat of “self-help” on both sides, including workers’ right to strike. In fact, in recent years, workers across a wide range of industries have been awarded groundbreaking new contracts, many of which were won due to workers’ credible ability to exercise self-help choices.
But in recent decades, workers’ ability to take advantage of self-help options has been diminished. In fact, there have been just two airline worker strikes since 2006, the last being a Spirit Airlines pilot strike in 2010, compared with dozens of strikes in the 1980s and 1990s. As a result, management had no incentive to reach agreements with workers in a timely manner, and many companies used this development to their own benefit, improving the lives of tens of thousands of frontline workers.
We therefore urge the Council to use all the tools at its disposal to encourage resolution of the dispute through a long-overdue agreement.
Thank you for your hard work in resolving disputes and please continue this work as we support your efforts and the use of regulations to encourage the resolution of contract disputes.
