American Airlines flight attendants will soon pay 48% higher union dues under a plan they’re being asked to vote for. The union is “calling this a dues restructure instead of a dues increase” even though dues will increase. They’re using this language because it isn’t just a single dues increase, but a system of automatic increases that raise dues 48% during the current contract.
Under the measure,
- “Dues for all Flight Attendants would be tied directly to the year-six pay rate from the wage chart” which means that the most senior, highest-paid flight attendants wouldn’t pay the most dues.
- Moreover, the measure creates automatic dues increases with each pay increase in the current contract and with future contracts.
A dues increase would not effectively address the long-term issue of keeping dues aligned with the wage scale. For example, while top-out pay currently stands at $82.24 per hour in our new CBA, it is set to increase to $92.79 per hour by October 2028. By restructuring dues now, we avoid the need for increases in the future, ensuring our Union’s financial stability.
The union is reassuring members that their money is well-spent and that they no longer need to worry about union officers using dues money for their own personal gain as the union has argued happened in the recent past.
That means increasing from $41 per month ($492 per year). Sixth year pay is now $53.67 per hour and will increase 2.75%; 3%; 3%; and 3.5% each year over the course of four years. That brings it to $60.56 which is 48% higher than today. That’s $726.72 in dues per year.
The union also proposes to limit contributions to its Negotiations and Negotiations Related Fund which gives them more flexibility to spend dues now, rather than building up a war chest. But a problem that the union faced in negotitaions with American is that they weren’t in a strong position to fund a strike. Ideally funds raised in dues now would better-position union membres for their next negotiation. At some level you’d want union leadership to have flexibility in allocating funds, but they don’t have a strong history of doing this in a manner than benefits the membership.
Here’s the union’s advocacy to members for these changes:
What’s interesting, to me, is that the union’s case for the dues increases doesn’t lay out any specific benefits for members of paying 48% more beyond platitudes like ‘modernization’, “Increase visibility in the Labor Movement” and “Development of an APFA mobile app.”
By the union’s own admission, average dues of rival union AFA-CWA are lower than what they’re proposing. The Transportation Workers Union at JetBlue collects just $35 per month.
And with this new proposal, the increase will sting hardest for new flight attendants who don’t just receive the smallest wage increases under the new contract, but also receive the smallest increased pay rates in percentage terms and face what amount to B-scales for their schedules now as well. While the union touted the lowest-paid flight attendants as the reason they needed a big new contract, they are seeking a highly regressive tax increase on the increases that they did negotiate for these crew.
Meanwhile, Delta to its flight attendants: “A new video game system with the latest hits sounds like fun.”
I get that right-wing pro-oligarch propaganda has shat hard on unions, and a lot of ignorant folks fall for that, but it is undeniable that for the most part unions provide countless benefits and protections to working people.
Let’s not shill or scab for the fat cats.
You call this journalism ? What’s the average amount of union dues in most unions? I am in union and have to pay 1 hour of pay every pay check. All 26 pays. Ford motor company is 2 hours per month! 1 hour if 6 year pay x 12 months is still low for union representation. Do your homework. Also do you have the data that shows how much junior FA will make in boarding pay vs senior ? I think its false they got a lower % raise factoring everything
“Let’s not shill or scab for the fat cats.”
Does that include union boss fat cats? Just several months ago, during the port strike, we learned that union boss Harold Daggett pulls in just over $900K while his son is in for $700K.
@1990 “it is undeniable that…” Sorry, it is very clearly not, simply saying so does not make it so. Candidly, the best win-win solution for Companies and Employees that keep costs low and still allow for Employee negotiation on wages (as well as individual performance issues) would be the Works Councils (Betriebsrat) in Germany. The German Works Councils are underwritten by the Company, and provide the following “co-determination rights”: Issues related to employee hiring, transfers, termination, employee conduct policies, working hours, pay schemes, and restructuring measures. The most notable differences between the German Works Councils and American Unions are the following: 1) Employees pay nothing and 2) The German Works Councils don’t make massive contributions to Far Left political parties, and they don’t pay their officers obscene wages.
The FAs need to stand up and overthrow the Socialist pigs. They need to fight for high wages for new and mid career FAs and for a pay cut for FAs with lots of seniority. The old FAs are sometimes the worse FAs.
Union scum being union scum…
@1990
What you call “right-wing oligarch” sane people call the truth and reality. Unions are greedy and are responsible for the destruction and anti competitiveness of the us manufacturing industry.
They should be illegal.
Gotta fund first class paid travel for union folks… they need the extra space to be productive on their flights!
Typically dues are a percent of the wages, so they are tied to wage increases automatically. If APFA hasn’t made that arrangement, then that’s dumb on its part.
I remember once during an IAM campaign, we put out flight tracking data of the union’s business jet. Flying on routes our airline flew. The response from one of the organizers? “When they fly commercial they can’t get anything done since the employees want all of their time!” Management response to that? “Let’s hear more from that guy….”
For those who complain about flying AA, but do, meet the AA Union reps who complain but take the money. Guess the losers are the FA’s who fly for a living.
Sounds like a rip off to me. My federal government union charges $5/ biweek for dues. I don’t pay it because I think it’s too much and the union officers only care about their own benefits, getting to write off union time rather than work like the rest of us, and the officers don’t care about us actual workers.
The best idea would be for union dues to be based on a percentage of pay. The current system is hard on the workers that get paid the least. I was paying 1% of my base pay as union dues. At $41 per month that would represent a base pay of $4,100 per month or almost $50,000 a year. It seems that this system screws the workers just starting out with a union that really doesn’t have the best interests of those workers in the pay structure.
And no AFPA is trying to get their FAs to volunteer calling Delta FAs to get them Unionized at AFA!
From AFPA
Hello Everyone,
We will be helping Delta Flight Attendants achieve union representation. Unionizing Delta Flight Attendants will lift our bargaining power industry-wide. We’re kicking off efforts to support AFA in organizing 28,000 Delta Flight Attendants.
AFA is starting a 10-week campaign to collect authorization cards and submit them to the National Mediation Board to trigger a union election.
We will be helping by:
• Reaching out to friends who currently fly with Delta and urging them to sign the authorization card
• Phone/ text Banking (Sign up Link)
• Participating in the Union 101 workshop (Sign up Link)
• Digital Organization (social media interaction, content creation…, etc.)
• Face-to-face at a layover or Delta airport hub.
If you want to join the campaign or just hear the details first, we will meet on Teams virtually with Sara Nelson and Delta Steering Committee on 12/6 at 1 p.m. CT. We will cover the campaign details with AFA and Delta activists. An invite will follow this email for the Teams meeting.
Helping the 28000 Delta FA unionize will improve working conditions for all flight attendants across the industry. We are looking forward to seeing you on Friday.
In Solidarity,
Julie
You’re invited to Delta Campaign All Union Meeting
Friday, December 6, 2024
13:00 – 14:30 (CST)
To Julie. Why unionize Delta Airlines when they are and have been very good to their employees? You are starting a movement that will end up making the airline just like every other airline. Union lies. Union lies.
You might wanna check your math. Last I checked a 12.67 increase is only 30%. You’re skewing data to use the rate it would’ve in FIVE YEARS. Once again dishonest and inaccurate reporting.