After 5.5 years without a raise, United Airlines flight attendants and the company have reached an agreement on a new contract. That still needs to be ratified by the union and voted on by cabin crew. 71% of them rejected their last contract, with the union misreading many member priorities. While we don’t yet have full details, this new contract looks like it addresses many of the concerns that flight attendants had with the first one.
United is telling flight attendants that this offers them the highest wages at any U.S. airline. In fact, the most senior United flight attendants will ultimately earn over $100 per hour during this contract. Congratulations to the airline and union for getting this done.
- Flight attendants will get paid for ground time on long layovers.
- There’s more retro pay (signing bonus) that accounts for the long period of time since crew got their last raise – in 2020 – and saw the value of their wages since then eroded by inflation. This retro pay alone will cost United $740 million.
- And other language in the agreement responds to concerns they’ve expressed.
In an internal communication, United is describing the agreement as ‘balanced and competitive’ – their message all along has been that they can increase sit pay and other costs if they also get efficiencies in the agreement. We don’t know yet whether they got PBS (algorithm) scheduling or the right to own a regional airline.
Union priorities in the new agreement were:
- Pay for waiting on the ground between flights (sit time)
- Less tiring red-eye flying and more rest on longer flights
- No more layover notifications and better layover hotels
- Improvements for reserve flight attendants
- Improvements to health care and retirement benefits
We know so far that they got sit pay, improvements in redeye scheduling, and stronger language on layover hotels. The first was a promise the union had made to members originally, and that last was an omission that drove a lot of ‘no’ votes last summer.
Specifically, here’s how United is pitching the new contract’s improvements internally to flight attendants:
The union won’t make full language of the proposed contract available to flight attendants until April 3rd.
Here’s the timeline for members to vote on ratification: If they vote in favor they will start seeing improvemed pay in June.
This took a long time first because of the pandemic – not a good time for flight attendants to be bargaining – and because the union wanted American Airlines flight attendants to ‘go first’ in their negotiations, setting a higher bar from which to negotiate from. (Union’s union even lent their lead negotiator to American flight attendants, represented by a rival union.) Then, last summer, flight attendants rejected that first contract.
Cabin crew should be making more than the wages which were set in 2020. They should be earning industry standard wages. Whether they’ll truly make more than others in the industry likely turns on profit sharing language and the airline’s profitability. Profit-sharing has been the driver of Delta’s top of industry wages, and a pain point for American Airlines flight attendants who negotiated for Delta’s formula but an an airline that hasn’t been profitable.
$100 per hour? The waitresses performing their duties on the ground would love to earn that wage.
They should be able to get as much as management is offering. I do wonder what a “business class hotel” is. I see plenty of “business people” staying at Residence Inn, Courtyard, Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express and Double Tree for example. Most majors do not put their crew in anything less than a four star and complaints to crew scheduling are taken seriously. It’s not like crew as staying at LaQuanita.
Hope it works out. Seems like it has taken for too long.
Also has anyone heard more about the missing AA flight attendant that went “partying ” on a layover in Columbia after being advised not to do so?
@Mike.P.
One day when you are on a plane and the crew is done giving you CPR and saving your life think about your “waitress” comment.
Karma is a bitch.
I assure you if PBS is in the TA it will be dead on arrival. The union recently sent a memo to us that it would not be less than a few weeks ago.
As expected, the cost of retro exceeds what UA calculated in its earnings 18 months ago so they will have to shell out more cash than they expected.
Also as expected, wages will rise. UA can say that their earnings guidance included increased labor rates – but their guidance didn’t envision $4/gal plus jet fuel which doesn’t show signs of coming back down. UA’s earnings will take a bigger hit – and it will be far too convenient to blame it on high fuel costs.
as for the “industry leading wage rates” let’s wait for the term sheets and see how long before other unionized airlines’ open their contracts or, far more likely, non-union DL FAs will get pay increases that exceed UA FAs – who will have to wait another 5 years beyond the amendable date even if this contract is voted in. Kinda hard to think that they are negotiating for wage rates that UA FAs will be paid in the mid 2030s but that is what will be the case.
Now let’s move on to the mechanics and other workgroups.
Sounds good, but I’m sure there’s more to it than that, and it’s not official yet. Wishing the FAs the best here.
@Johnmcsymthe — Yup. Classic @Mike P. Shittin’ on workers. If only he’d speak his mind to them in-person, preferably before meal service… *clears throat*
To the IDIOTS who make comparisons to waitresses who would love to make that Money, let me know the last time a waitress gave you CPR or got you out of a burning restaurant. Congrats United! You deserve every penny.
If you aren’t working in the industry you should keep yer mouth shut lest you want to message me the name amd phone number of your employer so i can call them and ask how much you make and then proceed to tell them why you don’t deserve it. Stop being jealous of what others make or go apply for a job at United. Jealousy is what this is from you a-holes with nasty shit to say.
You know nothing about how FAs are paid. This isn’t some 40 hour a week office job. You could work a 3 day trip worth 18 hours of pay but were on duty or on company time for 30+ hours. So it’s not the same.
Oh..and for the moron talking about a waitress and how she’d like that wage..she also goes home every night, sleeps in her own bed and likely makes most family functions and holidays.
Again, take your Jealousy about others’ income somewhere else, maybe see a therapist because it has nothing to do with you. You should be happy that your fellow middle class americans are staying in the middle class and not fallijg below the poverty line so that your taxes have to help support them.
@TD – Nice useless comment – more retro is because it has been almost a year since the last contract – they expected they would pay more retro, they even said it on investor calls. In fact if you do the math based on their last retro schedule and just apply that to wages this year you pretty much get to the $740M.
Also for the higher wages as you rightly point out – DL will just ratchet their rates up to UAs so DL’s earnings also take a hit.
@George Romey – the brands you describe do fit business class hotel – the prior language basically said that the accommodation just had to be liveable