American Airlines flight attendants have been fired for failing to pay their union dues in full.
Two crewmembers were reported by the union to the airline, which was required to terminate them under the contract that the Association of Professional Flight Attendants had negotiated.
- Normally, flight attendants have their union dues deducated from their paycheck automatically (they don’t have a choice in this).
- But when they go on leave, or don’t work enough hours, their pay may not fully cover the dues. They still owe that money to the union.
- The union says it’s owed more than a million dollars by flight attendants – and it’s coming for the money.
The American Airlines flight attendants union has been sending crewmembers to collections and threatening to have them fired since 2022, when they reported that 32% of their members were in arrears. In total, 7,636 flight attendants oved their union $2,983,410.10 at the time.
The union has also looked to its members for a lot more money without promising anything more back in return.
Corporate greed, unchecked power, and consolidation of wealth, are the real problems, not workers or unions. Yet, here we go again at VFTW with yet another round of union-bashing… Yeah, those members didn’t pay their dues; they are outliers. Still, the underlying merits of organizing remain beneficial to workers with airlines and other industries. Much better to have them negotiating, protecting, and advocating on your behalf, especially when companies are laying off tens of thousands on a whim. And, best yet, you can run for leadership. Be the change you want to see.
This really doesn’t make sense for a process that is basically an auto deduct situation.
My guess is that the union is trying to collect dues from many people who have retired, resigned or have died and their accounting has not caught up with the correct status for many of these staffers.
While I dislike American Airlines profusely and would never fly them, these FAs should be paying their dues! They want union protection, pay your dues to be a union member in good standing!
Unions, as structured in society, represent the antithesis of freedom and anyone with a moral code would denounce them and advocate for the rights of all individuals.
@Mike P — So wrong, as always. Enough of your typical ‘sovereign citizen’ nonsense. Anarcho-libertarians leads to corporate feudalism, not a ‘freedom-loving’ utopia.
These people sometimes don’t work enough hours (sick, leaves, etc) to cover the deductions. Union members also have the option to pay it manually and not payroll deduct. These people often times never pay. Finally, APFA has numerous payment plan options for people that fall behind on dues.
There really is no excuse to not pay.
I’d expect that type of response from a hypocrite.
@1990, What corporate greed are you referring to?
The money owed goes to the union not AA.
Does AA really have 5 flight attendants based at DCU — Decatur, Alabama — an airport that has no commercial service from any airline, much less from AA?
@Pilot93434 — Did Isom really ‘need’ $31,400,000 for 2023? Average pay for pilots $100K; for flight attendants $47K. I meant what I said above.
The explanatory note that goes with the table Gary posted of the past $2 million in dues in arrears says that it reflects people who left the company with a delinquent balance.
DCU was DC/US Airways (as opposed to DC/AA). It was only city that had bases for both airlines so DCA/DCU were used while separate work groups.
The flight attendants listed as DCU & STL in the table were gone from the company. That was their last base of record when departing from American.
Dues also are due while on leave from the company. Not every union does that, but APFA takes the view that they negotiated that benefit for you so you owe them while out. For unpaid medical or military leave, you still owe and have to pay to be in good standing but upon returning to active duty APFA will rebate it or wipe the balance owed.
why are *any* FAs stationed in decatur alabama?
same question with STL – the hub was killed in late 09
sorry @nedskid had not seen your post