The American Airlines flight attendants union released results of their officer elections, and not a single officer gained a majority of votes so a runoff will be held among the top two finishers for each position.

Here’s the breakdown of results by flight attendant base:

APFA President Julie Hedrick came out on top in a seven-way race by just 659 votes. She lost Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas – Fort Worth, Miami and New York to A. Marie Plevaritis. In other words, Hedrick’s strength came primarily from legacy US Airways (she won all of the exclusively US Airways bases, and only Chicago O’Hare and Miami by 54 votes among exclusively American bases). There remains a split among ex-AFA US Airways flight attendants and those from the American Airlines side.

Hedrick was a legacy American Airlines flight attendant, selected by APFA President Laura Glading as the union’s lead negotiator. Glading was the union head who backed Doug Parker’s US Airways takeover of the airline. She cut a deal that:

• Gave flight attendants – and disproportionately US Airways flight attendants a raise
  
• Imposed a default contract (“JCBA”) on the membership if they voted down an agreement with the airline
  
• Gave union leaders a big (over 40%) raise, in the form of 115 hours a month of trip removal

Glading played a huge part in making the merger happen and while I believe she believed she was acting in the best interests of her members (a strange take considering how bad US Airways had been for labor – unable even to integrate America West), many cabin crew believe she conspired with her cousin, then-US Airways Treasurer Tom Weir.

While all current officers polled in first place in these elections, the need for a runoff likely delays any contract agreement with the airline. It’s precisely how close the fight was, and how divided the membership is, which is why the union has been in no position to compromise on a contract prior to re-election. It’s difficult to walk back campaign promises – doing so would almost certainly ensure a loss of position if done before balloting is complete. Now there will be a run-off election:

• ballots mailed February 5
  
• voting closing March 6

The problem is that, in the meantime, APFA is asking the National Mediation Board to be allowed to strike. Their next negotiation session is February 5th, and they have a status conference on March 13th. Whether the current slate of officers is re-elected or not, there should be negotiations after the election when there’s less immediate pressure to ‘show strength’ and ‘make promises’ and where compromise might be possible.