American Airlines flight attendants are losing their patience in contract negotiations with the airline. They’ve already voted near-unanimously to authorize a strike. There’s a specific procedure that airline unions have to go through in order to strike, and they’re about to start the clock – on a timeline that could have them walking out over peak Christmas travel. However I expect that this will work out differently.
The American Airlines flight attendants union will consider a request from its negotiating committee to ask the National Mediation Board to authorize them to strike after a legally-required 30-day cooling off period. That would time a job action with the Thanksgiving holiday.
- Under the Railway Labor Act, an airline union can’t strike on its own
- When their negotiations fail on their own, the National Mediation Board gets involved to bring the parties together
- Either side can ask the Board to declare an impasse
- If granted, then and only then can the union strike or the employer lock union employees out.
The trigger for the union appears to be American’s unwillingness to do a signing bonus covering retro pay – giving crewmembers an increase back to when the contract became amendable four years ago.
What’s ‘striking’ is that the Association of Professional Flight Attendants is making this request timed so that a job action would coincide with the Christmas holiday, if the National Mediation Board authorizes their request within a matter of days. That is peak of peak of peak travel, leading to the greatest disruption.
- The next federal mediation session is scheduled for November 17 in Phoenix
- The union board meeting follows immediately thereafter
The sole purpose of the meeting is, in the event management fails to make substantial movement towards concluding these negotiations, to approve a request that the members of the National Mediation Board release APFA and American Airlines into a thirty-day cooling-off period, after which the 26,000 Flight Attendants would be able to strike in support of our contract demands
American Airlines is already committed to matching top of the industry compensation, which is Delta. That includes adding boarding pay on top of raises. The union wants 50% wage increases. American can’t and won’t pay that, they are less profitable than Delta (they even lost money last quarter when including the cost of a new pilot contract).
Meanwhile, the union has told members to expect job actions to focus on specific dates and flights, rather than an across-the-board strike.
- Customers wouldn’t know which flights would operate. That creates uncertainty, and also discourages them from buying tickets.
- But most flight attendants would still work most days, and crucially get paid for most days.
The cost to individual flight attendants for this strategy is low, and the cost imposed on the company asymmetrically large. This tactic is best suited for a union that isn’t well-funded (can’t cover extended strike pay for workers) and where membership is financially vulnerable (can’t afford not to work).
I do not expect Christmas travel to be disrupted on American Airlines however. A vote to ask the National Mediation Board to release the union from negotiations would have to turn into a formal request following that November 17 meeting, and would require that request to be granted quickly.
The National Mediation Board can make a proffer of arbitration. This means the Board suggests that both parties submit the dispute to arbitration. Let’s assume that’s not accepted. Again, this burns days. That begins the 30-day “cooling off” period of additional negotiations without strikes or lockouts.
At the end of 30 days a strike could occur, unless the President establishes a Presidential Emergency Board to further investigate and provide recommendations. That would create an additional cooling off period.
Ultimately there’s not a fixed deadline for its response to the union’s request. And they do not have to grant the request if they believe solid progress is being made in negotiations.
To release the union to strike, the mediator needs to determine that further negotiations are unlikely to produce a resolution, and then the Mediation Board has to agree.
I don’t expect the President to create an emergency board to delay a strike. He doesn’t want to say no to a union’s request to strike. But I also don’t expect the National Mediation Board to put the President in the position of a major airline strike over the Christmas holidays. So I don’t expect that they will act quickly enough to allow the American Airlines flight attendants to ruin Christmas for voters. Moreover, the mediator may reasonably feel that negotiations are making progress and that not enough time has been spent in mediation. So a request to strike may come too early.
You haven’t a clue on what is going to happen or what is or likely to happen. Every opinion you have given thus far has been so off base it’s comical. I suggest you actually do research and stop trying to become a crack pot fortune teller.
@Jason Waltham – what opinion has been off base on this? Do tell.
Do you think the National Mediation Board is going to sign off on self-help before, say, December 4?
Southwest pilots recently asked to be released and were denied. Release isn’t a slam dunk.
The UAW are using pop up strikes quite effectively against the automakers.
I don’t think any airline is willing to give retro to non-pilot personnel and I don’t think that the NMB will release based on a single item which cannot be obtained even w/ the high value retro could have.
Unions will cut their nose off to spite their face.
I’m definitely no expert in Labor Law, nor do I hold a deep-seated knowledge of Collective Bargaining (unlike Jason, who apparently is an expert in both). That said, as a layperson, two things come to mind: 1) In perfect hindsight, it would have been nice if American had been able to negotiate with both the Pilots and the FA’s simultaneously, such that they could present their case in terms of the total labor increase that they could afford relative to AA’s financial position. This would make it a zero sum game, and the Pilots and FA’s would need to corroborate (or at least acknowledge) each other’s position. 2) Regardless of the industry (not just airlines), I’m always fascinated by a union’s desire to inflict maximum pain on their employer, without thinking through the customer impacts. There are still people who remember the Union striking United Airlines at Christmas, and vow never to fly them again.
Fire all of them and replace them with migrants and asylum seekers on the southern border looking for work and sanctuary. I bet they will have a better a work ethic than all these lazy pigs.
I think that a strike by American Airlines’ flight attendants will hurt themselves more than the company. It may be best to continue with the scare tactics instead of another way. Just imagine if American Airlines decided to lock out the flight attendants and start working with replacements before Christmas. The entire USA air passenger system would be thrown in disarray. That would definitely get the attention of the government.
I’m not sure how the AA FAs striking would be any different than what pax experience today. They’re either not going to do their jobs while parked in the galley or on a picket line. Either way they are lazy, rude and pointless.
Those air waitresses sure are demanding. They’re asking for a lot more than they get at Fox and Hounds. If they do strike, who will do the seat belt thing, close the bins, sling soft drinks and pick up trash, and then read People magazines for the remaining 90% of the flight? And if they need to hire replacements can anyone begin to imagine how long it will take to train the new waitresses on, well, the seat belt demo part of the job?
We’re doomed. Just doomed.
Oh. Hold on. I just realized my 9 year old can do that job. Phew. No worries.
Y’all know nothing !! It’s so funny watching clueless people comment on sh!t they nothing about !!
Agree with this analysis. Unfortunately, Biden needs the union cronyist cranks in his corner to counteract the drooling white nationalists, insurrectionists, and assorted other zealots on the other side. Helluva country we’ve got ourselves here…
@Andys – yep, that is the smart play.
I agree with SOBE ER DOC
When I was an FA better class of pax. Better product. Better employee.
The AA’ FA’s are the laziest, rudest and most unprofessional in the sky. Furthermore they don’t even do any type of “service” that was standard not that long ago. Can you imagine them being required to serve hot meals in coach on domestic flights? So why should they get anything more than Spirit Airlines makes?
@timtwa – if you think others do not know anything, maybe you’d share what you think they’re getting wrong?
During the latter period of Crandall’s tenure as CEO (American Airlines), investor concern over airline bankruptcies and falling stock prices caused Crandall to remind his employees about the dangers of investing in airline stocks. Known for his candor, Crandall later told an interviewer, “I’ve never invested in any airline. I’m an airline manager. I don’t invest in airlines. And I always said to the employees of American, ‘This is not an appropriate investment. It’s a great place to work and it’s a great company that does important work. But airlines are not an investment.'”
Enough said and you might rethink your stash of AA miles. First downturn, and it will come, look out unions.
Harry,
problem is that Crandall alienated the group he is most responsible for protecting which is the stockholders, the owners of the company. He clearly didn’t understand that allegiance and telling the employees that he didn’t want his own company’s stock and didn’t recommend his employees own it either makes him an abject failure as a business leader.
No entrepreneur or business leader should use other people’s money without “skin in the game”
It’s time for AA to lock out its flight attendants and start over.
I can bet there will be ten thousand FAs that will cross the picket line on the first day and the union will be broken.
AA has had horrid employee relations.
AA couldn’t ask for a better environment relative to low cost carriers than right now and yet between their own decisions – the distribution decisions, the NEA, and product – along w/ the FA union, they are doing everything they can to destroy the company.
It’s time to admit AA’s business plan including its union has been a failure and the pieces that are most holding it back – labor that can’t get onboard – needs to be thrown overboard.
So, AA flight attendants already do a half-a$$ed job. Now they want to ruin American family’s Christmas. I am sorry, but I think these clowns deserve to get paid less!
Please fire all those rude, lazy and entitled FA. Their infectious lousy work ethic have spread so much, it can be felt on most of their flights nowadays. If they only want to do what budget airlines FA do then pay them accordingly.
FAs are not skilled labor like the pilots. They have no requirements for hiring, therefore a cashier can replace a FA. Know your worth, but also know you are easily replaced.
Replace them with migrants and asylum seekers. Do the same for the uaw workers. Break the back of these unions once and for all. Solve two problems at once.
If were POTUS, the direction to the NMB would be to sit on the release from mediation request to 1/1/24.
Agreed. AA is defined by lazy, rude, entitled FA’s and just plain horrible customer service. American = Spirit. We all know it’s true. And they don’t deny it.
How would AA effectively replace striking flight attendants when the strikes would be random and unannounced? Seems to be the beauty of the CHAOS tactic . It worked like a charm for Alaska Airlines flight attendants in 1993. Alaska had hired hundreds of replacements but could not effectively deploy them because they never knew in advance which flights would be targeted for a strike.
For all those who commented about locking out/ Firing the flight attendants, that’s not going to happen because there is a “No strike/No lockout” clause that has been there for a very long time. They will come to an 11th hour agreement soon and Christmas travel will not be disrupted, not to mention, the President will intervene if necessary… Just as Clinton did.
I’m sorry but you are incorrect.
A strike is labor’s allowable self-help strategy and a lockout is what management can do.
Both are very far down and often require a Presidential Emergency Board -maybe 2 – to have been convened but a PEB cannot force a settlement.
Ultimately, either side can act,
several news sources are reporting that Southwest has reached agreement with its FAs for a new contract. A previous offer was rejected by union leadership before members ever voted on it
So, we’re booked on AA to Hawaii a couple of days after Christmas and the FA’s might ground the airline. We’re booked on a cruise to Israel in the spring. Right. I’m thinking it’s time to install a sauna and hot tub and stay home forever.
Gary, it’s clear you hate AA FAs and seemingly anti-labor. You repeatedly “report” misinformation with a negative spin against the workgroup. Nothing you’ve stated above is correct and yet again, your half assed attempt at “journalism” has failed. However this is par for the course for you and you’ve accomplished your lowly goal. Bravo, you’ve gotten a string of misogynistic comments from angry boomers who clearly were burnt by stewardesses in the 70’s and 80’s.
Do us all a favor and spend more than 15 min on your fact checking before posting your next pile of steaming hot garbage.
@Gary Stinks – um, literally all of the facts here came from the union itself
Sure Jan… again, maybe you need to reread your “interview notes from the union”. This is a misleading and gross misrepresentation of what the FAs are asking for. Check your bias at the door and do your due diligence as a “reporter” to get your facts straight. I know it will be hard for you because your content regarding AA FAs is typically slander and painting them as lazy, undeserving slugs. By all means, carry on with your click bait…you have a firm following of women hating losers.