The President of the American Airlines pilot union has been removed, recalled by the union’s board of directors in a 15-5 vote. Captain Ed Sicher, in office in 2022, had controversially sought to exclude pilots from union positions that favored merging with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which is the largest pilot union group while pilots at American have their own independent union.
Pro-merger candidates, often referred to as “pro-pilot choice,” were being excluded from ballots based on a reading of the union’s bylaws that suggested action against the union was disqualifying – and the union head considered advocacy of joining ALPA an existential threat to the union’s existence. He reportedly initiated disciplinary charges against two union board members and six local council candidates who were aligned with the pro-ALPA movement.
Sicher has also been accused of threatening to publicly release the names of both voters and non-voters in local council elections, which was interpreted as an attempt to influence the outcome of those elections.
The recall vote is the latest episode in a broader debate over whether the APA should merge with ALPA. In 2022, a survey conducted by the group AA Pilots for ALPA found that 67% of participating pilots were in favor of exploring a merger with ALPA. However, only 53% of eligible pilots voted in the survey.
Local representatives from former US Airways hubs—such as Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Phoenix—as well as legacy American Airlines hub Chicago, have expressed support for a merger. Meanwhile, leaders in other bases, including Boston, Washington, Dallas, and Los Angeles, have opposed the idea. The board of directors of the APA was evenly split last year, voting 10-10 on the formation of a merger negotiations committee (that vote required a two-thirds majority to pass).
Proponents of a merger argue that joining forces with ALPA would provide greater leverage and resources for APA members, while opponents fear losing the union’s autonomy. ALPA, with its expansive membership, already represents pilots across a broad swath of North American airlines, including United, Delta, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue.
No motion has yet been made to rename the union the People’s Front of Judea or the Judean People’s Front but rumors suggest that could be coming.
Sicher’s removal leaves the APA at a critical juncture. With the future of a potential merger with ALPA still unresolved, the union’s leadership will likely face increasing pressure to bring the issue to a general membership vote. For now, the leadership vacuum left by Sicher’s departure creates uncertainty as the APA navigates its next steps. But there was a clear backlash against heavy handed tactics, which have included deleting pro-merger discussions from their The Line forum. What’s interesting here is that 5 board members voted against removal.
Has anyone else soured on organized labor in general after watching the behavior of airline and longshoremen unions over the past few years?
They’ve done enough to hurt consumers and national competitiveness that I would completely support the elimination of all organized labor in the US at this point or at least the elimination of seniority rules so that there wasn’t a negative correlation between pay and productivity/service level.
Why can’t a pilot belong to two unions at once ? Why not ?
Because, Mr. Alert, an airline pilot is only a member of the union that represents his entire working group. You can’t join another union and there is no point in doing so. You would not want to pay dues to a union that does not represent you.
A little over 60 years ago the pilots of American Airlines fought to remove themselves from the cumbersome chains of multiple airlines with different goals and aims represented by ALPA. Over those sixty years the Allied Pilots Association has helped the pilots they represent maintain one of the better contracts within the major U.S. carriers. I know, I lived it! APA is not perfect, but I believe it’s the best thing for the pilot group at American. Rejoining ALPA would be like marrying multiple women (or vise versa for the female pilots having multiple husbands to contend with) .
The former APA president Sicher, is/has become full on MAGA. Threatening to post lists of how members voted in local elections. There’s more, like local Base representatives going along with these crackpot ideas. APA or ALPA, the APA folks currently don’t want their membership to know what possible benefits might be better under new representation. Information, is taboo!
Further proof that AA’s unions have made bad decisions, it costs the workers that are represented by them, and the company seems to thrive on the chaos rather than wanting to see its employee relations improve.
AA has much less restrictive scope agreements with its pilots than DL or UA – and AA management continues to prioritize the growth of regional carrier over mainline operations.
It is noteworthy, however, that AA FAs managed to get a contract while UA’s FAs STILL don’t have one.
UA’s argument to the pilots was that it would wait for all the players in the industry to settle and then would settle but who exactly is UA waiting for to settle with its FAs?
I strongly bet that UA doesn’t want to take a big hit on its summer earnings to settle with its FAs and Sara Nelson has been convinced to roll over to UA mgmt.
American airline fire 2000 IT jobs. Ganesh brother Chandra expert export jobs. They destroy 3000 IT jobs Deere Tractor.
Now, passenger service needs to toss out it’s Union appointees in DFW because they are not pro-employee but instead, pro-mamagement. There is an assault on passenger service currently, the people who check passengers in, take their bags and board the aircraft. Without passenger service, no other workgroups would be able to do their jobs and AA sees these individuals as dispensable and without value. Bear in mind, this post is taking place during National Customer Service Appreciation Week and yes, AA management sees these individuals as less than, they thrive on the chaos and division because AA management is the entity responsible for creating it. There is no appreciation, plenty of retaliation and these are the very people who make everything happen when it comes to an integrated operation. Without them, pilots have nobody to fly, flight attendants have no passengers to serve, fleet services have no baggage to load, mechanics have no planes to fix and these are the very people who the company disrespects the most. AA needs to be proactive yet, they are reactive and this is the sole reason why they are failing. It used to be a leader and now, AA is merely a follower. The company used to set the industry standards but not so much anymore. What a shame. Mr. Isom, are you listening? Do you care? Let’s reverse course. Talk to your passenger service employees, come work with them, listen to them, hear their words. We can do better!
I AM GOING HOME TO INDIANA FOR THANKSGIVING, IN ERROR MADE RETURN FLIGHT GOME ONE WEEK EARLIER THAN INTENDED TO, IS IT POSSIBLE TO EXTEND RETURN HOME FLIGHT A WEEK LATER?
Sara Nelson IS THE PROBLEM within the AFA. And why American cabin crew will NEVER merge with AFA. Just ask AFA members within that union especially at United.
I still can’t get the picture of her breaking down crying on CNN global news about a Covid death. Not the seriously unprofessional representation we seek at American.
USAPA 2.0
I’m an old APA pilot, and this is the first I’ve heard of this. Granted, I avoid union politics, but I used to be well informed by checking our union forum every day. Union management almost eliminated our ability to discuss what is going on, in a successful effort to squelch criticism of the Union. I used to work in labor relations, and still do some advising in manufacturing management. Since coming to american, I’ve stayed far away from Union politics. I’m Amazed that my phone pilots tolerate the obvious conflict of interest, corruption, and duplicity in their union leadership. I don’t think Alpa will be much better, but APA is not recoverable at this point.
@ C Wilson:
There are a lot of us that would like to see AFA at American. I’m a legacy AA FA going on 35 years and we have never been given the opportunity to vote between APFA and AFA since I’ve been here. Only LUS FAs were allowed to vote and if you ask them most of them will tell you that was a mistake and they want AFA back.
@Tim Dunn
You stressed that United flight attendants STILL don’t have a contract. United flight attendants haven’t been in contract negotiations near as long as American flight attendants had been when they reached an agreement so naturally they are behind AA in the process. That doesn’t mean that Sara Nelson is doing anything wrong. AA just ratified the agreement this month. Give her and AFA time and due process. United AFA contracts have historically better than AA APFA contracts.
@Julio The union prresident was elected by the AA pilot membership and AA pilots have secured a very lucrative contract under his leadership. If you want to throw the president out, it should be at the ballot box. Not a backroom coup.
You are morons if you join ALPA. ALPA surrendered our pensions, you still have yours. ALPA stabbed us in the back on AGE67. ALPA is a corrupt organization that only supports its officers. Don’t be stupid. Stay with APA