Formal charges have been filed against the Vice President of the American Airlines flight attendants union by one of its base presidents. Reportedly, the Vice President is responsible for training and the new contract that flight attendants ratified provides for changes in how grievances against the company are handled. However, required training wasn’t ever set up.

Dispute resolution training is required for anyone in the union to file a grievance, and since none was ever scheduled, no one at the Association of Professional Flight Attendants can file any grievance against the airline on behalf of a flight attendant.

• The union vice president is alleged to have failed in his assigned duty to ensure that union representatives received required dispute resolution training as outlined in the APFA Policy Manual.
  
• Specifically, no representative was trained on the new grievance and dispute resolution procedures (Sections 30 and 31 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement) before these went into effect.

This follows formal Article VII charges being filed against the union’s president alleging embezzlement and orchestration of a cover up, including ‘willful violation’ of the union’s constitution including improper use of union funds for personal enrichment by having the union lease her an apartment without first certifying that she lived outside the area (the union can lease apartments for its officers to stay at in Dallas only if their primary residence is elsewhere).

Discontent within the American Airlines flight attendant union comes at a time when the union’s officers are seeking changes to their constitution, including over how they can manage its finances – and continue a long string of frustrations that members have had over how their union is run. They want not just flight attendant dues increases now, but automatic increases in the future as well.

The APFA has long been criticized for weak leadership and failure to prioritize its members’ interests. Past allegations include a former union head accused of misusing dues for personal gain—a claim he disputes as politically motivated by those favoring a merger with Sara Nelson’s AFA-CWA.

The union’s history of concessions to management is stark. Under US Airways’ leadership, APFA agreed to binding arbitration during a time of peak leverage, forfeiting opportunities to secure key concessions. The president then, linked to US Airways management, was accused of prioritizing management’s interests over flight attendants’. Subsequent leadership under Julie Hedrick promised a tougher stance but failed to address critical issues, including the largest flight attendant furlough in U.S. aviation history or the permanent reduction of widebody aircraft staffing levels. The union also neglected to negotiate over these staffing reductions in its latest contract.

While management bears much responsibility for flight attendant struggles, union members remain deeply divided. The new contract exacerbates tensions by creating “B-scale” rules for new hires, offering senior attendants preferred schedules while failing to keep up with future raises at United and Delta, and locking flight attendants into the new wage structure for years after the end of their contract.

Flight attendants, eager for their first raise in five years amid inflation, approved the contract but expressed frustration at the gap between union promises and outcomes—secured only after leadership cemented their re-election.