8.12.22 – An Update On The Grievance Disputes With American Airlines Management

Friday, August 12, 2022

An Update on the Grievance Disputes
with American Airlines Management

When will AA Management do the right thing, respect our contract and employees, and resolve Flight Attendant grievances?

APFA continues to work aggressively to address the dysfunctional grievance and arbitration process in place at American Airlines. As we work to make sweeping changes to the Dispute Resolution and System Board of Adjustment sections of the contract during the negotiations process, we are also pushing forward issues during the Quarterly System Board (QSB), which provides prompt resolutions for disputes. Contractually, APFA has the right to determine whether to process a dispute as a Presidential grievance or through the QSBs. However, despite this long-standing practice, the Company is now refusing to participate in the QSB dispute resolution process entirely. There is nothing in law or the JCBA that permits the Company to unilaterally refuse to participate in the QSB and this has completely halted APFA’s ability to get resolutions on any outstanding disputes. Make no mistake, the Company’s actions are intentional, and the objective is to delay the arbitral resolution of all outstanding disputes.

What is the System Board of Adjustment (SBA)?

As outlined in JCBA Section 31.B.2.a., “Regular sessions of the System Board shall be scheduled once each quarter for the purpose of considering all Individual, Group and Base disputes properly submitted to the System Board when such disputes have not been previously settled in accordance with the terms provided for in this Agreement. Such regularly scheduled sessions, hereinafter referred to as the Quarterly System Board, shall take place once each quarter provided that there are such disputes filed with the System Board for consideration. The Quarterly System Board shall continue in session until all such disputes before it have been considered unless otherwise mutually agreed upon.”

System Board meetings are scheduled quarterly by APFA and management and are referred to as Quarterly System Boards (QSBs).

What happened with the Quarter 2 QSB?

In June, American flat out refused to participate in the System Board hearings scheduled for Quarter 2. The Company claimed that the grievances submitted for the June QSB were seeking “system-wide remedies” and thus, must be converted to Presidential grievances. However, the language of the JCBA does not support the Company’s argument and the Company has allowed similar disputes to be heard at the QSB as recently as 2019. Furthermore, the QSB Arbitrator agreed with APFA that the June QSB should still move forward because the System Board has jurisdiction to hear the Company’s procedural arguments. Instead of doing the right thing by its Flight Attendants and participating in the contractually mandated dispute resolution procedures, the Company doubled down by still refusing to participate in the QSB but then filed the Management Grievance that we previously alerted you about.

The management grievance takes it a step further and, in addition to alleging that APFA is improperly seeking a system-wide remedy at QSB, the Company now also claims that APFA is attempting to bring forth matters that the Company never mutually agreed to be heard at QSB. This is another clear showing that the Company is not asserting these arguments in good faith since nothing in the JCBA states that disputes must be mutually agreed to in order to be submitted to QSB.

Simply put, the Company’s arguments have no merit. The Company’s arguments aren’t supported by the language of the JCBA, they aren’t supported by past practice, and they aren’t supported by the history of the intent and ratification of Sections 30 and 31. APFA has brought all of this to the Company’s attention. The Company just doesn’t care.

Let us be clear:  the grievances scheduled to be heard in June were filed by Flight Attendants that deserve remedy because of rampant contractual violations. This is not a game; these are real Flight Attendants that deserve to be made whole through the grievance process. Yet management, purporting to care for their ‘Team Members’ refused to participate and resolve your disputes filed with APFA.

What happened with the Quarter 3 QSB?

Fast forward to the Quarter 3 System Board hearings scheduled for August. During preparation for the QSB hearing, APFA requested to bring two unresolved matters to the table. One of these matters was a carryover from the June QSB where management refused to participate. The other matter was a new submission, being brought forth in QSB for the first time in August. When APFA and management met in July to discuss the upcoming QSBs, management again informed APFA that they would not participate in the QSB for Quarter 3. The Company made the same arguments and claimed that APFA was seeking a “system-wide remedy” for individual grievances.

Frustrated with the Company’s continued delay tactics, APFA made two different offers to the Company in an effort to get a timely resolution for these outstanding disputes. First, APFA agreed to limit the remedy sought for the August QSB matters to a base level only which would effectively render the Company’s “system-wide remedy” argument moot. But, yet again, the Company refused to participate. APFA also offered to postpone the current outstanding matters until the November QSB, if the Company would agree to expedite the management grievance to be heard by August 31, 2022. The Company also refused to agree to this compromise. In essence, the Company is refusing to participate in the QSB dispute resolution process alleging that the management grievance must be resolved before QSB matters can be heard, but is also refusing to expedite and resolve the management grievance in a timely manner. The Company’s intent is crystal clear: kick the can down the road, delay the process, and leave the Flight Attendant(s) who filed the grievance without resolution. Is this how American intends to treat their Flight Attendants when they utilize the grievance process as intended?

How do we move forward?

AA management is refusing to settle or hear anything according to JCBA Sections 30 and 31. They refuse to fix the problems. At American Airlines, over the last decade, we have seen a fraction of arbitrations that we find at other unionized carriers. That only benefits management. We are aggressively pushing to change the process, but management is resisting. This problem is not new, as evidenced by the backlog of grievances filed during prior APFA administrations that have yet to be heard or settled.

APFA’s Vice President and Legal Department are tenaciously fighting management’s attempts to delay restitution to Flight Attendants. After a last-ditch attempt to solve these issues, APFA’s Vice President and Legal met with the Arbitrator assigned to the QSB process and the Company. During that call, the Arbitrator canceled the August QSB and directed both parties to resolve these grievances prior to the November QSB. Our belief and hope are that if the Company doesn’t expedite the resolution of either the management grievance or the outstanding QSB matters, the QSB Arbitrator will agree to hear any outstanding matters at the November QSB.

The bottom line is, American management is not doing right by its Flight Attendants. We hope that management will come to the table and resolve the outstanding issues instead of delaying the inevitable. The Company has a few months before the November QSB to prove to us, and all of you, that it is willing to resolve disputes in good faith and follow the language of the JCBA. However, make no mistake: by delaying these grievances, AA management is saving money and continuing to violate our contract, and to them, that is a cost saving on the backs of employees. As we continue to work with the Arbitrator to make management respect the process, we will keep you up-to-date on the dispute.

The company’s number one goal is returning American to profitability, a goal we support. Flight Attendants spend the most time with our customers during their travels. Ignoring grievances and refusing to address Flight Attendant contractual violations makes it clear that management does not see any value in respecting their employees and does not recognize the Flight Attendant’s role in restoring profitability and operational reliability to American. Until then, all roads point to November 15th. Let the countdown begin!

In Solidarity,

Larry Salas
APFA National Vice President
[email protected]