7.21.23 – Negotiations Update #27

Friday, July 21, 2023

Negotiations Update #27

Your negotiations team met the week of July 11th -13th in DFW in our second week of mediated bargaining. As we previously reported, at our first mediated session, we made some headway. At this session, progress ground to a halt.

APFA gave the company a comprehensive proposal on Sections 16-Deadhead, 27-IOD, and 38-Crew Rest. At this stage of the negotiations, it is normal to go back and attempt to close out sections that we were unable to agree with earlier in bargaining. Your APFA Negotiating Committee passed management a reasonable proposal with prioritized improvements among the open items and sought to close out these three sections.

The company rejected virtually all of the union proposals leaving us no better off than we started the week. The theme of this week’s negotiations could be called disparity. For deadheading, management wants to treat Flight Attendants as second-class employees. In areas of class of seats for deadheads, the company was unwilling to agree to any improvements, even though Pilots are provided better seats. Additionally, on the process and priority for early deadhead back to base or commuter city, management again wants the Flight Attendants to have inferior provisions. We can expect this theme to continue as we move forward to economics, which is why we need all Flight Attendants to be engaged in our struggle for a fair contract.

Separately, the company finally gave us a proposal on Section 6-Crew Accommodations, responding to our last proposal from the summer of 2021. The key open issues involve what happens if the company fails to provide a hotel in a timely fashion, including during irregular operations. Our position is clear that ensuring our crew have hotel rooms at the end of their duty day must be a priority. While management’s proposal was a step in the right direction, it falls far short of what is needed in this area.

Finally, at the end of the week, we received a proposal from the company addressing lowering years of seniority on reserve. The company has proposed four years straight and three years of one-on/one-off, followed by one-on/ three-off. APFA had previously proposed straight for three years, one-on/ one-off for three years, and one-on/two-off for three years. The end result of the proposals is pretty close in terms of outcomes, but we need more time to evaluate the company’s proposal and how it will impact Flight Attendants.

The company also did not address our concerns regarding high seniority bases such as LAX and PHX, which we have been clear needs to be resolved. Additionally, we have many unresolved proposals for improvements to the reserve system which must be addressed; we cannot resolve this issue in a vacuum.

As should be clear from this report, we need a strong strike authorization vote to secure the improvements that Flight Attendants deserve. From this point forward, the issues become more and more difficult, which is why pressure upon the company will be key. Remember, these are supposed to be the easier sections, and we will have all of the economics and the important remaining open issues in scheduling and reserve.

We meet again next week in DFW with the federal mediators and hope to have a more positive report. Regardless, we are committed to securing the contract we deserve.  

Information on the upcoming strike authorization vote may be found by clicking this image:

Remember, wear your Union pin and red lanyard every trip, and affix your luggage tags to your luggage before your next trip.

In Solidarity,

Your APFA Negotiating Committee

Reese Cole
Kelly J. Hagan
Julie Hedrick
Timothy Legeros
Brian Morgan
Wendy Oswald
Susan Wroble
Joe Burns, Lead Negotiating Attorney

[email protected]