10.24.23 – American Airlines Flight Attendant Union Board Of Directors To Approve Release To Strike

Tuesday, October 24, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Paul Hartshorn, Jr.
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American Airlines Flight Attendant Union Board of Directors to Approve Release to Strike

Flight Attendant Union Board of Directors to approve a request for release into a thirty-day cooling-off period, after which the 26,000 American Airlines Flight Attendants would be free to strike the world’s largest airline.

APFA National President Julie Hedrick on the Dallas/ Ft Worth picket line on August 30, 2023, as the American Airlines Flight Attendants return an overwhelming 99.47% strike authorization ‘YES’ vote.

EULESS, Texas (October 23, 2023) – APFA is preparing for the possibility of a strike against American Airlines if management does not make significant and meaningful moves to reach an agreement.

The APFA Board of Directors will convene Friday, November 17th to approve a request from the APFA Negotiating Committee. This would have APFA requesting the National Mediation Board (NMB) for the Union to be released from the mediation process, an important step toward a strike. A release by the NMB would trigger a 30-day cooling-off period, after which American Airlines Flight Attendants could strike in support of contract demands.

“Time’s up. At last week’s negotiations session, negotiators for American Airlines showed up with no response to our comprehensive economic and non-economic packages,” said Julie Hedrick, National President of APFA and Los Angeles-based Flight Attendant. “Our Flight Attendants have overwhelmingly authorized a strike, and we will move the process forward and prepare for a strike if necessary.” 

On the heels of a 99.47% strike authorization ‘yes’ vote with 93% Member participation, American’s Flight Attendants have made it clear that settling for anything other than an industry-leading agreement is not an option. Flight Attendants will be on the picket lines system-wide on Thursday, November 16th, to remind management of our contributions and sacrifices to help American weather the pandemic.

“The ball is firmly in management’s court,” said National President Hedrick. “If American Airlines management has no change in position, simply put that in writing so we can move the process forward. If they don’t have a proposal, we have a deadline, and failure to meet that deadline will result in a request to the NMB to be released.”