11.20.23 – Flight Attendants at American Airlines Ask for Release to Strike

Monday, November 20, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Paul Hartshorn, Jr.
[email protected]

Flight Attendants at American Airlines
Ask for Release to Strike

After negotiating for almost five years, including six months of mediation with the assistance of the National Mediation Board, the parties remain apart on key issues.

EULESS, Texas (November 20, 2023) – Today, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), representing the 26,000 Flight Attendants at American Airlines, took an important step towards strike: The union has officially submitted a request to be released from federal mediation.

“American management has not come to the bargaining table with the economic and non-economic improvements our Flight Attendants need to see,” said Julie Hedrick, National President of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA). “We are ready to strike to get the contract we deserve and have earned.”

In negotiating sessions mediated by the National Mediation Board (NMB) in recent months, the Union made it clear that American Airlines could not continue to drag out bargaining and that a ratifiable deal needed to be presented no later than the week of November 13th. Having passed that deadline without the change Flight Attendants need to see, APFA today submitted its official request to the NMB for release from mediation.

“APFA has been clear that the company’s economic framework does not and will not work,” APFA wrote in the request to the NMB. “No amount of future bargaining will change that, absent a release into a 30-day cooling-off period.”

Under the Railway Labor Act, which governs the collective bargaining agreements between Flight Attendant Unions and the airlines, a 30-day cooling-off period follows release from mediation if approved. During this time, the Union would prepare to enact a strike following the 30 days. American Airlines would still be able to present a deal during that period.

“Every day negotiations drag on is money saved for American Airlines,”Hedrick noted, “and every day that goes by, the situation for Flight Attendants gets more dire. We have new-hire Flight Attendants moving to high-cost cities like Boston, New York, and Miami who cannot afford to pay their rent and buy food. American Airlines reports record profits while our full-time Flight Attendants qualify for public assistance. This has to stop now.”

An August vote to authorize a strike produced a 99.47% ‘YES’ vote from APFA members, with 93% participation. Flight Attendants at American Airlines have made it clear that they are willing to put their livelihoods on the line to secure the improvements they deserve in aspects of the contract, including pay, per diem, and much-needed time off. Working under a contract negotiated in 2014 and without a raise since 2019, Flight Attendants are front-line workers left shouldering the weight of inflation without the compensation needed to keep pace with the industry. They work more for less and tolerate a loss of quality of life that could be improved with a new collective bargaining agreement.

While managers have received raises and bonuses, Flight Attendants have not received raises since 2019 and are struggling to make ends meet despite the heroics shown during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, American Airlines executives and management this year gifted themselves handsome bonuses. CEO Robert Isom, for example, received a $2.75 million bonus and $8.25 million worth of restricted stock grants, according to a Sept. 20 regulatory filing. He makes a base salary of $1.3 million, along with a $2.6 million potential bonus and a long-term incentive grant of $11.25 million. Other company executives also received bonuses and incentives.

APFA on Monday submitted a petition to the National Mediation Board (NMB) for a proffer of arbitration/release to strike. Approval of this petition would start the clock on a 30-day cooling-off period, after which Flight Attendants at the world’s largest airline would be free to strike American Airlines.

“Across industries and occupations, we’ve seen working-class Americans standing up against corporate greed. Workers are tired of being neglected and cast aside as upper management rewards themselves with bonuses and incentives. Flight Attendants are no different and will fight back,” Hedrick said. “Time’s up, American Airlines.”