9.12.24 – 2024 Tentative Agreement Ratified

Thursday, September 12, 2024

2024 Tentative Agreement Ratified

With 95% of eligible Flight Attendants voting, 87% of American Airlines Flight Attendants voted YES to ratify the 2024 agreement.

This agreement would not have been possible without 28,000 American Airlines Flight Attendants speaking with one voice and standing solidly behind our negotiating committee. Thank you.

Thank you to our Contract Action (CAT) Team and Tentative Agreement Call Center Representatives who worked tirelessly to ensure Flight Attendants had access to accurate information and helped to ensure our strike authorization vote was impactful. With a 99.47% strike authorization ‘YES’ vote and endless system-wide pickets and protests, we forced management off their rigid ‘industry-standard’ framework to an industry-leading agreement. 

We also recognize our Lead Negotiating Attorney, Joe Burns. As AFA-CWA’s Director of Collective Bargaining, Joe was instrumental in helping us fight for more while protecting our work rules. With over twenty years of bargaining experience in our industry, Joe has an intimate knowledge of our work rules and industry-leading pay protections. With his leadership and negotiation strategy, not only did we preserve our work rules and pay protections, but we were able to secure improvements.

This agreement would not have been possible without the support of our Union Siblings across industries and occupations. Industry-wide Union solidarity works and is key to fighting for the contract we deserve. Post-COVID, it was evident that securing a contract with improvements that adequately reflect our sacrifices would prove difficult. APFA Flight Attendants, both nationally and in all crew bases, reached out to local Unions offering support for their struggles. APFA Representatives from all crew bases attended Labor Notes, a project that has been the voice of Union Activists who want to put the movement back in the Labor Movement. As a result, over fifty Unions publicly supported our fight for a fair contract, which made a difference.

But our Union outreach doesn’t end with our new contract- we will continue to support our Union Siblings and actively work to build relationships. We pledge to continue our support and outreach within the labor community. 

Strikes and the threat of strikes work. Industry-wide Union solidarity works. Thank you to all our Union Siblings for your support.

Along with support from other Unions, Leaders in Washington, D.C., also stepped up to help us push management for a larger economic package. Special thanks to National Mediation Board (NMB) Member Linda Puchala, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for their efforts to move this deal across the finish line.

Thank you to the 179 Members of Congress and 33 Senators who signed letters urging the NMB to use all provisions under the Railway Labor Act to resolve contract negotiations promptly. Thank you to the APFA Government Affairs Team, the APFA Contract Action Team, the Congressional Labor Caucus, and our Union Siblings at AFA-CWA for their collective efforts to make these letters successful!

Together, through endless pickets, displaying red t-shirts, lanyards, and pins, airline management took notice, and not just AA management! We ratified a contract with no concessions, and successfully preserved and improved upon industry-leading pay protections, rescheduling and reserve rules, and many other work rules management tried to take back.

Thank you for supporting APFA and each other! Be proud of your achievements and commit to supporting Flight Attendants and other Workers in their upcoming fights. Together, we will collectively raise the bar for our profession.

In Solidarity,

Your APFA Negotiating Committee

Reese Cole
Kelly J. Hagan
Julie Hedrick
Timothy Legeros
Brian Morgan
Wendy Oswald
Susan Wroble