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American Airlines flight attendants conduct an information picket outside Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on August 30, 2023. On Monday, the union called for negotiations with American Airlines to be declared deadlocked.
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American Airlines’ union for flight attendants is seeking government permission to strike within 30 days. But you don’t have to worry about a strike ruining your vacation travel plans.
Airline employees are covered by insurance. railway labor act. Despite its name, RLA covers both railroad workers and airline employees. There are significant differences from the labor laws that regulate other U.S. companies. Most notably, it places strict limits on the ability of airline and railroad employees to strike at the end of their contracts.
The Professional Flight Attendants Association, which represents American Airlines’ more than 23,000 members, has yet to clear many legal hurdles that the union must overcome before it can strike. That’s true even though union members haven’t received a raise since 2019.
If federally mediated union negotiations reach a point where no progress is being made at the table, the union or company management can ask the federal mediator participating in the negotiations to declare an “stalemate.” .Labor unions can continue Strikers and management can only lock out union members after a 30-day cooling-off period after an impasse is declared.
Declaration of impasse That’s what unions say needs to happen now.
“The company has taken firm positions on economic issues and APFA has made clear that its economic framework does not work and will not work,” said Julie Hedrick, president of the APFA, which oversees the negotiations. said in a letter to the agency. “Unless the 30-day cooling-off period is lifted, no amount of negotiation will change this situation.”
But American Airlines insisted Monday that there is no deadlock in the negotiations and that they should continue.
“Since resuming negotiations in 2021, the airline has met regularly with APFA and presented proposals that maintain its commitment to paying team members adequate and competitive compensation,” the airline’s statement said. Ta. “In recent months, we have considered industry-leading economic proposals and continued to make progress on other items, including last week. , we stand ready to continue working with APFA.”
But even if the union gets its way and a federal arbitrator starts the clock for a strike in 30 days, there are additional hurdles in the law that would likely prevent a strike from starting just before the year-end holidays. do.
the two sides remain far apart
The two clearly remain at odds. The union is demanding an immediate 35% raise and unpaid wages. The company is also requesting two additional 6% raises over the three years of the proposed contract.
The union says American is offering its members an immediate 11% raise on the proposed five-year contract, with an additional 2% raise each year. The company did not respond to requests for comment on the details of the proposal.
However, even if the flight attendant The clock starts ticking toward a strike 30 days from now, but a strike is unlikely at that point. RLA allows President Joe Biden to intervene at the last minute, order workers to continue working There will be an additional two-month “cooling-off period” before the presidential commission submits recommendations on how to resolve the impasse.
Despite the obvious Biden side with labor With several recent strikes, including the United Auto Workers’ strikes against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, he won’t sit back and let the nation’s largest airline shut down just before the Christmas holidays. .
If the two sides cannot reach an agreement within the 60-day period, the union could go on strike, but only if Congress remains on the sidelines and allows the strike to take place. But Congress could act to stop a strike, which is likely in the case of American Airlines. That’s what happened with freight railroads in Congress last December. imposed a contract in angry railroad union To keep the railway running.
It is unlikely that Congress will authorize a strike by the four major airlines.When Southwest Airlines suffered a service outage during the holidays and was forced to ground more than half of its scheduled flights, Congressional hearing to investigate the problem.
This does not mean that trade unions and their members are not serious about striking if given the opportunity. Not only have flight attendants not received raises for years, they have also seen their jobs made significantly more difficult due to an increase in the number of disruptive and sometimes violent passengers. According to AFPA, 99.5% of its members voted to authorize a strike in August, and 93% of its members participated in the vote.
And the union’s demands are similar to what other union groups have won in recent negotiations. Last month, Southwest Airlines flight attendants won an immediate 20% raise with retroactive pay. American Airlines recently agreed to an agreement with its pilot union, the Allied Pilots Association, that would give its members an immediate 21% raise and more than 40% over the four years of the agreement.
There have been airline strikes in the past, but they are extremely rare due to the high hurdles and usually involve smaller airlines.
Spirit Airlines pilots worked one week in 2010, when the airline was much smaller, accounting for only about 1% of domestic air traffic at the time.
The last time a major airline grounded flights due to a strike was 25 years ago. Northwest Airlines pilots go on strike 2 weeks. Northwest Airlines was her fourth largest airline in the United States at the time, but the industry was far less consolidated at the time.
Since 1998, Eleven major U.S. airlines have merged to form four major airlines. Today, it includes the Southwest and America. Together with Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, these two companies together account for approximately 80% of the air traffic in the United States.
Additionally, a strike vote itself does not mean the union will go on strike.
Strike voting is a common negotiation tactic employed during negotiations. They are virtually always outpaced by a huge margin. However, most negotiations are resolved without stopping work, even after a strike vote.Delta, United, and Southwest Airlines pilots All strike votes approveda contract was quickly reached with a significant pay increase, without a negotiation stalemate being declared.