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United Airlines management and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) have been attempting to negotiate a new contract for the 28,000 flight attendants that work for the airline. A tentative agreement was reached in late May, but it was never ratified and the two sides had to go back to the drawing board. This came after several flight attendants crashed a media event to debut the new Polaris® seats and almost five years of negotiations. A vote was held this week and it did not go well for United. Around 71% of the 92% of eligible members that cast their ballots rejected the contract. This means that United is going to need to pony up even more if it wants to get this over the line.
This rejected contract offered flight attendants retroactive pay, an average of 27% raises from the date of signing it, additional raises in the years to follow, as well as quality of life improvements like better hotels. Flight attendants had already voted last year to strike if needed (although the federal government will not allow this to happen).
Ken Diaz, President of the union’s United chapter, said:
United Flight Attendants today voted to send a strong message to United Airlines management by rejecting a tentative agreement that didn’t go far enough to address the years of sacrifice and hard work to make the airline the success it is today.”
United Airlines released the following response:
Our flight attendants are the best in the industry and this tentative agreement included numerous improvements and industry-leading pay. While this vote will result in a delay and the AFA has outlined several steps to return to negotiations, including coordination with the National Mediation Board, we remain focused on getting our flight attendants the contract they deserve.”
Anthony’s Take: Five years is a long time to go without a pay increase. United flight attendants have watched their peers at American, Alaska, and elsewhere negotiate contracts that have made material impacts on their lives. Hopefully, United and the union will be able to reach some sort of compromise, but they have a long way to go given the resounding rejection of this contract.
(Image Credit: United Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
