Flight attendants at United Airlines have sacked a committee of negotiators who have been battling with the carrier over a new contract. The decision came just days after federal mediators delayed any more bargaining sessions until the start of 2025 at the earliest.
The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) has been trying to secure an updated contract for its members since the agreement became amendable in 2021, but not only has very little progress been made, but the union has also accused United of deliberately stalling.
On Thursday, the master executive council of the United branch of AFA told its members that the three-person negotiating committee was to be replaced following a meeting with the union’s national president, Sara Nelson.
In their place, the union is to bring in Joe Burns, an attorney with “decades of experience bargaining labor contracts,” described as the most experienced negotiator under the Railway Labor Act.
Burns is AFA’s lead negotiator and recently helped sister flight attendant union APFA, which represents crew members at American Airlines, secure big pay raises for flight attendants at the Fort Worth-based carrier.
“At the meeting, we also discussed a plan to drive our negotiations forward, to pressure the company to drop their unrealistic demands for concessions and instead focus on targeted quality of life improvements for United Flight Attendants as well as the industry-leading compensation we have earned,” a statement from the union explained.
The union’s last bargaining session with United was on November 11 in San Antonio, Texas. Not only was very little progress made during that session, but federal mediators also said they would not be holding any further talks until January 2025.
The delay raises the prospect that nothing substantive will come from the negotiations until President-Elect Trump is inaugurated on January 20.
At that point, it’s widely believed the incoming administration will back big business and push workers’ rights to one side. As a result, the threat of strike action to get the result that United’s flight attendants want will be greatly diminished.
The flight attendant union has demanded an inflation-busting 28% pay raise in the contract’s first year, followed by 4% every year after that as part of an open-ended agreement, along with a ratification bonus, retro pay, and a new pay concept known as ‘ground duty pay.’
United Airlines, however, is only willing to match the pay rates that were recently approved at American Airlines and is refusing demands for a ratification bonus, retro pay, and ground duty pay.
Despite the inherent risk that a Trump administration brings to the union calls for a strike, AFA says it is bringing regional leaders together in Washington DC to discuss potential strike options.
Earlier this month, the union also called on flight attendants to become strike-leading volunteers.
