Flight attendants at Alaska Airlines have been warned that if they don’t now vote in favor of a new contract, then they will likely be stuck with the existing agreement for years to come with no pay raises or other contract improvements.
The warning came after the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), which represents crew members at the Seattle-based carrier, approved a new tentative agreement on Friday after a “short but vigorous fight” at the bargaining table.
The existing contract has been amendable for more than two years, and in July 2024, the union presented what it thought was a winning tentative agreement to its members that had promised an average pay raise of 32%, along with boarding pay and retroactive pay.
More than two-thirds of flight attendants, however, rejected the agreement and forced the union to go back to Alaska Airlines in the hope of renegotiating elements of the contract.
After waiting for a federal mediator to find the time to oversee the bargaining process, the two sides eventually locked horns. They managed to hammer out a new deal that was finally sent to flight attendants on Friday.
The new agreement will essentially keep the previously negotiated pay raises, but boarding pay has been increased by 19% to half of the usual hourly pay rate, while the most senior flight attendants with at least 16 years of service will see a small additional increase in their hourly rate, compared to the previous tentative agreement.
The increase in boarding pay is the biggest win for the union in the updated agreement and will mean that Alaska Airlines flight attendants are paid more than their counterparts at American Airlines or Delta during boarding and deplaning.
For example, a new-hire Alaska Airlines flight attendant will now earn an additional $16 per departure for boarding, whereas peers at American Airlines only receive an additional $10.44 and Delta crew members receive around $11.
There is also a slew of other minor improvements over the first tentative agreement, but flight attendants have been warned that this is likely the very best that the union can achieve.
In fact, an independent federal mediator has told the union that if its members vote down this agreement, then it would be unlikely to put in any effort to help negotiate a third attempt at an updated contract.
“The choice before us is clear; your vote will either solidify the enhancements secured in TA2 [Tentative Agreement 2], or it will indicate your desire to retain our current contract without any improvements in pay and working conditions,” the union cautioned in an internal memo.
Those conditions would remain in force until the Alaska Airlines Group has negotiated a joint collective bargaining agreement for an expanded flight attendant workgroup that includes crew members at Hawaiian Airlines.
The process of negotiating a joint contract, however, could take years to complete as the union and airline work to mesh two contracts together while working out how to deal with thorny issues such as seniority.
Voting on the tentative agreement is expected to open on February 11 and close on February 28. The results will likely be published on the same day that voting closes.
The pay rate for Delta is not accurate, I boarding pay is tied to our hourly pay. It’s half of our hour pay for the length of the boarding process. For example if you make 42.65 as a three year FA then your boarding pay is 21.35, however a domestic trip is a 40 min boarding time so you get 14.22 for 40 min of work. So they way you describe it is very miss leading and inaccurate. But know you have the facts!