American Airlines’ New Contract Resets Industry Standards

Flight attendants at American Airlines have ratified a new contract with the airlines, securing a wage hike and pay for boarding. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) has been in negotiations with the Airlines for years now, but the deal struck this time has set a new standard for the aviation industry. With over 95% of the members voting on the deals, the American Airlines agreement received support from 87% of them.

American Airlines’ new contract negotiations reportedly began all the way back in 2020 but the progress on the discussion had to be halted during the pandemic. Discussion resumed in June 2021, but no satisfactory progress was made. Recently, in July, the airlines and the union were able to reach a tentative agreement and sent it to the board for review. Following that, it has now been approved by the union members. 

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Flight Attendants at American Airlines Confirm New Contract

Over 28,000 flight attendants are represented by the APFA and their cumulative approval has allowed the American Airlines agreement to go through. The flight attendants make up the biggest unionized work group at the airline. according to CNBC. 

“It’s an exciting day for American’s nearly 28,000 flight attendants and our entire airline. Reaching an agreement for our flight attendants has been a top priority, and today, we celebrate achieving this important milestone. Both the APFA and company negotiating teams had a shared mission of delivering an agreement our flight attendants have earned, and I greatly appreciate their work and relentless focus.”

—American’s CEO Robert Isom

If the deal had fallen through, the workers were expected to go on strike. This would have held up work at the organization quite significantly. and its a relief that the American Airlines contract update was satisfactory to everyone involved.

American Airlines Contract Updates

The new contract with American Airlines will provide the cabin crew with up to 20.5% raises from October along with retroactive pay for the time that was spent in negotiations. The new contract also includes a “new sit rig for compensation for long sits between flights, and American Airlines Flight Attendants become the first unionized workgroup to lock in pay for boarding,” according to APFA National President Julie Hedrick.

This was one of the most contentious points in the agreement between the two parties as traditionally, the flight attendants are only paid for their time once the plane doors close and the journey begins. The cabin crew spends long hours waiting between flights and also has a non-expendable role to play during the boarding of passengers onto the flight. Delta broke the cycle and offered its nonunionized members extra pay during boarding, setting off a trend that was demanded industry-wide.

The deal will set a new standard for negotiations across the industry and provide the cabin crew with better bargaining power considering what competitors are willing to offer. The Alaska Airlines crew rejected a tentative agreement that their union had reached and negotiations have now resumed. The union stated that “there is more work to do,” indicating that they would return to their members and see what points warrant further negotiations. 

The crew at United Airlines are also in the midst of negotiating a deal. The threat of a strike is being faced across the aerospace industry, particularly by plane maker Boeing. Despite the union encouraging workers to accept the tentative agreement they were able to arrive at with the organization, 33,000 union members are now expected to be on strike. It’s a difficult time for Boeing and they will have to rush to establish a better deal at once. 

Changes across industries, whether it’s at automotive makers or grocery chains have caused unrest among workers who want security and stability to be prioritized by their organizations. 

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