American Airlines Flight Attendants “Union Thug” Demands Free Palestine, Overthrow Capitalism
American Airlines flight attendants haven’t had a raise since 2019. Airline union negotiations don’t work like in other industries. A contract never ‘ends’ instead it just becomes amendable at a certain time. And negotiations can drag on for years, during which time the status quo – including pay rates – prevail.
Unions have to ask the government’s permission to strike (“self-help”). Airline strikes are very high profile and don’t look great for the party in power, which has generally appointed a majority on the National Mediation Board. The NMB is reluctant to declare a deadlock in an election year, and these days when is it not one of those? And they’re reluctant to do it around holidays when consumers are most inconvenienced.
Normally that’s not such a big deal, and eventually airlines and unions come to terms. Southwest Airlines flight attendants successfully ratified a record-breaking contract on Wednesday. Delta gave all of its non-union employees a 5% raise, ensuring that the top pay they were earning would stay at the top.
However with 20% inflation since the last raise for flight attendants at American, the length of time it’s taken to get a contract done is a problem. The value of their wages has eroded to the point that first and second year Boston-based cabin crew are eligible for food stamps.
- American offered to match Delta pay, but the union rejected this.
- American offered a short-term deal, and to renegotiate once another airline started paying more, and the union rejected this.
- The longer flight attendants go without a contract, the longer they’re living with lower wages.
- Recently-completed union officer elections make it easier for those officers to come to a compromise, but there’s also a reset of expectations with how well Southwest has done.
Credit: American Airlines
And so flight attendants get increasingly frustrated. Here’s what American’s Philadelphia base is promoting, an interesting amalgamation of complaints about society as well as a reflection on their own leadership: Being a “union thug” “overthrow capitalism” “solidarity with Palestine”
Note also wearing both an APFA pin – the American Airlines flight attendants union – and also an AFA pin. There’s long been a movement to have the independent cabin crew union folded into the AFA (Association of Flight Attendants) which is part of the AFL-CIO, led by Sara Nelson. US Airways flight attendants had been AFA-CWA members, and the APFA is renting AFA’s lead negotiator for their own grindingly slow contract negotiations.
This despite flight attendants represented by AFA-CWA being deeply unhappy. AFA-CWA has a scoring system at United Airlines which reports on flight attendant unhappiness there. 91% of AFA-CWA union members feel unvalued by their company and 99% feel their issues are unresolved. Their union representation hasn’t given them positive work life.
Meanwhile, no AFA-CWA represented flight attendant has ever gotten boarding pay, which American Airlines has offered in current negotiations.
There’s a lot of frustration. The union is probably better off focusing their messaging on the plight of their least-well off members (even though the distribution of pay, where more senior cabin crew do so much better, is itself the result of union bargaining) rather than on complaints about “capitalism” and “Palestine.”
Once there’s finally a deal, flight attendants should get a big raise – but doing a deal quickly, following up on Southwest’s success, makes a lot of sense because there’s also risk in the economy if interest rates stay higher longer and that’ll mitigate against what they can achieve. Meanwhile, just a nickel’s worth of free advice for cabin crew: calling to globalize the intifada is inadvisable for someone with Known Crewmember status.
A big raise is an opportunity for the company, but reports of negotiations suggest they aren’t taking it. American is introducing a new premium long haul product this year – not just business class suites with doors, but an elevated front row with even better amenities that may pair with premium on the ground services as well. Tying elevated pay to accountability for elevated service levels would help them earn the sort of revenue premium that would actually pay for those higher wages.
