While this (hopefully) shouldn’t impact the passenger experience, I can’t help but find this to be surprising…
American flight attendants ~$3 million behind on union dues
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) represents American Airlines flight attendants. The union has just sent a note to members with a pretty shocking statistic. The union claims that:
- 7,636 flight attendants are behind on their union dues, representing around 32% of the membership
- Those flight attendants owe $2,983,410.10
- That means the average member who is behind on dues owes around $390
The union claims that dues are the lowest in the industry, and have been the same since 2002, even though the membership has seen a 14% increase in contractual wages. It’s also noted that over 90% of dues go to the actual operation of the union, and the other 10% go to a mandatory restricted account for negotiations, known as the Negotiations and Negotiations Related Fund (NNRF).
Obviously the pandemic has been financially challenging for many. Those who were on involuntarily unpaid leave during the pandemic won’t have to pay these outstanding dues for while they were gone. However, other members, including those who took a voluntary leave of absence, are still on the hook for all dues. The union claims it negotiated all leave agreements, so therefore members need to pay dues for the entire period they were gone.
Union threatens to have members fired
The note to flight attendants goes on to talk about what could happen if dues aren’t paid. Specifically, flight attendants could be terminated for not paying these dues, per the contract:
1. The Secretary/Treasurer of the APFA shall notify the Flight Attendant, in writing, certified mail, return receipt requested, copy to the Vice President of Labor Relations of the Company, that she/he is delinquent in the payment of initiation fee and membership dues, as specified herein and,…