Union Threatens Termination Of American Airlines Flight Attendants Who Refuse To Pitch Credit Cards
Last week the American Airlines flight attendants union reminded cabin crew at the airline that they aren’t allowed to strike or take other actions that hurt the company, unless first permitted by the government to do so. The union has been asking for this permission but has so far been rebuffed.
Now they’re telling flight attendants that they can’t do anything detrimental to the company. They even have to make the optional credit card announcements. At a minimum, they’re warned, that if they write on social media that they aren’t going to pitch the credit card they may be fired.
Under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), we are prohibited from resorting to “self-help” until the National Mediation Board officially releases us and after the thirty-day cooling-off period concludes. “Self-help” includes social media posts containing the following:
- coordinating sickouts.
- refusal to pick up open time, including red flag.
- harming American’s revenue streams, including onboard credit card solicitation.
Individual Flight Attendants may be disciplined and terminated for advocating for “self-help” outside the RLA provisions. At American, Pilots and Mechanic Unions have faced legal action from the company, and we do not want to put individual Flight Attendants or our Union at risk.
This is not Julie Hedrick, union president, asking flight attendants not to take action. The union’s notes often are signed. This one is generic and unsigned.
- The union wouldn’t mind flight attendants being unhelpful to the airline, and costing them money, putting pressure on them to get a contract done.
- Here they’re telling flight attendants not to do this. That gives flight attendants the idea to do this.
- But by putting in writing that they instructed flight attendants not to, they’re insulating themselves from any flight attendants who do it anyway – protecting the union against a potential court judgment (whether injunction or damages).
Put another way, this is ‘CYA’ on the part of the union while some cabin crew will interpret it with a ‘wink, wink’.
What’s interesting though are the specific ideas they’re giving to flight attendants actions that they warn could be considered ‘illegal self-help’ if flight attendants undertake them before the National Mediation Board releases the union from negotiations.
- Coordinated sick-outs are essentially like strikes. They stand in the way of the company doing business. Those are explicitly prohibited.
- Refusal of overtime is an interesting one. Overtime is voluntary and no crewmember is obligated to take it. Advocating that others refuse overtime to hurt the company would be a prohibited practice. Even without advocacy, a court might believe that a statistically significant drop in overtime acceptance rates was evidence of coordinated action – even if it could just as easily be attributed to low morale.
- Refusing to pitch the credit card inflight. No flight attendant is required to promote the American Airlines co-brand credit card (inflight it’s the Barclays card). Cabin crew are paid commissions on card approvals tracked to their announcements. I’ve seen significant discussion in social media about flight attendants being unwilling to promote the card while there’s still no contract and perhaps even suggesting that other flight attendants follow suit.
Once a flight attendant starts advocating that other crewmembers act in a way that hurts the company economically, they enter the zone of actions prohibited by the Railway Labor Act prior to being released to self-help… even though no flight attendant has to pitch the card, and even though the card is not part of the current collective bargaining agreement at all.
Flight Attendant’s Makeshift Inflight Card Presentation
In 2012 American Airlines pilots decided that CEO Tom Horton had to go, and that played a part in why US Airways was able to take over the airline while inside of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They even engaged in a sick out but with a ‘wink wink, nudge nudge’ rather than putting it in writing. They’d learned their lesson thirteen years prior.
In 1999 when American acquired Reno Air, pilots engaged in a job action. It’s illegal to do this without being released from negotiations by a federal mediator under the Railway Labor Act. American went to court and got an injunction, but it continued, and then the airline obtained a judgment against the pilots union for over $40 million — representing the airline’s losses due to the sickout from the time the injunction was issued until the sick out ended.
The judgment was upheld by a federal appeals court, the union appealed to the Supreme Court which declined to hear the case. The judgment was for an amount greater than the assets of the union. Ultimately American forgave an unpaid $26 million of the judgment as part of its 2003 pilots’ contract.
In summer 2019 mechanics engaged in an illegal job action and obliterated the carrier’s reliability. Pilots have even greater power to disrupt an operation. They can call in sick in large numbers. They can come up with reasons not to fly, or slow down their flying.
As far back as 15 months ago some flight attendants were taking matters in to their own hands and doing it openly. They were smart enough not to put it in writing – but weren’t keeping their voices down, either.
Good times. Flight attendant on my @AmericanAir flight instructs her colleagues, “it’s work to rule, we’re not doing anything extra for the company. Contract negotiations.”
— gary leff (@garyleff) January 19, 2023
If you haven’t heard credit card solicitations on your recent American Airlines flights, contract negotiations could be the reason why. And if you start hearing more, it may be because the union is telling crew they’re required to – even though it’s not in their contract.
