The union which represents more than 27,000 flight attendants at American Airlines has rejected a proposal by CEO Robert Isom to immediately raise their wages by 17% and introduce a new formula to increase profit sharing.
The knockback came just hours after Isom sent a video with details of the offer to the entire flight attendant workforce at the Fort Worth-based carrier in which he said he didn’t want crew members to “go another day” without a pay raise.
Flight attendants at American Airlines haven’t seen an increase in their wages since 2019 after their contract became amendable, but the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) blames management for continually stalling negotiations.
The union views Isom’s pay offer, separate from a full contract deal, as just another delay tactic, accusing the airline of “concocting schemes to take the pressure off”.
“American Airlines Flight Attendants want and need a complete contract addressing all our concerns,” the union said in an internal memo on Wednesday.
“We have a strike vote authorization of 99.47 percent, have picketed for months, and have demonstrated our resolve and solidarity. Our message has been crystal clear: we need an industry-leading contract.”
At the request of the airline, the two sides are due to meet in Washington DC from Monday to Thursday next week in a ‘last ditch’ bid to thrash out a new contract. If those talks fail, APFA is hopeful that the National Mediation Board (NMB) will release them to take strike action.
It’s the very real possibility that the NMB might finally be willing to let flight attendants go on strike that may have spurred Isom’s pay offer in what critics claim is a cynical union-busting scheme designed to divide flight attendants.
“The APFA Board of Directors unanimously rejects management’s proposal and encourages, in the strongest way possible, the company to put all of its attention towards reaching an agreement with our Union and avoiding a crippling strike,” Wednesday’s union memo continued.
Should the NMB declare an impasse, the two sides would be released into a 30-day cooling-off period during which contract talks could still continue. If no deal is done at the end of the 30 days then flight attendants would then be allowed to stage a walkout.
Although slim, the chances of AA flight attendants actually going on strike is starting to increase, with any disruption expected to take place during the busy summer travel period.
Matt’s take
The unanimous decision by the APFA Board of Directors to reject Isom’s pay offer is far from surprising, and it’s pretty clear that APFA views this as just another attempt by American Airlines to further delay stalled contract negotiations.
Perhaps Isom really didn’t want flight attendants to go another day without a pay raise, or perhaps the idea was to divide crew members in an attempt to force APFA’s hand into accepting a compromise agreement with major concessions.
If it were the latter, then the offer only appears to have solidified support for the union, strengthening the resolve of many flight attendants to take part in a highly damaging walkout for the beleagured airline.
ROBERT ISOM got his 31 million dollar bonus just the other day. Give it back and focus on the front line employees who deal with the faces of the passengers every day. Pilots received almost a 50% pay raise are locked behind closed doors and don’t have to deal with the day to day issues of disgruntled passengers.