Following in the footsteps of their pilot coworkers, unionized flight attendants at American Airlines overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike if contract talks go nowhere.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants union announced Wednesday that nearly 99.5% of their members voted in favor of a strike.
If talks falter, a strike won’t happen immediately. After both sides agree that a contract can’t be reached, the union enters a 30-day cooling-off period where it must deal with the National Mediation Board in a last-ditch effort to prevent a strike. If that fails, the flight attendants will be on the picket lines.
The vote puts extra pressure on the airline to concede to some of the demands of the union. The attendants are asking for a massive one-time raise of 35% and an annual 9% raise on top of that. They are also asking for improvements to benefits.
“Our contract became amendable in 2019, and American’s flight attendants have not received cost-of-living increases or any other quality-of-life improvements, even as they played an essential part in keeping American in the skies both during and after the pandemic,” APFA National President Julie Hedrick said last month.
The successful vote comes as organized labor, particularly airline unions, is rising in power. Earlier this year, American Airlines pilots voted to authorize a strike, and the union delivered about $9 billion in improvements in their new contract this month.
Historic contracts at parcel companies like UPS and airlines like Delta, where workers received massive pay and benefit bumps, have emboldened unions to ask for more.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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