Julie Hedrick, president of the Association of Skilled Flight Attendants, right, pronounces a strike authorization outside Dallas-Fort Value International Airport near Dallas on Aug. 30, 2023.
Shelby Tauber | Bloomberg | Getty Images
American Airlines flight attendants approved a five-year labor deal, ending one among the industry’s most contentious contract negotiations and giving cabin crews raises of as much as 20.5% at first of October.
Eighty-seven percent of the American Airlines flight attendants who voted approved the contract, the union said Thursday, shortly after polls closed.
“This contract marks a major milestone for our Flight Attendants, providing immediate wage increases of as much as 20.5%, together with significant retroactive pay to deal with time spent negotiating,” said Julie Hedrick, president of the Association of Skilled Flight Attendants, which represents the carrier’s roughly 28,000 cabin crew members.
Flight attendants are the largest unionized work group on the Fort Value-based airline.
The contract deal is a relief for American Airlines’ leaders, which had faced a strike threat from flight attendants if the 2 sides couldn’t get to a deal. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Labor Secretary Julie Su had attended negotiations in June, overseen by the National Mediation Board. Greater than 160 lawmakers have also pushed the NMB to get to deals across the airline industry.
“Reaching an agreement for our flight attendants has been a top priority, and today, we rejoice achieving this necessary milestone,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said in a press release.
Flight attendants, just like other airline staff, have pushed for higher pay and other work-rule improvements after the Covid-19 pandemic derailed negotiations and the associated fee of living has skyrocketed in recent times.
United Airlines and its flight attendants’ union are still negotiating for a recent contract, while Alaska Airlines cabin crew members recently rejected a tentative labor deal.
Other industries have also won higher pay in recent contracts, a few of them after strikes, comparable to within the auto industry and in Hollywood.
Some 33,000 Boeing staff are voting on Thursday on a recent contract with 25% raises, which some staff have said they are going to reject. Boeing faces a possible strike if the deal is rejected.
