Alaska Airlines flight attendants vote down contract offer by 68% majority
On Wednesday, August 15, flight attendants with Alaska Airlines voted by an overwhelming 68% majority to reject a tentative agreement on their next union contract. The flight attendants are represented by the Association of Flight Attendants and Communication Workers of America (AFA-CWA).
The Association of Flight Attendants represents around 6900 Alaska employees, and they have been in contract negotiations over their next union contract with the carrier. After 18 months of negotiations, the employer and the union reached a tentative agreement in June, which the union then took to the flight attendants to vote over whether to accept the offer or not. After reaching the tentative agreement, flight attendants and union leaders went on the road to talk with flight attendants about the details of that tentative agreement and what it included and what it did not. From there they scheduled the vote for the flight attendants to decide what to do next.
The contract offer included an average of 32% in pay increases over three years as well as something called boarding pay, in which flight attendants would be paid for their time on flights when passengers are boarding, and flight attendants are working. Right now, that work is unpaid until around the time of takeoff.
Turnout to the vote was over 94% according to the union, with 68% voting to reject the contract offer. In a press release, AFA said that this is democracy in action and that there is more work to do. AFA-CWA says that they plan to begin surveying their members to inform next steps for the union. The rejection of the contract does not automatically trigger a strike, but ultimately, if no deal is reached, a strike is a very real possibility. Throughout the negotiating process Alaska Airlines flight attendants have held pickets at airports around the country.
The flight attendants have also signaled that they could employ a strategy known as CHAOS, which stands for “Create Havoc Around Our System” in which flight attendants on individual flights declare a strike and walk out. Alaska Airlines flight attendants employed the CHAOS strategy 30 years ago in negotiations and as a result won significant gains at the bargaining table.
While the offer that was rejected included some forward progress, the flight attendants say it did not go far enough to meet their needs. Being a flight attendant is a job which includes constant travel, unpredictable schedules and mistreatment from passengers. Some flight attendants have said that their current pay rates have left them in a situation where they are qualified for welfare benefits in order to make ends meet.
What happens next for the flight attendants of Alaska is unknown and it is happening against a backdrop of contract fights across many carriers with AFA-CWA representation. For now, the union members have sent a clear message that management’s offer was not enough.