Denver flight attendants rally for higher pay, demand bargaining over business model change
Denver, CO – On December 11, members of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) at Frontier Airlines held a rally outside of the Frontier headquarters in Denver. Flight attendants have been in mediation with the companies that refused to meet members' demands. American and Southwest Airlines flight attendants got their contracts, while Alaskan Airlines attendants voted down their proposed contract. Frontier and United have been in mediation with the AFA for more than six months.
There were two chief demands raised at the rally: increased wages, and a shift back to the old business model. Halfway through negotiations, Frontier decided to change its business structure in a way unpopular with workers. One of the chants at the rally was, “What do we want?” to which members responded, “Overnights!” and “Multi-days!” When asking AFA member Ashlee Rosen what the chant meant, she explained that overnights were a great way for workers to make more money. Multi-days include going to a variety of locations and increasing the money earned.
Frontier's new model, which is called “all turns,” makes it so that all flight attendants end up back at the airport they came from on the same day. Members are not making money like they used to, and they are having to spend a lot more money commuting to the airport and spending their own money on gas, car maintenance and tolls.
This change of business model by Frontier is being majorly disputed using the Railway Labor Act, which is the legal framework that governs the industry.
AFA member Chase Isley read cards from around the nation about the hardships they are facing under this new model. Members talked about going into debt for their groceries and their kids’ school supplies and clothes. Members mentioned having three or more roommates so that they could have a roof over their heads, while CEO Barry Biffle made more than $8.5 million last year. Members also talked about putting thousands of miles on their cars in a month and hundreds of dollars on tolls due to having to commute back and forth to the airport daily.
More than half of the 20 AFA-represented airlines, totaling more than 50,000 members, have been in contract negotiations with various airline corporations. AFA members say they are ready to strike if the companies continue to delay their contract negotiations.