United Airlines flight attendants vote to authorize strike by 99.99%
Washington, DC – On August 28, flight attendants at United Airlines who are represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) voted on whether or not to authorize a strike if needed in contract negotiations with the carrier. The flight attendants filed for federal mediation eight months ago, after working under what they call an amendable contract for the last three years. After not seeing the movement at the table that they needed, the flight attendants decided to take the next step let their members vote over whether to authorize a strike.
The results were loud and clear. A near unanimous majority of 99.99% of ballots cast voted to authorize a strike; over 90% of United flight attendants participated in the vote.
Flight attendants heard the news broadcast in real time at nearly 20 informational picket lines which were being held simultaneously across the country.
Ken Diaz is the president of the United Airlines chapter of AFA and said, “We deserve an industry-leading contract. Our strike vote shows we’re ready to do whatever it takes to reach the contract we deserve,” and went on to say “We are the face of United Airlines and planes don’t take off without us. As Labor Day travel begins, United management is reminded what’s at stake if we don’t get this done.”
In their negotiations, the flight attendants at United are demanding a double-digit base pay increase as well as paid time for time at work on the ground. They are also fighting for retroactive pay to the date the contract became amendable, as well as flexibility in scheduling, work rule improvements, job security and retirement, among other issues.
While the flight attendants have faced stagnant wages in recent years, they say that management has been giving themselves significant raises through the same period in time. About this, Ken Diaz said “The United management team gives themselves massive compensation increases while flight attendants struggle to pay basic bills.”
The last time that flight attendants at United took a strike authorization vote was in 2005. However, this year, flight attendants at American, Alaska, Southwest and other airlines have all voted to authorize strikes. The previous strike votes have shown management that the flight attendants are ready to fight for what they deserve and, as a result, have worked to move the bargaining process forward at each airline. Now with this historic 99.9% strike authorization vote, United flight attendants have sent a clear message to management that they are ready to take this fight to a strike if management doesn’t make significant movement to meet their demands.
Now that members have authorized a strike, at any point AFA could request a release from federal mediation, which would begin a 30-day cooling off period before a strike can take place.
In the past, AFA has used a strike strategy known as CHAOS which stands for “Create Havoc Around Our System.” Using the CHAOS strategy, a strike can be called that would affect the entire airline industry and travel or could affect just a single flight. The union decides when to strike, who to include and where to do it and is not required to give any notice to management or passengers under the Railway Labor Act.
Now that a strike has been authorized by a powerful 99.99% majority, eyes will be tuned to the AFA negotiations closely as a strike at United could severely impact the airlines, flight schedules and business as well as personal travel nationwide in coming months. While what will happen next is yet to be seen, from the near-unanimous strike authorization one thing is very clear: the AFA flight attendants at United are ready to fight and are themselves united.