CHICAGO– Contract talks between United Airlines (UA) and its flight attendant union are approaching conclusion after four years of negotiations.
Ken Diaz, President of the United chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), indicated that meaningful progress is finally occurring after years of strikes.
Photo: AFA-CWA, 2024United Flight Attendants Negotiations
United (UA) flight attendants demonstrated at 19 airports worldwide on Wednesday, March 19, spanning locations from Guam (GUM) to London (LCY).
Diaz, who participated in Chicago (ORD), expressed optimism that a tentative contract agreement for United’s 28,000 flight attendants could materialize within months.
“We are just starting to see United get serious at the table. This management team has delayed, delayed, delayed. They are starting to take some of their concessions off the table.”
-Ken Diaz, President, United chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants
“We’re getting to the final parts of negotiations,” he said. “We are now negotiating scheduling. We feel we can make progress in concluding that in weeks, which will bring us to the economic part.”
Economic issues typically represent the final stage in labor negotiations. All AFA (Association of Flight Attendants)/United talks are taking place in Chicago (ORD), with sessions scheduled for the weeks of April 7 and April 21, plus three additional weeks in May.
A United spokeswoman responded positively on Wednesday: “We’re having productive negotiations with the AFA, including last week, and we continue to find common ground. We’re eager to reach the industry-leading contract our flight attendants deserve.”
Photo: By Tomás Del Coro from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA – N272AK Alaska Airlines 2017 Boeing 737-990(ER) – cn 44112 / 6367, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59973105Flight Attendants Pay & Other Issues
Pay rates in the current contract were negotiated in 2016, with the contract becoming amendable in August 2021. American (AA), Alaska (AS) and non-unionized Delta (DL) have all implemented post-pandemic contract agreements.
“We’re over 20% less in pay than American is right now,” Diaz noted. “Right now United (UA) is second in profits, but fifth in how they pay flight attendants.”
He anticipates the pay discrepancy will be addressed during negotiations, stating that “United knows what the wage scale out there is,” and that United CEO Scott Kirby “has promised to be the best.” The extent of retroactive pay remains under negotiation.
Photo: AFA-CWA, 2024Among other unresolved issues, United continues to place flight attendants on 24-hour reserve periods, while other airlines limit reserve time to 12-14 hours. Regarding boarding pay for pre-departure aircraft time, Diaz mentioned that “United management has just come to the table with that. How that would work still has to be negotiated.”
Initially, United sought to eliminate the most popular healthcare option but has since reversed course. “They have backed down from that. The plan most flight attendants are enrolled in, a traditional PPO plan, is now back on the table,” Diaz explained.
Flight attendants approved a strike authorization with a 99% vote in August. Despite this leverage, Diaz emphasized, “We don’t want to strike: we want an agreement. Some positive signs are that we’ve asked to meet more often and they’ve agreed to that.”
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