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The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), a union representing 28,000 American Airlines flight attendants, tentatively agreed to a new labor contract with the company Friday.
The tentative agreement comes after three years of negotiations, with the APFA most recently rejecting a 19% pay rise earlier in June.
The union, which released a statement on July 19 announcing the deal, did not confirm specific details such as the proposed pay increase—but said it met their demands.
“After years of bargaining and with the assistance of the National Mediation Board, we have reached a long overdue agreement with American Airlines, which addresses our concerns in compensation, work rules, and retroactive pay,” said Julie Hedrick, National President at the APFA.
“If approved, this agreement will put billions of additional dollars into compensation and work rules for our Flight Attendant workgroup.”
Biden, APFA praise power of collective bargaining – did the threat of strikes work?
Contract negotiations between American and the APFA began in January 2020 but were paused during the pandemic, resuming in June 2021.
Flight attendants in the APFA had overwhelmingly voted in favor of strike action (99.5%) after the airline refused to meet the union’s demand for an immediate 33% pay rise.
“APFA would like to thank the 28,000 Flight Attendants whose participation in this process achieved this tentative agreement… Strikes and the threat of strikes work,” Hedrick added.
The APFA argued that it had been over five years since flight attendants had been given a raise and that the past few years have created challenges including overly demanding customers.
According to the union, first-year employees at American make $27,000 a year before taxes.
President Joe Biden, just 48 hours before announcing his decision to step down from the forthcoming election, praised the detail for averting a strike that “would have been devastating for the industry and consumers.” Biden added that the tentative deal is a further sign that “collective bargaining benefits workers, companies, and our economy.”
A statement from the airline also praised the deal, saying it will “provide immediate financial and quality-of-life improvements for American’s flight attendants.”
For the tentative agreement to be confirmed, the APFA’s board must review and approve the deal before union members vote to ratify the deal.
Pay rises elsewhere mounted pressure on American
Part of the pressure the APFA placed on American Airlines for a pay rise for its members came from agreements elsewhere in the aviation industry.
American CEO Robert Isom had promised to match agreements for flight attendants at other airlines in the industry, but talks had stalled, leaving the threat of strike action looking likely.
In April, flight attendants at Southwest Airlines secured a 22.3% pay increase and a collective $364million in retroactive wages; and Delta Air Lines announced a 5% pay rise for 80,000 attendants and ground staff, upping its starting wage to $19 per hour.
In June, Alaska Airlines struck a tentative agreement with a union representing over 6,500 of its flight attendants, with the labor group describing it as a “record contract.” It is not clear exactly what is included in the new contract for the flight attendants, but a post shared by the union in April 2024 shows the group was aiming for a 40% to 56% increase in pay rates depending on the year of seniority.
