Labor talks continue between American Airlines and its flight attendants. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants said Tuesday that it has yet to reach an agreement but that things are getting a bit closer. Since balking at a 17% immediate wage increase while pushing for a 33% raise, the flight attendants have picketed at airports nationally and pushed for a release from mediated talks that could kick off a strike.
“Despite all this effort, we do not yet have a tentative agreement. We remain apart on key issues including the date-of-signing wage increases and a select set of other key issues,” the union said. “Although we have made progress in these areas, we are not going to sell ourselves short and will fight for the contract American Airlines Flight Attendants deserve.”
The flight attendants nearly unanimously approved a strike in August, but they have not made good on that threat because their contract negotiations are more strictly regulated than other types of labor unions. Their bargaining process is governed Railway Labor Act, which more tightly proscribes workers’ actions when they affect areas deemed critical to the economy.
Under the RLA, the government has kept the APFA in federally mediated negotiations with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Secretary of Labor Julie Su peeking their heads into the proceedings. But even if the union was released from those negotiations in the event of an impasse, that step would then kick off a 30-second “cooling-off” period and invite President Joe Biden to intervene as he did in a 2022 railway strike. However, the union did say that American was sweetening the pot during intensive negotiations. The airline did not immediately return a request for comment.
“Under the Railway Labor Act, the [National Mediation Board] will keep the parties bargaining as long as they see the potential for a deal,” the union explained in its latest update. “That means if the company is putting tens or hundreds of millions more into the agreement, the NMB will keep the pressure on both parties to move forward to reach a deal. While we do not agree with how long or difficult it is to exercise our right to strike, when there is movement, the NMB will require more bargaining.”
American and the union are scheduled to meet next week away from Washington, D.C. in hopes of securing a tentative agreement.