Their new union contract has been under negotiation since 2021
Another airline’s flight attendants are shifting to strike footing. The ones working at United Airlines announced Tuesday that they were calling a vote to approve a mass work stoppage as negotiations over a new contract prepare to enter their fourth year.
“United Flight Attendants can’t afford to wait for improvements,” said Ken Diaz, president of the United Airlines chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants union that represents 28,000 members. “We deserve an industry-leading contract, and we are ready to show United management that we will do whatever it takes. There is no time to waste. Our negotiations are at a critical state, the issues are clear, and the time to act is now.”
The contract in question ran out in 2021, and at the moment United’s flight attendants are the only unionized employee group without a contract according the carrier’s most recent annual report. Looking to the situation at American Airlines, whose unionized flight attendants have also spent years working outside their contract, the United workers said they also expect a potential strike to speed up a resolution.
The actual voting will take place between August 1 and August 28. Similar measures at American and Alaska Airlines were been approved nearly unanimously by their respective memberships. Though there are a number of steps that would have to happen before an actual walkout could take place, the threat would remain on the table during federally mediated bargaining sessions.
The flight attendants are asking for, among other things, “double-digit” wage increases. United did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but during an October earnings call CFO Michael Leskinen said the company is expecting that it will have to concede at least some bump in pay.
“Looking ahead to 2024, we feel good about the core fundamentals of our expenses,” he said. “However, we are facing sizable headwinds with labor and expectation of a new flight attendant agreement.”
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