US & American Flight Attendants Narrowly Reject New Contract, Binding Arbitration Scheduled

After members voted to reject a tentative agreement between the union and the merged airlines, a new contract for flight attendants at American Airlines and US Airways will be decided by binding arbitration.

By a slim margin, flight attendants at US Airways and American Airlines rejected a new contract endorsed by their union’s negotiators. Only 16 votes stood between flight attendants at the two airlines and a unified collective bargaining agreement.

According to the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), which represents flight attendants at both US and American, 8,180 members voted in favor of ratifying the tentative agreement and 8,196 voted against it.

When fully integrated, a combined American and US will form the largest air carrier in the world. A single contract covering flight attendants at both airlines is viewed as an important step in integrating the two airlines. Following the results of the vote on Sunday, flight attendants at each airline will continue to work under separate contracts already in place until a new contract is decided in binding arbitration.

Arbitration is scheduled to begin on December 3, with the final arbitration hearing scheduled for December 30. Post-hearing briefs can be submitted until January 26, 2015, and arbitrators are expected to issue a decision shortly after that.

APFA negotiators urged members to ratify the tentative agreement. In a letter issued to APFA flight attendants before the vote, the union’s joint negotiating committee warned that the terms of binding arbitration would not allow for a contract as favorable for members as the tentative agreement already reached with management. A portion of the letter read:

Voting No will simply result in at least $82 million annually in cuts to the T/A. The arbitration will focus on whether the cuts should come out of areas such as wages, vacation days or 401(k) contributions. That is a predicament we strongly urge you to avoid.

“We are, of course, disappointed with today’s outcome,” American said in a statement following Sunday’s vote. “This tentative agreement included industry-leading pay and benefits, and would have provided considerably more economic value and much better work rules than the contract that will be determined by arbitration.”

[Photo: American Airlines]