Apparently it is possible to be fired by AA after all
 

From this article : https://liveandletsfly.com/american-airlines-fires-flight-attendants/

AA has fired 50 FAs and are investigating more for not showing up for their assignments or being in position when on reserve.

Color me shocked and impressed. I did not believe this was possible.

If it's like the article describes, then there should be no recourse from the union.

Sounds like FAs on reserve pay were not close enough to their base to get to work on time, which basically means they rolled the dice and hoped they wouldn't get called up. Honestly, if you're getting paid to literally do nothing other than be close the base and you can't even do that then the termination is warranted. I'm guessing this is not happening to first/one time offenders but who knows.

It seems like AA has had FA problems for years. Meanwhile DL seems to run a pretty good operation with their crews (although there are always exceptions).

I've noticed that Eagle crews, in terms of demeanor and work ethic, are much more consistent than mainline these days.

I’m sure there’s a high overlap in the Venn diagram of FAs who cheat the reserve system and foul up flight schedules and FAs who sit in the galley on their phones and ignore the flight to the greatest extent possible, so… not sad about this on any front.

No, it's always been possible to fire FAs. The problem is it's never been easy to fire FAs for reasons customers would care about.

Steal from AA... Don't show up for work... Sell nonrev passes... Those offenses can and will get people fired.

It's the minor stuff like assaulting passengers (I'm looking at you, Thor) that is overlooked by AA.

Having a union doesn't mean you can't be fired. It means the company has to follow a process and have evidence of an infraction and the union will have your back as the process unfolds. Just as even a guilty person deserves representation in court, a union ensures an employee has representation in a dismissal process and can't be fired just on the whim of a manager who was having a bad day. Makes things more difficult for managers, but that's why they get paid the big bucks. Now, unions are human institutions, and can be just as scammy and scummy as any other (mmm, commercial corporations? churches?), but they do have value for workers beyond higher pay and better benefits (which is itself valuable of course).

I'm a union rep, so I wanted to highlight your good explanation as quoted. It is pretty bad how many people are conditioned to at-will employment that they believe an employee not meeting someone's (not the company's or contract) standards deserve to be fired too.

I don't think anyone is arguing that people should be fired Willy nilly. Your point is very valid, albeit not executed in practice.

I'm sure we can all agree that there's a sizeable portion of AA FAs and GAs that do not follow company and contract standards. They manage to skate by inventing whatever rules they feel like, doing whatever service they deem appropriate and wearing whatever interpretation of uniform they feel. The issue with APFA is that this is protected and fought, not that they fight to protect the person doing their job who is under siege because of a jackass manager.

Good to see this. As noted - if you can't be trusted to get paid to "do nothing" nearby your home base, you're probably failing in other aspects of your job, too.

I liken it to someone getting a DUI. They probably have done it numerous times before and just happened to get caught this time around. Bad behavior is rarely caught on the offender's first time.