The flight attendant union at American Airlines claims that AA treats its predominantly female cabin crews as “second-class citizens” over pilots via new “sexist” attendance rules. Welcome to contract negotiation season…
Pilot and flight attendant contracts are up for renewal in December 2019 and January 2020 (respectively). In this season of negotiation, AA flight attendants have already come out swinging. A protest labeled “UnfAAir in the Air” was held in Dallas yesterday and very specific grievances have been alleged.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants represents over 27,000 AA flight attendants and has zeroed in on a change in attendance policy that it says unfairly harms females. 75% of AA flight attendants are female.
The New Attendance Policy
A new absence policy went into effect last October in which FAs accrue points for suspicions absences. As the Chicago Business Journal reported:
The new attendance policy is centered on a complicated system that assigns flight attendants one or more points for various attendance infractions, such as taking more than two contractually-allowed personal days, or reporting late for work, or being a no show for a scheduled trip, or being sick during critical times for the airline. The “critical periods” include July 1 -7, Thanksgiving (Wednesday prior through Sunday after), and December 22 to January 3.
Earning 4-6 points over a rolling 12-month period would result in a performance review. Earning 8 points would result in a “final warning” while earning 10 points would result in immediate termination.
Flight attendants argue this policy encourages FAs to come to work sick. They also note that pilots have no such restrictions.
American Defends Attendance Policy
American, however, is pushing back.
Like nearly all Fortune 100 companies, we have attendance policies that support our 24/7 operation. Our policy is designed to provide support and flexibility for our 27,000 flight attendants to give them latitude in managing their time away from work. At the same time, our policy ensures we’re staffed to provide our customers with the great service they expect and deserve when flying American.
Last fall, AA said, “We believe the new policies provide ample latitude for our flight attendants to live their lives while allowing for attendance accountability.”
Pilots Voice Support For Flight Attendants
FAs have invoked pilots, whose contracts are also under negotiation. Unsurprisingly, the pilot union is not going to oppose the cabin crews it must work with every day:
From an inclusive workplace perspective, myopic policies like this do not reflect a caring, compassionate and empathic leadership style and only undermine the company’s core goal of making culture a competitive advantage. American Airlines’ draconian sick point system just won’t fly. Our flight attendants understand that when they’re sick, they need to stay home and get well, rather than delaying their recovery and exposing fellow crew members and passengers.
My Thoughts
I appreciate that American Airlines wants to hold its flight attendants accountable and discourage “industrial action” that sabotages the company and hurts customers. At the same time, people do get sick around the holidays. I think American would argue if that is the only infraction, then a FA will not even receive a performance review, let alone termination. On the other hand, I don’t think any worker should ever be placed in a position in which they feel compelled to come into work while sick.
I do not find the comparison between flight attendants and pilots very compelling. Pilots are a different workgroup. They have different skillsets and different bargaining power. Just because pilots have a sweeter deal than FAs is not necessarily an indication of sexism or even favoritism. Rather, it is just an acknowledgement of the reality that these are different work groups.
CONCLUSION
As a consumer advocate, my greatest concern is that flight attendants will take out their frustration against management on customers. It is therefore imperative that unions and management sit down around the table, discuss frankly their disagreements, and be willing to compromise. American has a right to punish FAs who take advantage of its leave policies. But American cannot reasonably expect FAs to come to work sick.
image: Brandon Wade / American Airlines
I agree on the sick aspect – even beyond that people shouldn’t be coming to work, an AA F/A comes in, boards a plane with up to 300+ other people on it, and if it is an intercontinental flight, likely personally touching and serving the food and drink containers to dozens if not 100+ passengers.
Airlines should start outsourcing service staff from outside the organization. This should bring some sanity into the aviation industry. The pilots and supervisors should be airline staff but other staff outsourced. This should bring certainty.
Why don’t you EDUCATE yourself about the profession of Flight Attendants before making your arrogant statement. If you only knew what pilots think of opinionated You. Word is you are being outsourced. How does that feel Knowitall.
I agree with the outsourcing of Flight Attendants to a contracted vendor. Service on US carriers are often lacking. Airlines are hostaged by the unions and cannot improve the performance onboard any given flight.
I also agree that nobody should go to work sick.
What the general public doesn’t know is how extremely flexible Flight Attendant’s schedules are. They are not required to report to work 9-5 Monday to Friday like many people. Holidays sick calls are historically high. Some times, not all the time， sick calls are related to the inability to commute during peak holiday travel periods. That is the responsibility of the Flight Attendant, not AA.
In all fairness, the whole picture wasn’t present in this small tweet to provoke reasonable dialogue.
Think about Flight Attendants who are getting holiday overides but call in sick for your thanksgiving flight
One flight Attendants are there for safety. Two they don’t get paid until the doors closed. Those delayed flights? They don’t get paid for it. They have to come in an hour before a flight leaves. They don’t get paid for it. An 8 hour work day and they usually get paid for 4. And they don’t go home. They stay away for 4 to six days a week constantly at a sleep deficit. Outsourcing is not probable because flight Attendants have to spend weeks in training learning different aircraft and work to maintain their crafts emergency equipment. They have to know how to evacuate a plane in under a minute. Outsourcing this would be a danger. It isn’t about service, it’s about safety. If you think all a flight attendant does is to live to serve you drinks, you are mistaken and clearly entitled.
Every job should be outsourced so the employer can change policy, pay, benefits and terminate at will.
Remember unless you own the company outright you are Labor.
How can you defend a policy that allows pilots to call out without points being issued or employment being jeopardized, yet the person that serves you food and beverages, provide medical attention if needed, and will evacuate the aircraft, should come to work sick or loose their employment.
Mind you most pilots are male, would not need time for maternity care when starting a family. FMLA requires one year of service for those prenatal care appointments to be protected, Most companies do not provide intermittent non punitive leaves as an accommodation, only continuous creating a financial hardship and loss of health insurance or pay COBRA rates.
Additionally almost every airlines flight attendants have a negotiated contract that provides sick time as part of the benefits and compensation. That being said, concessions in other areas such as pay rates, vacation, insurance rates etc were taken.
Due to the medical certification required by the FAA pilots typically would not have an illness that is covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Again should disabled individuals not have a job? I am sure most people agree that if able bodied they should work and contribute to society. The option would be raise taxes to provide housing, medical care, and other social programs to a person who is willing and able to work.
You might think pilots are more important to the operations of an Airline, if that’s the case why is Airbus building commercial aircraft that would not require pilots?
So yes by all means a discriminatory policy is very sensible.
P.S The cramped seats, no meals, paying for bags, That was the doing of management who more than likely received a nice bonus at your expense. Your welcome!
Whereas you’re right that a company shouldn’t compel an employee to work when they’re sick, you’re wrong in not seeing the disparity in the treatment of cabin crew and flight crew as discriminatory. Flight attendants don’t fly the plane, but they and pilots do share the same working conditions both on and off the airplane. Pilots, by the very nature of their close proximity in working with flight attendants are every bit as susceptible to the airborne illnesses, the potentially debilitating and fatal effects of toxic fume events and other various hazards on the job. One hazard the pilots are less likely to incur are the injuries that flight attendants sustain during turbulence, namely clear air turbulence which has ended many careers making this attendance policy even more discriminating and draconian. I also find you to be a bit patronizing in your basing your halfhearted support of flight attendants on the notion that if the company doesn’t alter the policy then flight attendants will take their frustrations out on you and the flying public. Just so you know, flight attendants are more professional than that.
I’ve flown enough years on United to know that is not the case. Maybe it is different on AA…
Matthew, I find your comments to be very uneducated on the matter. While you seem to know a fair amount of the working of an airline, you are missing a few things here.
1) 98% of all flight attendants are great and will care for the customers no matter what airline you are working for… the other two percent are unhappy and if it wasn’t a sick policy, they would find something else to be miserable about. This is the same in any industry at any level of job.
2) The new sick policy was something the company pulled out of nowhere and forced on the flight attendants with no warning and no ease in. It was not part of a contract or contract negotiations or anything, and this new policy was only pushed to the flight attendants but not the pilots, who previously had the same policy.
3) the point system not only gives a point for call ins and other common things, but it also penalizes the employee for getting injured on the plane at work, pregnancy, and other issues that are protected under federal labor laws.
I could go on but just those points alone should be enough for anyone to see and understand what the outrage is about.
As for those suggesting that the flight attendants be outsourced, I’ll just ask you how many times you have been on a plane and the flight attendant had to apologize because there was not the right food, or there was trash on the plane, or your entertainment or WiFi weren’t working? Pretty much every flight one of these things happen. Guess what Catering, cleaning and entertainment are all outsourced. So now do you really want to be outsourcing the people who are there making sure you and your aircraft are safe?
Thank you Erik
We get sick
time every month. 4 hrs. A month. But if u use it they fire u.
I can understand the frustration of having to go to work sick or being faced with a “point” on your attendance record all too well. It happens all too frequently in the NURSING field!
They say don’t come to work sick, but then punish your via attendance policies that will get you terminated for utilizing your sick time! So it’s better to just come in, and mask up, even if you must have a Kleenex up your nostril to stem the flow, behind the mask.
Every job has its skill sets. The lack of a pilot will ground a flight as will a lack of available flight crew. All hands are needed. And the pilot can sneeze all he needs, while flying, but the FA ought not do so while serving food. Big difference.
Mr. Mathew,
I believe a little more education on this subject is necessary. Your article is missing important detail that would change the opinion and comments of your readers. Different work rules are an acknowledgment of different work groups and not favoritism or sexism is a discriminatory view point and statement in this case.
ATC’s comments about work environment are relevant. Flight Attendants come in contact with airborne illness more often, direct contact. Bloodborne and the like. Flight Attendants are susceptible to injury in the cabin; Walking, standing on an unstable floor in a cylinder that sways and maneuvers. Run away carts, compartments and cabinets that are janky, crawling into small compartments in galleys and repetative motion injuries. Turbulence is the most obvious and is happening more often. Industry standard language and operating manuals include service being provided during “light chop”. Work related injuries are subject to workmens comp, however, many carriers require use of your Family and Medical Leave and charge your attendance record with an occurrence, or a point in the AA scenario, and the language in the FML Act does not prohibit it.
Disparities in work rules related to hours worked, length of day, minimum pay, time away from base and rest requirements do exist. Although there are Federal Regulations that guide these rules, they are minimum protections and often there is better contractual rules negotiated for pilots then Flight Attendants. This is partially a product of the bargaining powers that exist for pilots/skill but there is a real double standard.
Just a few examples, and it varies through out the industry:
Pilots have a “duty rig”. A credit value for all time they are at work, on duty. This includes the hour before departure from the time you “check in”. It also includes time between flights in your day referred to as “sit” time, but on duty.
Flight Attendants, at many carriers, do not have duty rigs. They can be on duty or at work for up to 16 hours (the carrier I previously worked for) and only get paid for the time they actually are on the plane, with the door closed and with passengers on board (block time).
Pilots, at some carriers, have “Minimum Pay per Day” rules. If they come to work and only fly for 2 hours, they are paid a Minimum of 5 hours. A Flight Attendant will only be paid for 2 hours. Likely less, because the clock starts at the time the Forward Entrance Door closes and stops when the door opens (block time). Some are paid for 15 minutes after the door opens but no more. Even if passengers are still on board.
Minimums for rest requirements were increased and Federally Mandated for Pilots many years ago. Although most carriers practice minimum rest for Flight Attendants only recent legislation produced regulations that will take effect later this. year.
There are numerous more examples. These may not be the examples specific to American but there are a host of other work rules that require more hours, less duty or trip credit for pay, longer days, less rest ect.
As to the comment on “outsourcing” Flight Attendants.
It is true. Catering, Cleaners, Gate Agents, Entertainment, and yes, Maintenance is all outsourced in part or all of the above, at every major carrier and most all carriers.
Even the Pilots and Flight Attendants are outsourced in a sense, at EVERY major carrier, American, United and Delta all have contracts with Regional airlines. They do major airlines flights for far less pay, lesser benefits and little job security.
This is part of the problem and not the answer.
(No disrespect to the regional partners and co-career pilots and Flight Attendants. We all start somewhere.)
The problem is the constant delusion in pay and benefits to the career aviation personnel and all airline employees. The problem is outsourcing everything to save a dime. The problem is constantly working with inexperienced and or inferior products and service.
Flight Attendants will get sick. There are illnesses that most people can go to work with: a head cold, a broken arm, following a simple out-patient procedure. Flight Attendants can not.
They will become pregnant, they will have family emergencies, they will get hurt on the job, they will get bumped off a flight while trying to get to work. There are real differences from the normal 9 to 5.
This new sick policy does not recognize those differences and in fact dismisses and marginalizes the very unique job and work environment of Flight Attendants. These policies only break down trust and moral and respect. Which I argue is the real reason for the lack of customer service or unhappy Flight Attendants you refer to.
Women are in the work force and larger numbers then ever in our countries history. Let’s face it, Flight Attendants are primarily women, Pilots primarily men. Companis need to start practicing real equality in the work place and not just paying lip service to the idea or create bogus culture and mission statements. All work places.
Unless your answer is we should go back to the early 70’s when Flight Attendants could not be married, could not be pregnant, were forced to retire at 30 and wore go-go boots.
Pilots have wellness requirements much more stringent than most any other work group. In addition to a physical every six months, pilots have to declare themselves “fit for duty” before each flight. It’s a legally binding signature required by the FAA.
Pilots also have an extremely short list of medications that can be taken and fly. Flight Attendants do not.
It’s not at all sexist. It’s a different job with different levels of responsibility.