As contract negotiations for flight attendants at United Airlines continue between management and union, a protest has been planned for next week along with a not-so-subtle threat. Meanwhile, United CEO Scott Kirby says negotiations for a new contract are “coming along.”
Pay Us Or Chaos: United Airlines Flight Attendants Plan Day Of Action On December 14th
Last Thursday in Houston I asked United CEO Scott Kirby about contract negotiations with flight attendants and he told me:
“They’re coming along. The truth is the flight attendant negotiations did not really start until after the pilots got their deal done. And these things are big and complicated, especially the work rules, so everyone is working well together. I wish they’d get done overnight, but they never do.”
Hours later, flight attendants wearing red shirts decrying new aircraft before new contracts silently picketed the arrival of United’s inaugural A321neo flight in Chicago O’Hare.
I approached one to better understand his perspective but was told that he was “not permitted” to talk to anyone about contract negotiations.
The two sides continue to meet and the picketing is typically done on a volunteer basis by off-duty flight attendants to raise public awareness over the negotiations.
Meanwhile, the AFA has pinned a rather ominous threat at the top of its X feed:
We know our power. We know our worth. No Concessions. #WhateverItTakes #ContractNow @afa_cwa @APFAunity pic.twitter.com/55oUea2e2K
— AFA United MEC (@AFAUnitedMEC) October 26, 2023
It has also announced that it will hold a “Day of Action” on December 14, 2023, wryly asking if United management wants to be on Santa’s good or naughty list:
We’re hitting the picket line with our holiday spirit: unity and solidarity. We are strengthening our power and demonstrating our unwavering commitment to push for a contract that respects our work and contributions to this world-class airline.
We are the face of United. We are aviation’s first responders, delivering safety and service on every flight to United passengers. As the flying public begins their holiday travels, we will ensure United passengers hear our voices loud and clear. We stand with our Union and our Negotiating Committee for a Contract that we can ratify within the coming months, not years.
United management, which side of Santa’s list do you want to be on?
But if Kirby is correct that negotiations are just beginning, I expect that such talks will continue for many months into 2024 before a deal is reached. A deal will be reached, but as long as it does not have retroactive pay there is no incentive for United management to quickly agree on anything.
CONCLUSION
Next week you can keep an eye out for off-duty United flight attendants taking part in a day of action to raise public awareness on contract negotiations. While the “pay us or chaos” threat is rather ominous, federal rules governing industrial action will limit the practical extent of such chaos unless the two sides remain in a prolonged stalemate to the point that they are no longer talking.
top image: @AFAUnitedMEC / X
There is absolutely no reason why flight attendants should not receive the same pay scales as pilots, other than the fact that the flight attendant workgroup is primarily female and has a lot of minorities, while the pilot workgroup is overwhelmingly white males. If United wants to show its commitment to diversity, they should give the FAs the same payscales that they have given the pilots.
Not sure whether this is a joke or not, but there is a big difference between pilots (shortage, 1500 hour minimum) and flight attendants (so many applications that your chances of being accepted to an Ivy League school are higher).
So maybe there should be a 1500 hour requirement for flight attendants as well.
Makes about as much sense 🙂
“Not sure whether this is a joke or not”
Really?
lol
Correct me if I am wrong, but the responsibility of a pilot and a flight attendant are totally different.
Can the flight attendant take over flying a plane if the pilot became sick?
I am in agreement that the flight attendants should receive a raise.
Know what would happen if I pulled a “day of action” or some other silly nonsense at my workplace? I’d be fired. They aren’t pilots. They are easily and cheaply replaced. Fire them.
I wonder if United will say that they don’t have any money for raises after handing pilots that enormous contract that Kirby so adores.
Reason #836 why Unions are garbage. Somewhere Jimmy Hoffa is smiling at what they created while middling in life individuals gladly hand a percentage of their paycheck over to the mob.
Not all unions are bad or evil or garbage.
Is Scott Kirby a troll or the ultimate idiot? Has he ever flown a plane? In weather? Or tried to get a VFR/IFR/twin/commercial/jet rating? Does he have any idea how little they make working their way through the ranks?
I guess sometimes I enjoy this site for the idiocy of the responses. The Tim Dunn of wanna pilots…..
That’s why I think that the pilot pay scale is broken. It sounds like an “indentured servitude” model where the barrier to entry is high helping to create an artificial shortage that drives up prices for senior pilots and those with families who subsidize their entry career while pushing out otherwise qualified aspiring pilots who want to have lives in their 20’s.
The “free market” fails to fix this because the system has an inertia (the senior pilots who “paid their dues” will go on strike if their wages are cut to help even out the entry level pilots wages or for training) and there are the regional airlines get the cheap labor who don’t complain.
The market is what the market is. To echo the earlier post, the airline understood that pilots had leverage and they negotiated accordingly. Some flight attendants deserve significant raises. Many deserve to be fired. The union, of course, refuses to accept compensation based on performance evaluation so you have a tenured system of aging underperformers. But, ultimately, there is more supply than demand for FAs, so despite their bluster, the eventual agreement will reflect more humble adjustments.
The quickest way to get a union to speak against pay increases is offer to make it merit-based.
BC
I need you to pay attention clearly and understand the assignment. Delta, United, and American all match each other so once Delta increases pay again in Spring or Summer 2024 so will AA and United once the new contract comes out. That is nothing new and there will be significant raises. Pay attention
I like the fact that they’ve claimed a trademark right in the “Pay us or Chaos(TM)” tag line.
No mention of asking for concessions for nearly everything from the flight attendants?
No mention of 18 hour duty days, 6 leg(flights) days, and tracking reserves while on call and being able to reach flight attendants while on layovers to reassign them?
Seems Matthew is in the dark about a lot
Then get a job elsewhere that pays you more, has better benefits and better suits your lifestyle. Is anybody holding a gun to your head and forcing you to be a flight attendant?
Unions have outlived their purpose. There used to legitimate needs for increases in workplace safety, alleviation of dangerous conditions, etc. That’s all antiquated now. The legal system regulates and enforces safety. But for their antiquated protection under law, unions would be nothing more than extortion rackets coming under the ambit of RICO laws. All they do is threaten destruction or “chaos” unless they are paid more to do the same job that they already agreed to do. Rinse, wash, and repeat.
It ia soooo much fun that these UNIONS pick HOLIDAYs to torture the TRAVELERS!!!
The comment made by someone using the name Scott Kirby appears to have been made while that person was in a drunken stupor or had a severe cognitive impairment. It is sexist and racist. This person wrote, “There is absolutely no reason why flight attendants should not receive the same pay scales as pilots, other than the fact that the flight attendant workgroup is primarily female and has a lot of minorities, while the pilot workgroup is overwhelmingly white males.”
I really hope it was meant to be satire, but who knows…