United Airlines Flight Attendants Will Hold Strike Vote

As flight attendants at United Airlines move toward a new contract, a strike authorization vote will be held next month. This should be seen as a formality to continue negotiations rather than any real threat of an imminent strike.

United Airlines Flight Attendants Will Vote To Authorize Strike In August 2024

There’s a bit of pageantry involved around strikes in the USA, as governed by the Railway Labor Act. Should contract talks appear to stall:

• First comes a strike authorization
• Then comes more concerted effort by the National Mediation Board (NMB) to get the two sides to reach a deal (the two sides are already talking via the NMB)
• If an “impasse” is reached (as determined by the NMB), the two sides are “released” to a 30-day cooing period
• Once the 30 days have passed, workers can strike and/or be locked out

Bottom line: any strike is months away. But the strike authorization vote will occur between August 1-28, 2024 and you can expect nearly 100% of flight attendants will vote for it.

United Airlines has taken a slower path in ratifying a new contract with its 28,000 flight attendants, who are working under a contract that has been amenable since August 2021.

Flight attendants are asking for:

• double-digit base pay increases
• higher pay for time at work including on the ground
• retroactive pay (dating back to 2021)
• schedule flexibility
• work rule improvements (mostly concerning sick time)

Ken Diaz, President of the United division of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) explained:

“United Flight Attendants can’t afford to wait for improvements. 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.”

Of course, that sentiment is reasonable in an era of inflation and United Airlines has publicly and privately stated its intention to strike a generous new deal with flight attendants, but generous is an entirely subjective term so the devil is always in the details.

That said, as Southwest secured a new deal and American Airlines is on the cusp of a new deal, you can expect something similar at United (not dramatically higher or lower).

I fly United most often and think most flight attendants are excellent–an asset to the company. Happy flight attendants make passengers happy onboard, so a new contract will also further United’s goal toward competing with Delta Air Lines for supremacy in the premium market segment.

But we also cannot look away from the reality that earnings are falling, growth has slowed, and “revenge travel” is over. Looking across the industry, earnings have generally disappointed and the new contract can (and should) reflect that and also reflect the reality that there is far more demand than supply for flight attendant jobs. In short: pay raise, yes. Pilot-style pay raise, nope.

CONCLUSION

Flight attendants at United Airlines will vote to authorize a strike in August, which is a formality as negotiations over a new contract continue. I fully expect a deal to be reached without a strike, but this vote will turn up the heat a bit in pushing negotiations along.

image: United AFA

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