About three dozen American Airlines flight attendants protested Wednesday morning in front of American Airlines’ Fort Worth headquarters over their contract and its lack of profit sharing.
That description of the event oversimplies things a bit.
Their union, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, began arbitration hearings with American management Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The board of arbitration will hear from both the union and airline about what should be in a revised contract, then make a binding decision sometime in early 2015.
The protestors don’t think the union should have agreed to binding arbitration. Many don’t think that union leadership had the legal right to commit the union to binding arbitration. And they think that with American Airlines Group earning record profits, the airline should share more of those profits with flight attendants.
“We are here to let American Airlines management know that the tentative agreement that was rejected was not good enough,” Miami-based flight attendant Trice Johnson said. “And based on the unprecedented profits we’re seeing in the market place, we want our fair share. Sharing is caring.”
The protocol agreed to in 2012 prior to the American Airlines-US Airways merger laid out a process to get a joint agreement covering both labor groups: first, try to get a tentative agreement and, if that failed, submit differences to binding arbitration.
Flight attendants in November rejected a proposed contract. On Wednesday, they started the hearings that would lead to binding arbitration.
Johnson suggested that the process doesn’t have to lead to a contract imposed on flight attendants by binding arbitration.
“As you know from the pilot situation, all negotiations are very fluid. Deadlines can be extended. Talks can be on-going. There is provision in the current protocol agreement for mediation and talks. We’re hoping that talks can continue and an agreement can be reached, with facilitation, with the help of the arbitrator.”
Asked if the contract could be passed without some form of profit sharing, Johnson called that “a hard call. The tentative agreement that was rejected had numerous flaws and problems in it.”
American spokesman Paul Flaningan said airline officials “respect the rights of our unions and their members to voice their opinions. We continue to work through the process to reach joint labor contracts for all of our work groups, including our flight attendants who will realize significant wage increases when the arbitration is complete.”
