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Strike Threat Wins Boarding And Retro Pay At American Airlines

Flight attendants at American Airlines were celebrating September 12 after approving a new five-year agreement by 87 percent, with 95 percent turnout. They won a big retroactive pay package and an immediate wage increase of 20 percent. They also became the first flight attendants to nail down boarding pay in a union contract. Flight attendants typically are not paid until the aircraft doors close. All that greeting, seating, sorting out problems, and assistance with bags is off the clock. “The coolest thing is I had people from so many different unions across the country texting me congratulations,” said Alyssa Kovacs, a flight attendant in Chicago.

United Airlines Flight Attendants Vote To Authorize Strike By 99.99%

Washington, DC – On August 28, flight attendants at United Airlines who are represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) voted on whether or not to authorize a strike if needed in contract negotiations with the carrier. The flight attendants filed for federal mediation eight months ago, after working under what they call an amendable contract for the last three years. After not seeing the movement at the table that they needed, the flight attendants decided to take the next step let their members vote over whether to authorize a strike. The results were loud and clear. A near unanimous majority of 99.99% of ballots cast voted to authorize a strike; over 90% of United flight attendants participated in the vote.

The Delta Disparity: Flight Attendants Rally For Equal Pay

Detroit, MI - On Monday, August 5, Endeavor flight attendants represented by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) held an awareness picket at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) to highlight the significant pay disparities between flight attendants working for Endeavor, Delta’s wholly-owned regional subsidiary, and those working for mainline Delta Air Lines. Led by Oscar Ochomogo, president of Endeavor AFA, Council 46 DTW, the flight attendants sought to draw attention to the need to end Delta’s two-tier pay system, referred to by workers as the “Delta disparity difference.” On average, Endeavor flight attendants make 45% less than their counterparts at mainline Delta Air Lines.

Flight Attendants Turn Out For Worldwide Day Of Action

Los Angeles, CA – On the late morning of June 13, hundreds of flight attendants from different airlines picketed across terminals at LAX, the Los Angeles airport. Three unions were present and coordinated together Worldwide Day of Action, hitting multiple airports across the country. AFA-CWA (Association of Flight Attendants), APFA (Association of Professional Flight Attendants), and the TWU (Transport Workers Union) all organized flight attendants as they marched throughout the busy LAX terminals demanding contracts, and an end to corporate greed. Flight attendants are demanding action as negotiations have reached a standstill between them and different airline companies.

Court Prohibits Eurowings Greenwashing Advertisements

Berlin – On March 28th, “Deutsche Umwelthilfe” (DUH) achieved a success against misleading sustainability advertising by the airline Eurowings. The Cologne Regional Court in Germany fully upheld the complaint brought by the environmental and consumer protection organisation. The court prohibited the airline from advertising flights whose emissions are offset with a few euros as “CO2-neutral” in the form in which they were advertised at the time the lawsuit was filed.  The court found that the forest protection projects used for the alleged offsetting of emissions are not suitable for achieving actual compensation.

Boeing Back In Bargaining For The First Time In 16 Years

A lot of eyes will be on the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) this year as it takes part in one of the most significant labor negotiations of recent times. Boeing is one of just two major commercial aircraft makers in the world. It’s an export powerhouse and a standard-bearer for American industrial and technological achievement. It’s also a company that’s overdue for a course correction. A terrifying Jan. 5 incident in which a door plug fell out of a two-month-old Boeing 737 over Portland isn’t even the latest.

Pilots Got Their Payday; Now Flight Attendants Push For Higher Wages

Airline pilots won pay raises worth billions of dollars in new labor deals last year. Flight attendants are now pushing for similar improvements. Flight attendants from United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines and others picketed Tuesday at dozens of airports around the U.S., demanding higher wages and a better quality of life. “We have been in a period of austerity for 20 years, and it’s time the industry paid up,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents cabin crews at United, Spirit, Frontier and others. The demonstrations mark the first mass pickets jointly held by the labor unions, which represent more than 100,000 flight attendants at U.S. airlines between them.

How AA Flight Attendants Scored A Huge Strike Vote

Flight Attendants at American Airlines voted to strike by 99.47 percent at the end of August, with 93 percent turnout. The 26,000-member union, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, has been in negotiations since 2019—and members have seen no raises since then. Understaffing and scheduling are also big issues. American, based in Dallas, is the largest airline in the world by passengers carried. In some cases, said Miami flight attendant Laura Bries, “members wanted to strike yesterday,” but because airlines fall under the Railway Labor Act, they face several more steps before they can strike. The union last struck in 1993. I asked three flight attendants involved in the campaign how they got such an impressive strike vote.

Flight Attendants Prepare To Fight

Following the announcement that 99.47% of American Airlines (AA) flight attendants across the U.S. voted to authorize a strike if company officials fail to agree to a 35% wage increase, workers outside Philadelphia Airport’s Terminal A West on Aug. 30, jumped up and yelled in unison, raising and waving their picket signs that said it all: “Ready to Strike!” Members of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, who haven’t had a wage increase since 2019, also picketed in front of over nine airport terminals from Los Angeles’ LAX to Boston’s BOS on the same day. The vote and widespread picketing “made it clear to American management that we are fired up, unified, and standing together for a contract with significant improvements to compensation, retirement, scheduling flexibility, and more.

UPS Pilots Won’t Fly If Teamsters Strike

The union representing UPS pilots says they will not cross picket lines if Teamsters drivers and package sorters walk off the job when the current contract expires Aug. 1, resulting in the immediate shutdown of the express logistics company’s global air operations. UPS (NYSE: UPS) has 3,300 pilots who are represented by the Independent Pilots Association (IPA), a separate union from the Teamsters. “If the Teamsters are on strike, we will honor that strike and we will not fly,” IPA spokesman Brian Gaudet told FreightWaves. UPS pilots are allowed under their collective bargaining agreement to honor primary picket lines and did that for 16 days during the Teamsters’ strike in 1997.

American Airlines Flight Attendants Move Closer To Strike

American Airlines flight attendants will hold a strike vote starting this month, their union announced Tuesday. The vote will begin July 28 and end August 29, with the result announced the next day. More than 26,000 flight attendants are seeking wage increases in a new contract with the airline. “Flight Attendants are ready for an agreement that respects our contributions to the success of this carrier,” Association of Professional Flight Attendants President Julie Hedrick said in a statement. “Our contract became amendable in 2019, and American’s Flight Attendants have not received cost-of-living increases or any other quality-of-life improvements."

UK Airlines’ New ‘Sustainable’ Fuels May Be Causing Deforestation In Asia

The “greenwashing” efforts of UK airlines may be contributing to the destruction of rainforests in Asia, openDemocracy can reveal. The aviation industry began boasting of using ‘sustainable aviation fuel’ (SAF) last year. It claims this will help it to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 because it is made from ‘waste and residue’ materials and can produce 80% less emissions than fossil jet fuel. But government data reveals that more than 80% of the 26 million litres of SAF supplied to airlines in the UK last year was made from imported “used cooking oil”. Most came from countries in Asia, where its authenticity has been questioned.

Private Jets Are Dirty Luxuries For The Ultra Rich – Let’s Tax Them

For several hours in early November 2022, hundreds of protesters grounded all private flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, one of the most popular and busiest airports in the world. Activists sat on runways to block private jets from taking off before military police moved in and arrested more than 100 protesters. “The superrich have got used to polluting as they please with a total disregard for people and planet, and private jets are the pinnacle of these luxury emissions that we simply cannot afford,” one activist told The Intercept. Fast forward a few months, and the protesters appeared to be on the brink of success. Schiphol Airport decided to implement a total private jet ban in an effort to reduce air traffic.

Airline Pilots In The US Are Barreling Closer To A Possible Strike

As the busy summer travel season approaches, 25,000 union pilots at two of the nation’s largest commercial airlines — American and Southwest — are taxiing on the runway of a potential strike. Last week, the Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents 15,000 pilots at American Airlines, announced that its members had voted overwhelmingly to authorize a work stoppage. Signaling their unity, thousands of uniformed APA members held informational pickets on May Day at ten of the nation’s major airports, including Chicago’s O’Hare and Boston’s Logan. “With more than 99% of participating pilots voting in favor of authorizing a strike, our pilots’ resolve is unmistakable,” said Capt. Ed Sicher, APA president.

Inside Southwest’s Horrific Holidays

For America’s rich and powerful, the new year is beginning in a most inauspicious fashion. Millions of Americans are once again fuming at the greed and grasping of our deepest pockets. That fuming — from would-be passengers of Southwest Airlines and their families — filled airports throughout this past holiday week. For good reason. At the height of the travel-heavy holidays, Southwest was canceling 60 percent of the airline’s daily flights. Over 15,000 Southwest planes never lifted off. Late December’s heavy dose of stormy weather certainly did set the stage for Southwest’s holiday meltdown. But Southwest can’t put the blame for the airline’s massive melt on the cold, wind, and snow. Other airlines delivered, amid the same winter weather, far better service.
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