American Airlines Flight Attendants Gear Up for a Strike

The troubles for American Airlines are far from over as its flight attendants are preparing for a strike call.

The Reason for the Strike

The flight attendants of the company had unionised earlier and asked for a new contract that includes higher pay. Currently, the annual starting salary of flight attendants at the company is $27,315 a year before incentives and taxes, only slightly above the federal poverty levels. As per this, the employee is only compensated $30.35 per flight hour. They are not paid for the additional hours and overtime they put into work, including the 50 hours a month they spend on prepping airplanes before take-off.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, a union that represents the flight attendants of American Airlines, has revealed that the group has still not reached an agreement with the airline, even after weeks of negotiation. A warning against the airline has also been published by them, saying that the flight attendants are gearing up for a strike if the situation continues.

APFA’s Statement

“Two weeks of intensive mediation at the National Mediation Board offices in Washington D.C. failed to produce an agreement with American Airlines. These sessions followed three weeks of mediation in DFW. Per the request of the NMB, we cannot release particular details. We remain apart on the key economies of the deal plus the company’s completely unacceptable demand for scheduling concessions. Flight Attendants are the only employees at American Airlines who have not had a raise in the past five years. Meanwhile, in 2023, AA CEO Robert Isom received a staggering $31.4 million pay package. New hire Flight Attendants at American Airlines start at just $27,000/year. Robert Isom’s compensation package is now 1162 times that of a new-hire Flight Attendant, corporate greed at its finest. So, all Flight Attendants need to prepare for a strike. Strike handbooks will be mailed to your address on file with APFA. Our right to strike under the Railway Labor Act has not changed. However, we cannot strike until released by the NMB and following a thirty-day cooling-off period.”