Video: Clipped to section in which Sara Nelson mentions Delta and American directly
United Airlines flight attendants have until August 12th to cast their votes to ratify or reject the tentative agreement that has been put before them by their Joint Negotiating Committee which represents the flight attendants of Continental, Continental-Micronesia and United.
This video released by the Association of Flight Attendants provides a very interesting look into exactly what happened behind closed doors during negotiations with United. It also explains how much this bar-raising tentative agreement could begin to rebuild the flight attendant career after years of erosion.
So why should the flight attendants of American Airlines and Delta Airlines care what happens right now at United? Well…
At American —
Flight attendants at American stand to benefit a great deal should United’s flight attendants ratify the tentative agreement. This is due to provisions negotiated by AFA, which represented US Airways flight attendants prior to the airlines merger with American Airlines.
“The fact that AFA members at US Airways fought for the best possible conditions at American and a me-too clause once the merged United contract is in place was absolutely critical to our success.” Sara Nelson, International President, AFA
These provisions require American to adjust their JCBA, joint collective bargaining agreement, with their flight attendants to reflect any improvements the United contract contributes to the market-based aggregate measure of flight attendant agreements at the top airlines.
Here are more details from a recent article….
and Delta —
Delta flight attendants normally benefit from their management’s practice of raising salaries and adjusting work rules just enough to fend off unionization.
“Delta, without a union, creates incredible drag on pushing our careers forward and if it were not for the courage and fortitude of Delta Flight Attendants to continue to organize, Delta would never pay half of what it does just to retain control and keep a union off the property.” — Sara Nelson
It’s that simple.
Many Delta flight attendants are not satisfied with sitting idle and depending on unionized flight attendants at other carriers to fight for them. They want their own union as well.