Flight Attendants’ Union: Unvaccinated American Airlines Flight Attendants Will Not Get Fired Immediately

On Monday, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants gave an update concerning its negotiations with the management regarding American Airlines’ vaccine mandate. The American Airlines flight attendants’ union announced that their unvaccinated members will not face immediate termination.

Flight Attendants’ Union and American Airlines Negotiations

According to the flight attendants’ union, American isn’t going to take a hardline approach, unlike United Airlines. United announced that unvaccinated employees with vaccine exemptions will have to take a temporary unpaid leave.

In a letter by the Association of Professional Flight Attendants to its members, “For those Flight Attendants who remain unvaccinated and do not receive an accommodation, you will not be automatically removed from service or terminated from employment on the deadline for compliance”. The letter added that “Our Contract provides for a process that must be followed before anyone can be terminated”.

However, there is no confirmatory statement yet from American. American announced that workers will need to show proof of vaccination by November 24. However, it is still finalizing details regarding the exemption and accommodation process.

Accommodation Not a Guarantee

The APFA previously wrote in a memo on October 2 that accommodation doesn’t guarantee flight attendants that they can keep their jobs.

On October 1, American announced to employees that the carrier will have to comply with the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate. In that memo, it said that “team members who choose to remain unvaccinated will not be able to work at American Airlines”. Also, the airline mentioned that request for medical and religious exemptions will go through an internal system called Jetnet.

According to Biden’s executive order, federal contractors and companies with 100 employees and more will need to require their employees to get the COVID19 vaccine. For large businesses, they can offer frequent testing as an alternative to COVID vaccination.

The carrier’s November 24 deadline falls a day before Thanksgiving. Through the years, Thanksgiving has been a busy holiday for the airline industry. The airline could potentially deal with staffing problems if it decides to fire unvaccinated employees. Southwest recently felt the impact of being understaffed as it canceled thousands of flights.