The Association of Professional Flight Attendants said Thursday that American Airlines management had agreed to give its flight attendants an additional $81 million a year that members had rejected in a tentative agreement.
The new, higher pay increases will go into effect Jan. 1.
“With this action behind us, we can look forward to the year ahead and beyond as one team,” American said in a statement, “and with great momentum as we continue our integration plans.”
“Today’s announcement is the beginning of a new chapter,” the union said in a hotline message to members. “Bringing together two large workgroups with very different cultures and contracts is an enormous task but together we have done exactly that in just over one year. We now turn our attention to implementing our joint collective bargaining agreement and enforcing the hard-fought provisions it contains.”
The joint contract covers flight attendants of US Airways and American, which merged Dec. 9, 2013.
A “memorandum of understanding” signed before the merger stated that a joint contract would give AA and US flight attendants a contract that didn’t lessen the total value of their separate contracts and brought their contract up to industry standard. American and APFA agreed that that amount of $112 million more than the value of the separate US and AA contracts.
The MOU also stated that if a contract were rejected, it would be submitted to binding arbitration and that its maximum value would be the $112 million.
In negotiations, AA and APFA agreed to a contract that raised flight attendant costs by $193 million, $82 million more than the base amount. But APFA members, by 16 votes out of 16,376 cast, turned down the tentative agreement on Nov. 9.
Faced with deciding where to take the extra $82 million out of the contract, APFA leadership decided to reduce pay raises by that amount.
Last Saturday, the arbitration board on Saturday issued its decision on the final contract, with the $112 million figure.
But APFA president Laura Glading sent a letter to Parker asking him to consider giving the flight attendants the amount in the rejected contract, notwithstanding the vote. Last weekend, he told Glading that management would consider that request.
Parker, president Scott Kirby and executive vice president Steve Johnson met with APFA leadership Thursday morning to discuss the situation. Out of that came a union resolution clarifying and limiting what might happen when United Airlines and Continental Airlines flight attendants redo their contract in several years.
|