CHICAGO (July 16, 2024) – Flight Attendants at United Airlines, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), will take a strike authorization vote after continued frustrations in contract negotiations. This is the first time since the 2005 bankruptcy negotiations that Flight Attendants at the major airline will vote on strike authorization. This United management team rewards themselves with massive compensation increases while Flight Attendants struggle to pay basic bills.
“United Flight Attendants can’t afford to wait for improvements. We deserve an industry-leading contract, and we are ready to show United management that we will do whatever it takes,” said Ken Diaz, president of the United chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, representing 28,000 United Airlines Flight Attendants. “There is no time to waste. Our negotiations are at a critical state, the issues are clear, and the time to act is now.”
United Flight Attendants filed for federal mediation nearly eight months ago and have been working under an amendable contract for nearly three years. Now – with negotiations at a critical stage and management delaying on an industry-leading contract – United Flight Attendants are making clear that they are unified in their fight for a fair contract.
Strike vote ballots will be sent to the 28,000 Flight Attendants, with the vote opening August 1, 2024 and closing on August 28, 2024 as Labor Day travel begins.
Recent strike authorization votes have propelled negotiations forward at Alaska, Southwest, and American Airlines.
AFA has a trademarked strike strategy known as CHAOS™ or Create Havoc Around Our System™. With CHAOS, a strike could affect the entire system or a single flight. The union decides when, where and how to strike without notice to management or passengers. The right to strike is triggered when the National Mediation Board (NMB) declares that negotiations are deadlocked and releases both parties into a 30-day “cooling off” period leading to a strike deadline.
United Flight Attendant attendants are demanding in addition to significant double-digit base pay increase, increased pay for time at work including on the ground, retroactive pay to the amendable date, schedule flexibility and work rule improvements, job security, retirement and more.
