Flight attendants from American Airlines have voted to authorize a strike. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants represents 26,000 employees.
The union held pickets at 12 airports across the country Wednesday to announce the results. At DFW, flight attendants gathered outside Terminal D and say 99.47% of flight attendants voted in favor of a strike.
"We are negotiating for better staffing, staffing we had prior to COVID that was taken away by American Airlines," says APFA President Julie Hedrick. "They took advantage of that situation."
Hedrick says flight attendants have not had a pay increase in more than five years, saying they are living on the same wages despite an increase in housing costs in North Texas and inflation.
"Our new hires are barely surviving," she says. "You can't afford to be a flight attendant at American Airlines."
"This should send a message to American Airlines that our members are ready and serious about getting a contract we deserve," says APFA Vice President Larry Salas.
Salas says the issue extends beyond a pay increase.
"It's scheduling. It's our reserve system. It's our retirement. It's our staffing which the company cut during COVID, never restored it and we have full passenger flights now," he says.
American Airlines says it will continue working with the union and National Mediation Board, and the groups "have made progress toward reaching an agreement that our flight attendants deserve."
"We’re proud of the progress we’ve made in negotiations with the APFA, and we look forward to reaching an agreement that provides our flight attendants with real and meaningful value. We understand that a strike authorization vote is one of the important ways flight attendants express their desire to get a deal done. The results don’t change our commitment or distract us from working expeditiously to reach an agreement," the airline wrote in an email.
American says "many more steps" would need to occur before a strike is allowed, pointing to a flow chart of the process published by the National Mediation Board.
If the airline and union do not reach a deal after arbitration and mediation, APFA's Hedrick says they could seek to be released this fall and a strike could begin before the holiday travel season.
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