CHICAGO- United Airlines (UA) flight attendants have been without a raise for four years as their contract negotiations drag on.
The pandemic’s impact made it a challenging time to start contract discussions, leading to a prolonged process.
United Airlines Flight Attendants
The parties are currently in federal mediation, but negotiations have been adjourned for the year. Flight attendants have only recently revealed their wage demands, as they had been waiting for American Airlines flight attendants to secure a new contract first.
The union even lent its top negotiator to the rival union at American, hoping the deal struck there would set a baseline for their own contract negotiations, viewfromthewing.
Now, United management has proposed a partial list of far-reaching concessions they are demanding. This list provides examples of the changes the company is seeking, though it is not comprehensive. Some of the proposed changes appear reasonable, while others may be more contentious. Here’s the complete list:
- Institute PBS
- Institute minimum flying requirement for medical benefits
- Delete night pay
- Reduce reserve guarantee to 75
- Lengthen Duty Day (domestic and international)
- Eliminate 1 in 7 provisions
- Less layover rest (eliminate 8 hr place of lodging)
- Less international layover rest
- Less home domicile rest
- Increase island hopper duty day
- Must remain contactable on layover
- Weaken ability to trade trips and limit flexibility
- Weaken our reassignment provisions
- Eliminate PTO
- Offset reserve pickup on days off by sick leave used during month
- Reduce RSV call-out time to 2 hours
- Reserves required to be within 50 miles of their Domicile on availability days
- Vacation Fly Through at Company’s discretion
- Eliminate Traditional Medical PPO
- Eliminate required optional medical plans
- Reduce Kaiser HMO options
- Increase spousal surcharge
- Eliminate required optional dental plans
- Increase contributions for medical plans including premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and other fixed values through indexing
The key challenge is that to achieve comparable pay, there must be comparable work rules. It remains unclear how much of the current stalemate is due to the union’s demands versus the management’s position.
Control Over Crew Scheduling
The list of concessions United Airlines is demanding in its bargaining with flight attendants highlights the company’s desire for more control over scheduling and a shift towards industry-standard provisions.
United is seeking to institute a Preferential Bidding System (PBS) for crew scheduling, a common practice in the industry used by airlines like American Airlines (AA), Delta (DL), and JetBlue (B6). This system processes crew members’ scheduling preferences based on seniority, ensuring legal requirements are met and flights are adequately staffed.
The airline also wants to eliminate several generous provisions in the current flight attendant contract, such as night pay, reserve guarantees, and duty day lengths. These are being portrayed as “concessions,” though the union is seeking significant wage increases of around 30% in the new contract.
Specifically, the union is asking for:
- 3-4% more than the raises recently won by American Airlines flight attendants
- Bigger percentage increases for more senior crew members
- Future annual raises of 4%, higher than the 2.75-3.5% increases American flight attendants received
United Seeks Concessions
United Airlines is demanding significant concessions from its flight attendants as the two parties negotiate a new contract. The airline is seeking to institute a Preferential Bidding System (PBS) for crew scheduling, a common practice in the industry.
Under PBS, crew members submit preferences for days off, trip types, destinations, and other criteria. The system then assigns schedules based on seniority, ensuring legal requirements are met and flights are adequately staffed.
However, flight attendants argue that PBS does not genuinely consider their preferences, especially for less senior crew. The algorithms behind PBS often lack transparency, leading to frustration when preferences are not met.
Currently, United uses a traditional line bidding system where pre-constructed schedules are bid on by crew members in order of seniority.
In addition to PBS, United is seeking to eliminate several generous provisions in the current flight attendant contract, such as night pay, reserve guarantees, and duty day lengths. The airline views these as concessions necessary to align with industry standards.
At the same time, United flight attendants are demanding higher pay than their counterparts at other airlines. They are seeking raises of 3-4% more than the recent contract at American Airlines, with bigger increases for more senior crew.
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