Flight Attendants Fight for Fair Contract at United

The AFA-CWA Joint Negotiating Committee, bargaining for a joint contract covering 24,000 Flight Attendants at the pre-merger United, Continental and Continental Micronesia Airlines, is pushing hard to reach the industry-leading contract that Flight Attendants deserve.

Mediation has been underway for about six months, and AFA-CWA Flight Attendants and supporters have been picketing at United terminals at airports around the globe, sending a powerful message to management that they are determined to get a fair contract.  

A lot of work has taken place over the course of the last six months of mediation, and the AFA-CWA Joint Negotiating Committee has built a comprehensive proposal that incorporates all the issues that are important to Flight Attendants, and especially the critical issues of working conditions, benefits and compensation.

“It is well past time that Flight Attendants and passengers share in the benefits of a fully integrated airline,” said AFA-CWA presidents Ken Diaz (pre-merger United), Randy Hatfield (pre-merger Continental) and Kathleen Domondon (pre-merger Continental Micronesia). “A contract for Flight Attendants is critical for completion of the merger and long-term success of the airline. We are united in our commitment to achieve a new standard for our careers as we share in the profits we help create. Share price doesn’t save lives. Flight Attendants do.”

The three carriers merged in 2010, and today United is posting record profits. Executives and shareholders are cashing in, United’s stock price is up 204 percent since negotiations began and United is investing $100 million in a Brazilian airline.

Flight Attendants aren’t sharing in those gains and are fighting for a fair contract that reflects their sacrifices at the pre-merger carriers.