In the past couple of years, we’ve seen pilots at most major US airlines get lucrative new contracts. We’re now seeing flight attendants trying to get their fair share of wage increases, even though industry economics have worsened a bit.
Along those lines, United Airlines’ flight attendants have just voted to authorize a strike. However, don’t worry, it’s highly unlikely a strike actually happens, and if it does, it’ll be a long ways down the road.
In this post:
United flight attendants authorize strike
In mid-July 2024, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents United’s 28,000 flight attendants, announced plans to authorize a strike vote. Over the past four weeks, flight attendants have been able to cast their ballot for a strike vote, and the results are now in.
As you’d expect, United flight attendants have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike. Over 90% of flight attendants cast their votes, and of those, 99.99% voted in favor of authorizing a strike.
So while a strike authorization vote has happened, the reality is that there almost certainly won’t be a strike, and it most definitely won’t be in the coming months. Just because flight attendants vote in favor of a strike authorization doesn’t mean they’ll actually go on strike.
Rather, United management and the union representing flight attendants have to follow the procedures of the Railway Labor Act, which includes going to the National Mediation Board, in hopes of coming to a resolution. A strike would only (eventually) be permitted if that process fails. Even then it wouldn’t be imminent, as there would first be a 30-day cooling off period before a strike could occur.
The reality is that strikes don’t happen often at airlines in the United States. Furthermore, United flight attendants are among the last to be negotiating a new contract, and we’ve seen similar strike authorization votes at other airlines, all without a strike.
What does a strike vote really mean?
This strike vote is a bargaining tool, plain and simple, and nothing more. Still, it’s pretty significant when you consider that United hasn’t seen a strike authorization vote among flight attendants since 2005, so it has been nearly 20 years.
Flight attendants at the major US airlines are at different levels of negotiations when it comes to securing a new contract. Southwest flight attendants have ratified a new contract, American flight attendants are voting on a new contract, and Alaska flight attendants had a tentative contract, but rejected it (Delta flight attendants aren’t unionized, but will likely get a proactive pay raise when other airlines get pay raises as well).
Given that flight attendants at United are the least far along when it comes to negotiating a new contract, I think it’s also the least likely that they’ll actually strike, since there will be a lot of precedent for what kind of a contract they can expect.
Here’s how Ken Diaz, President of United’s flight attendant union, describes the results of the strike vote:
“We deserve an industry-leading contract. Our strike vote shows we’re ready to do whatever it takes to reach the contract we deserve. We are the face of United Airlines and planes don’t take off without us. As Labor Day travel begins, United management is reminded what’s at stake if we don’t get this done.”
“The United management team gives themselves massive compensation increases while Flight Attendants struggle to pay basic bills. The 99.99% yes vote is a clear reminder that we are unified in the fight against corporate greed and ready to fight for our fair share of the profits we create.”
United flight attendants filed for federal mediation around nine months ago, and have been working under an amendable contract for around three years. United flight attendants are demanding 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.
Bottom line
United Airlines’ flight attendants have voted to authorize a strike. Over 90% of flight attendants participated in the vote, and of those, 99.99% voted in favor of a strike. While that sounds bad, it doesn’t mean a whole lot for passengers.
The odds of United flight attendants going on strike is close to zero. Rather this just seems to be one of the steps to ratifying a contract nowadays. We’ve seen exactly the same votes at most other airlines.
What do you make of the United flight attendant strike authorization vote?
Give 'em hell, Sarah!
Channeling a former and lifelong UA flight attendant ( part of my family) " take your cookies when they are passed "
IMHO most flight attendants in the United States are overpaid. If you compare what you get in service, attitude, and looks from international carriers, it's clear why America still bans other airlines from operating domestic routes. They can't handle the competition.
Dude, most countries don't allow foreign airlines to operate domestic routes. 5th Freedom flights are few and far between. That actually is a valid reason for protectionism, you don't want a foreign carrier flooding your domestic market, running your own airlines out of business, then cutting capacity and hiking fares. China was doing this in the Pacific market pre-COVID, you could find $300-500 round trip trans-Pacific flights which is just utterly ludicrous and unsustainable.
...Dude, most countries don't allow foreign airlines to operate domestic routes. 5th Freedom flights are few and far between. That actually is a valid reason for protectionism, you don't want a foreign carrier flooding your domestic market, running your own airlines out of business, then cutting capacity and hiking fares. China was doing this in the Pacific market pre-COVID, you could find $300-500 round trip trans-Pacific flights which is just utterly ludicrous and unsustainable.
Shipbuilding is another good example, the Chinese government subsidizes Chinese shipyards to the tune of billions of dollars, and as a result Chinese shipyards are the cheapest place for shipping lines to buy new ships from and have around 40% market share today. Surpassing the previous two building powerhouses, South Korea and Japan (which also give heavy subsidies to their shipbuilding industry to keep them competitive). Do I need to spell out for you what an economic disaster it would be for 40% of the world's new cargo ships to get pulled from the market if China decides it really does want to re-unite Taiwan by force?
They are all a bunch of useless idiots!!
It's really stunning that UA's FA leadership hasn't voted for a strike authorization yet.
It was clear with UA's pilots that UA would wait to be the last of the big 3 to sign a contract after the first pilot contract was shot down by pilot membership. Delta more than doubled the valued of what UA had offered which DL pilots accepted and the DL pilot compensation standard because the industry standard.
DL then...
It's really stunning that UA's FA leadership hasn't voted for a strike authorization yet.
It was clear with UA's pilots that UA would wait to be the last of the big 3 to sign a contract after the first pilot contract was shot down by pilot membership. Delta more than doubled the valued of what UA had offered which DL pilots accepted and the DL pilot compensation standard because the industry standard.
DL then proceeded to raise its FA wages, adding boarding pay on top of pay raises. WN sent a contract to its FA leadership which rejected it. AA's FA leadership has been talking tough for years and still doesn't have a contract.
UA FAs are fools for allowing AA FAs and their leadership to dictate the pace at which UA should settle with its FAs.
UA FAs will never get the money back that they are losing by waiting no matter how much UA mgmt says they will surpass whatever is offered by any other carrier.
UA FAs need to see their pay raised to at least DL levels including profit sharing and boarding pay and then add in the union dues that DL FAs don't pay. If AFA can't get that for UA FAs, then there is no reason to even have a union.
My guess is it will force United management’s hands if they don’t come to an agreement by summer 2025. My friend is a UA flight attendant and says the company has made next to zero progress over the span of 3 years in terms of negotiations and are only asking for concessions. They could be like AA and start to lose revenue. Some people will not pick an airline that has even the possibility of a strike if they have serious plans.