12.31.24 – Recognizing Our 2024 Accomplishments; A Look Forward to 2025

Recognizing Our 2024 Accomplishments
and a Look Forward to 2025

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Happy New Year!

As we close out 2024, we celebrate a monumental achievement: a new, industry-leading collective bargaining agreement for Flight Attendants at American Airlines. This success is a powerful reminder of what we can accomplish through solidarity within our Union and with support of Union Siblings across industries and occupations. Together, 28,000 Flight Attendants secured an agreement that adds $4.2 billion in value over its term, delivers wage increases of 33%–36% over five years, ensures retroactive compensation for management delays, and fortifies our industry-leading pay protections with no ‘makeup’ obligations.

This contract did not come without a fight– contracts never do, and they never will.

None of this would have been possible without the unity of 28,000 Flight Attendants standing together. Your determination kept our fight front and center in the media and in the minds of the traveling public, forcing American Airlines management to deliver a top-of-industry agreement.

Never underestimate the power and purpose of Union Members coming together against corporate greed.

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2024: A Year of Accomplishments

In addition to celebrating a new collective bargaining agreement, we recognize the hard fought battles that ensured our success at the bargaining table.

• Keeping our fight in the spotlight—through the media and public attention—was critical to securing a contract that addresses our needs. Flight Attendants across the system rose to the occasion time and again, showing up in force for picketing events at airports, American Airlines headquarters, and even AA investor and shareholder meetings.

click on all photos to enlarge

Clockwise from top left: Flight Attendants protest at Worldwide Day of Action in DFW, AA Investor Day at the New York Stock Exchange, and a pop-up protest J.P. Morgan Industrials Conference in NYC.

• In May and June, Flight Attendants called on elected officials in Washington, D.C., to urge the National Mediation Board to use all provisions under the Railway Labor Act to resolve contract negotiations promptly while American management continued to delay reaching a tentative agreement at the bargaining table. 

  Together, we wrote 16,000+ letters and made 1,200+ calls to Congress to advocate for our careers.

• In June, as management continued to offer substandard proposals in negotiations, APFA opened a Strike Command Center to serve as a centralized communications center, ensuring effective communication among Flight Attendants during negotiations and potential strike actions.
• That same month, talks between APFA and AA broke down. As a result of our picketing and preparations for a strike, leaders at the National Mediation Board called APFA and AA negotiators to Washington, D.C., for a last-ditch attempt to avoid a work stoppage. Our solidarity and the credible strike threat prompted real progress in negotiations.

Picketing AA Headquarters

• July 2024 brought a tentative agreement after final negotiations in Phoenix, AZ addressing our concerns on critical areas of compensation, retroactive pay, contractual improvements, and preserving our hard-won work rules.
• With a 94.43% participation rate, 88.64% of American Airlines Flight Attendants voted YES to ratify the 2024 Tentative Agreement on September 12, 2024. This victory was made possible not only through our collective unity but also with the unwavering support of our Union Siblings, who stood with us every step of the way. Additionally, 173 Members of Congress and 33 Senators urged the National Mediation Board (NMB) to utilize every provision under the Railway Labor Act to help us reach this agreement. Our credible strike threat forced action at the highest levels. NMB Member Linda Puchala, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s tireless efforts ensured our agreement crossed the finish line.

Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su virtually congratulates APFA Flight Attendants after contract ratification.

• At the October 2024 Fall Board of Directors Meeting, APFA Leadership reaffirmed its commitment to financial reform and transparency—a process that began at the 2021 National Convention to address past overspending and misuse of Union funds. To date, your APFA Board of Directors, comprised of your elected Base Presidents, has implemented eleven resolutions designed to enhance transparency and establish guardrails to ensure responsible and accountable Union operations. These reforms are a critical step in safeguarding the financial integrity of our Union.
  

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A Look Ahead to 2025: Holding Management Accountable,
Supporting Our Union Siblings

Along with continuing our contract implementation, our Union, including all 28,000 Flight Attendants, will hold our management accountable.

Crew Managers (CM and CAM) are here to support us—not to enforce a rigid disciplinary program, micromanage us over trivial issues, or treat us like numbers. They must be fully trained to answer your contract questions and provide guidance on every aspect of our jobs. Crew Managers should offer comprehensive support and be your “go-to” resource for resolving both contractual and company policy issues.

During IROPS, your Crew Managers must be available to assist with rescheduling, legalities, pay protection questions, and hotel/limo issues. Senior VP of Inflight Brady Byrnes and VP of Inflight Bobbi Wells have committed to improving manager accessibility and ensuring they provide the support we deserve, and we will hold them to that commitment.

It’s going to take all 28,000 of us to hold management accountable and demand the increased level of support we need to do our jobs effectively.

We should take pride in everything we achieved together in 2024, and we are grateful for all of the industry-wide Union support to help us secure our CBA. Please continue to support our Union siblings at Air Wisconsin, Alaska, Frontier, Omni, PSA, and United as they continue their fights for fair contracts.

Let’s also offer support for our colleagues at Delta Air Lines as they fight to become Unionized. They deserve dependable wage increases, stronger work rules, and benefits that can’t be changed on a whim.

On behalf of all of your APFA Representatives, we wish you a happy, healthy, prosperous 2025.

In Solidarity,