Unionized flight attendants at American Airlines held mock strikes Wednesday at airports across the U.S., including Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles, New York LaGuardia, Washington Reagan National and San Francisco.
Flight attendants picketed and wore red discs that read "Got Guts." The red disc signified to passengers that the flight would not be operating if there were a real strike, according to the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the AA flight attendants’ union.
The flight attendants are drawing attention to stalled negotiations with management. According to APFA, the flight attendants and management have scheduled additional contract negotiations through January.
If no agreement is reached, APFA said it would ask the National Mediation Board to allow APFA to move to a 30-day cooling-off period, a final step before a possible strike.
APFA President Laura Glading called Wednesday’s mock strikes "a symbolic demonstration to show management that flight attendants are willing and able to do whatever is necessary to get a fair contract."
APFA says that AA flight attendants helped the airline avoid bankruptcy after 9/11 by accepting wage cuts, but that upper management has continued to rake in bonuses even when the airline loses money.
Flight attendants want a pay increase, but airline management has said that any benefit must be offset by a concession of equal value, according to APFA.
American Airlines has maintained that its flight attendants are among the highest-paid flight attendants in the U.S.
