Flight attendants represented by three labor unions joined forces on Tuesday for protests at airports across the U.S.
Flight attendants who are members of the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) protested at 30-plus airports, including several of the largest U.S. airports, and London Heathrow.
Those unions represent a cross-section of U.S. airlines. The TWU says that approximately 100,000 flight attendants for U.S. airlines are currently working under contracts that have passed their negotiated timespan and have become amendable, including flight attendants at Southwest, Alaska, United, American, Allegiant and Frontier as well regional airlines.
"This coalition is putting the carriers on notice that flight attendants are locking arms and standing together as labor unions to improve the conditions for all of us and for the aviation industry," said Corliss King, second vice president of TWU Local 556, which represents the approximately 20,000 Southwest Airlines flight attendants.
Southwest flight attendants have twice voted against negotiated labor contracts put forward by TWU 556, most recently in December. Last month, union members approved a strike authorization.
On Tuesday, Alaska flight attendants concluded a strike-authorization vote, with 99.5% voting yes.
Under the Railway Labor Act, which regulates strike actions in the airline industry, strike authorizations do not lead to an imminent strike. Several more steps would have to play out before Alaska or Southwest flight attendants could actually walk off the job. Still, a strike authorization raises the stakes during formal mediation sessions, which are conducted by the National Mediation Board (NMB).
The collective-bargaining agreement between Alaska management and the airline's AFA chapter has been amendable for more than a year.
"We remain optimistic in the negotiations process," Alaska said in a Tuesday statement. "With six recently closed labor deals at the company and a tentative agreement reached in January for a new contract for our technicians, we're hopeful to do the same for our flight attendants as soon as possible. AFA and Alaska leadership have met twice in the last three weeks and are continuing to bargain and meet with a mediator."
The last two sessions have yielded four tentative agreements, Alaska said.
American Airlines flight attendants have gone further down the path toward a strike. Last month, APFA submitted a second request to the NMB for release to strike, having had its first request rejected in November. A grant of release would allow APFA to strike after a 30-day cooling off period.
APFA is scheduled to meet with the NMB in March to plead its case for a release to strike.
APFA and American also continue to negotiate, including NMB-facilitating mediations last week.