Union members at American Airlines, including thousands of workers in the Fleet Service workgroup, are gearing up to start contract negotiations in the upcoming months, according to a joint statement released on April 1 by the Transport Workers Union and the Machinists Union.
Front-line union members of the Fleet Service workers at American Airlines are taking the lead in kicking off the new round of negotiations, set to begin in September of this year. They are sharing their main issues and concerns through surveys conducted by the two unions. These surveys are available to front-line union members starting April 1 and will run through April 19.
According to a joint statement released to union members this morning, “The feedback we get from these surveys will be vital to your Negotiating Committee as we prepare to begin talks with American Airlines.”
Fleet Service Workers at American are represented by two separate unions, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Machinists Union (IAM). This partnership was forged in 2013 following the merger between American Airlines, and US Airways. Together the two unions represent about 30,000 workers from various workgroups at American.
The current contract was drafted after four years of bargaining at the airline. The TWU-IAM Association announced in January 2020 that they had reached Agreements in Principle with American Airlines for five new Joint Collective Bargaining Agreements (JCBAs) worth $4.2 billion. Fleet Service workers won top-of-industry wage increases, profit-sharing payments, and critical quality-of-life improvements. Importantly, union members also negotiated bullet-proof job protections, which other airlines have been required to match in order to stay competitive in the tightening airline job market.
Airlines are covered under the Railway Labor Act, which covers transportation-related industries. Under the Act, agreements between airlines and unions do not expire. Instead, they reach an “amendable date,” after which they can be updated. At airlines, this process can be lengthy and often takes several years to complete. The four years it took for American Airlines to agree to the current contract was similar in terms of timeframe to other airline contracts. Pilots at United Airlines, for example, also took a little over four years to reach an agreement with that airline.
