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Town Hall Meetings on the Cusp of a Historic Contract Ratification at United

April 27, 2023

A gathering of Machinists Union Members filed into a Town Hall Meeting to discuss seven new contractual agreements with United Airlines. 

At more than 50 airports around the nation, Machinists Union members have been gathering in airport Ready Rooms, Local Lodges, and other locations to discuss the ratification of seven new agreements that will cover about 30,000 employees at the carrier. 

The Agreements will add new wage scales that will make it easier for United to attract new hires and increase the number of Lead agents. They will also introduce new language to protect agents at 17 stations that might have otherwise been subject to outsourcing. 

Following the return of air travel after the pandemic, United has repeatedly been forced to resort to huge bonuses to draw in workers interested in working for the airline. Stenberg told the assembly that United hoped higher starting wages would help reduce the need for large bonuses to attract new employees. 

The new agreements will also introduce minimum levels of full-time workers, a first for the airline. 

During the height of the pandemic, CEO Scott Kirby attempted to furlough thousands of employees to part-time status. “It’s important to remember that,” said Joe Bartz at the Chicago meeting. “We took him to court to stop that plan, and we protected full-time status for our members. But, if we hadn’t made him back down, there’s no guarantee that he wouldn’t have been able to legally do that,” he continued. 

“These new agreements will make sure that he can never try to do that again,” he said. 

While the new agreements protect full-time positions, Erik Stenberg stressed that no part-timers would be forced to go full-time. Stenberg, who led the meeting and is an Assistant General Chair, and Bartz, reassured part-timers that their status was also protected. 

Stenberg and Bartz were among the group of Union Negotiators who helped forge the new agreements. 

The Chicago meeting comes as the voting period for the Agreements is drawing to a close following a 7-day voting window. The Ratification Vote will end on May 1, with results expected to be announced within 24 hours, barring any unforeseen developments.

In the first quarter of 2023, United Airlines reported a pre-tax loss of $256 million. However, the company increased its total operating revenue by 51.1% compared to the same period in 2022 and its total revenue per available seat mile (TRASM) by 22.5%. The airline has also been increasing its capacity in recent months, with a 22.4% year-on-year increase in Q1 and an expected 18.5% increase in Q2 compared to Q2 2022.

According to Bartz, the Union and Company will return to full “Section 6” negotiations, where the two sides will litigate every word of all seven contracts. Typically, Union Negotiations in the Airline industry take anywhere from two to four years to complete. Any workgroups that vote down their agreement will have to wait until the Section 6 talks wrap up to lock in new wages and job protections. 

“For the first time ever, every single ramp and Customer service airport cannot be outsourced under any circumstances,” Bartz told the union members.

“You will be the highest paid in your work classification in the industry, Bartz told the group. “No matter what. We will get back to work, protect all our stations, and Kirby will never be able to cut us to part-time.”

“For the past five months, we’ve been laser focused on wages and job security,” he continued. “We were in a position where we had to go forward, and you guys are going to tell us how well we did.”

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