Union contracts are protecting paychecks.
While millions of America’s non-union workers are watching their paychecks erode due to ever-increasing health care costs and wage stagnation, IAM Members at our nation’s airlines are prospering.
With wages that are higher than they have ever been, new contracts that make outsourcing almost impossible, and no shortage of profits for carriers, airline workers have never had it better than they do right now.
Many IAM Members at United Airlines are already the very best paid airline workers in their classifications. In December, the IAM Wage Premium will increase even more, as most IAM members at United will begin earning a base rate of more than $30/hour, many of them for the first time.
Although contract negotiations at American are ongoing, insiders are predicting that wages at that airline will remain strong once a Tentative Agreement with IAM Members gets ratified. American Airlines Members, like their counterparts at United, are at the very top of the pay scale already.
These raises are not small. They will deliver millions of dollars in additional wages to IAM141 members. They are helping to negate the inevitable cost of living increases that are eroding the wages of most non-union workers.
The upcoming raises at United will be only the second of six total negotiated raises for covered Union workers at the airline. IAM Members at United will be getting guaranteed raises just like this one for the next four years.
Thanks to these advances, IAM Contracts have dramatically redefined what constitutes a fair market rate for airline work. “Normal” wages for topped out airline workers are now higher than that of most American workers and are not likely to fall anytime soon.