The union that represents American Airlines pilots is calling out the carrier to make changes to a “woefully deficient by comparison” contract following the tentative agreement for United Airlines pilots that they say pays better.
The Allied Pilots Association, which represents American’s 15,000 pilots, notified members after the news that it would review ways to proceed. On Tuesday, Ed Sicher, president of the Allied Pilots Association, sent a memo to pilots saying that he spoke with Robert Isom, CEO of American Airlines and Steve Johnson, executive vice president and chief strategy officer.
It’ll be another week back at the bargaining table, in hopes to reach some updated agreement. The union was prepared to open voting on its current tentative agreement to members on July 24, but it will adjust based on procedure and input from its board.
“Mr. Isom and Mr. Johnson both acknowledged that significant improvements must be made, with Mr. Isom reiterating his assertion that management ‘will take care of our pilots,’” Sicher’s note read. “Our respective bargaining teams have committed to working around the clock beginning tonight for the next few days to address crucial improvements to the TA.”
Sarah Jantz, spokeswoman for American Airlines said, the carrier will work with the union “to make sure our pilots are taken care of.”
In its current form, the tentative agreement is “unacceptable,” according to Dennis Tajer, Allied Pilots Association spokesman. The first thing the union recognized was the difference in pay.
There’s at least a 2% pay decrease compared to Delta Air Lines and United’s pilot contracts, he said, noting that American did not provide back pay for the months of January, February, March and April 2023 in the current tentative agreement. The American agreement also provides pay increases every May, while United and Delta’s raises are every January, he said.
“We saw a market standard set for work-life balance and quality of life that we had not seen set before,” Tajer said. “United had gone and collected the good things from the Delta contract, some of the good things in our tentative agreement, and then they built on them.”
He also pointed out that United took the 10-hour duty limit for pilots and recognized anything over that as additional compensation. The union is also interested in the issue of the reserve system for when first officers are promoted to captains. Tajer said first officers immediately go to the bottom of the list as a reserve, where the quality of life “has become quite onerous at all carriers.”
Despite feeling there could be an easy fix with the company, Tajer said the union has reauthorized funding and reenergized its strike center, a normal process for when a contract is “under jeopardy,” he said.
“We have to make sure that we have all of our assets ready,” Tajer said. “That’s worst-case scenario.”
Whether membership takes a vote on the contract as early as next week will depend on how things go this week, he said. But he said that both parties are trying to make sure that this doesn’t “trigger some elongated process.”
Meanwhile, at Southwest Airlines, pilots are still without a deal. Last month, the union asked federal labor regulators to be released from mediation with the carrier amid a three-year contract battle, moving one step closer to a strike. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association represents Southwest’s more than 9,000 pilots.
“We had mediated sessions last week and the company’s offers were extremely regressive,” said Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association. “We’re further away now than when we filed for release with the NMB two weeks ago, and it’s just extremely disappointing.”
Southwest said it remains “confident” in the mediation process to reach a deal.
This week, American’s flight attendants union board unanimously approved a strike authorization vote. The more than 26,000 flight attendants at American, represented by the Association for Professional Flight Attendants, will vote for a strike, although it would take a few more legal steps to actually conduct a strike under the Railway Labor Act. Flight attendants will vote from July 28 to Aug. 29.
