In a bit of good news for the airline of the 49th state, Alaska Air appears to have avoided a strike. However, the same can’t be said for Alaska’s domestic Oneworld partner – American – which has seen its latest round of negotiations with its flight attendants come to an impasse.
Several U.S. airline flight attendant contracts have been under negotiation as of late. Two of the most contentious of these have, ironically, involved the only two U.S.-based members of the Oneworld Alliance. Thankfully, it seems as if one of them is out of danger now, as Alaska Air appears to have avoided a strike by its flight attendants, while the other seems headed for a strike.
Alaska Air Appears to Have Avoided a Strike
This past Friday, the Association of Flight Attendants -CWA (AFA) announced that union representatives had reached a tentative agreement with Alaska Airlines management. The deal comes after two years of negotiations, a successful strike vote this past February, and the latest round of talks coming under Federal mediation. AFA officials say that the following steps include a review of the new terms by union leadership and a vote by their members. While they are not out of the woods yet, Alaska Air appears to have avoided a strike, especially compared to how things are going with its partner and the AFA.
Talks Between APFA and American Stall
The day before Alaska Air flight attendants announced their win, American Air flight attendants’ statement had quite the opposite tune – talks had broken down again with no deal in sight. The union is now warning its members at American to prepare for a strike, which means going without pay, as the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) doesn’t appear to have a strike fund like other unions (the UAW comes to mind as a recent example) do.
Does this mean that a strike is imminent? Not yet. Federal mediators must first “release” American and the APFA, after which a 30-day cooling down period takes place. Then, and only then, may a strike take place. Being that the American-APFA talks haven’t been released yet, we’re still over a month away from a potential walkout. So, all we can do at this point is keep an eye out for any new developments at American and, if possible, have backup plans in case you plan on traveling in the August-September timeframe.
It’s worth noting, though, that even if all of the above does happen, the union can always take a delayed strike action to avoid peak summer travel months. There’s no guarantee that they’d do so. Still, given American’s financial condition, the damage they’ve done to their customer base recently, etc., causing more harm to the airline wouldn’t exactly be wise right now.
Alaska Air Appears to Have Avoided a Strike, Final Thoughts
An airline strike hasn’t happened in a while. In fact, the last one was when Spirit Airlines pilots went on strike back in 2010. So, if American Airlines and the APFA fail to come to an agreement and their predicament really does devolve into a strike, it would be the first in nearly a decade and a half. The potential timing would also be awful, given that we’re entering into the peak summer travel season. Hopefully, an agreement will be reached sooner rather than later.
That said, it’s great that Alaska Air appears to have avoided a strike. However, the airlines’ union challenges are only just beginning, as getting all of the unions of Alaska and Hawaiian to agree to their pending merger and merge their seniority lists is their next greatest challenge following obtaining Department of Justice approval.