AFA’s Conflicting Claims about Negotiations
AFA claimed it could complete negotiations for a new contract for Delta’s 28,000 flight attendants “within a year of the representation vote.”
Yet when trying to convince its members at Norse Airlines to approve their tentative agreement, AFA recently admitted, “As we have seen with our US counterparts like United, American and more, these negotiations could stretch out for YEARS with no increase in wages or improvement in benefits or working conditions for the crew.”
In reality, contract negotiations in the airline industry are lengthy and complex. United flight attendants have been stuck in negotiations for over three years. American flight attendants waited for five years of negotiations before they approved their new contract in 2024.
Even at AFA-represented carriers with workgroups significantly smaller than Delta, AFA’s claim doesn’t hold true. For example, Eastern’s 45 flight attendants were stuck in negotiations for almost 3 years. Similarly, Avelo flight attendants have been in negotiations for 3 years and still have many contract sections open and unresolved.
AFA seems to say one thing when seeking to represent Delta flight attendants and then something very different to its members. The truth is that AFA has never completed contract negotiations for a workgroup the size of Delta’s within a year of a representation vote.
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