Flight Attendants Hold Bargaining Summit to Fight for Pay, Benefits

The Associaton of Flight Attendants-CWA hosted flight attendant leaders from unions representing nearly 90,000 flight attendants at CWA headquarters this week for a three-day summit to prepare for critical contract negotiations and coordinate strategies to raise overall industry standards.

Joining AFA-CWA leaders were the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, representing workers at American Airlines, the Transport Workers and the Machinists.

This year there are six flight attendant contracts that are amendable, or open for negotiation, with five more set to open in 2009, AFA-CWA said. Contracts at an additional three airlines may be amendable this year under "early opening" options, while bargaining continues on 10 other contracts. Overall, these negotiations cover 46,000 AFA-CWA flight attendants at 18 airlines. 

AFA-CWA President Pat Friend said that so far, "management doesn't understand that they're not in bankruptcy anymore."

Flight attendant productivity is up, working hours are up and time away from home is up. But when it comes to wages and benefits, airline executives have rewarded only themselves, AFA-CWA said.