Alaska Airlines flight attendants reject preliminary collective bargaining agreement

Updated: 16 seconds ago Published: 6 minutes ago

Alaska Airlines flight attendants voted against their union’s tentative agreement on Wednesday.

“This is democracy in action and flight attendants always have the final say on any contract,” the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents Alaska Air flight attendants, said in a statement to reporters.

The decision further escalates a nearly two-year-long dispute over the airline’s flight attendants, who were seeking to negotiate a new contract for the first time in a decade.

They claim that Alaska Airlines has given pilots big raises but does not pay some of its flight attendants a living wage.

“There is still much work to be done,” the statement said. “Flight attendants need improvements as soon as possible. Our union will continue to fight for the contract that Alaska flight attendants deserve.”

The provisional three-year contract, which was rejected, included a 32% pay increase over the term of the agreement, payment for boarding time before the aircraft takes off and 21 months of back pay to compensate for time spent negotiating.

Alaska Airlines continues to negotiate and has put forward what it says is an industry-leading proposal that includes an immediate 15% pay increase, according to an online statement from the airline.

AFA Alaska represents more than 6,500 flight attendants.

In the flight attendants’ vote that ended on Wednesday, there was a turnout of 92.4 percent of those eligible to vote, according to an online statement by the union.

The union said 68 percent of voters voted against the agreement, while 32 percent voted for it.

The union plans to conduct a member survey to determine the most important issues that need to be addressed in the negotiations, the union said.

In February, Alaska Airlines flight attendants authorized a strike for the first time in three decades. But before a strike can occur, the National Mediation Board must declare negotiations deadlocked and give both parties a 30-day “cooling off” period that leads to a strike notice.

Future steps may also include additional “mobilization efforts that will be necessary to put pressure on management, increase our influence and get additional money for a new tentative agreement,” the union said.