TWU Scores Major Victories for Flight Attendants and Other Airline Workers
Big Victories In The Air Division
Contract Gains Benefiting One-Third Of The Membership
The TWU has raised the bar for the entire aviation industry, securing industry-leading contracts with double-digit raises for approximately 50,000 Flight Attendants, Fleet Service Agents, Operations Agents, and Dispatchers. These sweeping victories benefit approximately 30% of all members in The Transport Workers Union of America. And they come as other airline unions remain stalled at the negotiating table.
The most recent contract win was with TWU Local 556, representing more than 21,000 Flight Attendants at Southwest Airlines. The collective bargaining agreement, ratified overwhelmingly on April 24, makes Southwest FA’s the highest paid in the industry. Southwest committed to paying an immediate 22% raise and will increase workgroup wages 34% by 2027. Voter participation was sky high: 93% of eligible members cast ballots, and 81% voted in favor of the pact.
Flight Attendants in TWU Local 577 also secured an industry-leading contract for low-cost carriers by ratifying a new collective bargaining agreement with Allegiant Airlines in April. This five-year contract delivers workers an immediate 25% raise on average and boosts wages 41% on average by 2028. Voter participation was nearly universal: 97% of eligible members cast ballots, 90% in favor.
“The new TWU contracts have so many significant improvements their impact will resonate across the industry as carriers like United, Alaska, and American bargain with their Flight Attendants, who have been in contract negotiations with the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) for several years,” TWU International President John Samuelsen said. “This is a significant victory for Flight Attendants industry-wide. The TWU has once again proven that we are an incredibly effective voice for Flight Attendants.”
Fightback Campaigns Paying Off
By John Samuelsen
The TWU is enjoying an incredible run of success right now. I’m writing this directly in the aftermath of the April ratification of Local 556’s blockbuster contract for our Southwest Flight Attendants, which makes them the highest paid FAs in the country – and the first at a major carrier to receive paid maternal and parental leave. This victory comes on the heels of similarly important wins at Allegiant Air (Local 577), Air Wisconsin and JetBlue (Local 592), and our other major group at Southwest: the Ramp, Operations, Provisioning and Freight Agents (Local 555).
It’s beyond the Air Division too. In Columbus, Ohio, Local 208 in January settled a contract in which The TWU won unprecedented protections against the displacement of our Bus Operators by robots.
Absolutely superb.
These victories have not come easily, and they didn’t just appear out of thin air. They are the product of extremely hard work by our Local officers working in conjunction with an International leadership that is determined to win. They are the result of groundwork that has been several years in the making. And they directly correlate to the intense fightback campaigns we have relentlessly waged over the last seven years.
The employers we bargain with are now compelled to make a consequential decision: bargaining in good faith toward a settlement – or become the target of a continuous, bruising, multi-faceted, and very public fightback campaign by The TWU International, working together with our Locals, to protect and advance our members’ livelihoods.
America’s Fightback Union
TWU International President John Samuelsen Takes Contract Fight Directly to American Airlines CEO Robert Isom
“I want to take this opportunity to tell you to your face that you’re not getting what you want. You can have all the articulate Ivy League written business plans that you want, but they don’t amount to a hill of beans. You’re not getting what you want from us.” – John Samuelsen. May 21, 2019. LaGuardia Airport, NYC