American Airlines AAL-Q 28,000 flight attendants have reached a tentative labour agreement with the company, their union said on Friday.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents the flight attendants, said the deal addresses their concerns about compensation, work rules and retroactive pay. It did not offer more details.
Reached after more than three years of negotiations, the tentative agreement will be sent to the union’s board for review. Once the board approves the deal, members will vote on ratifying it.
“If approved, this agreement will put billions of additional dollars into compensation and work rules for our flight attendant workgroup,” said union head Julie Hedrick.
The White House had been closely monitoring the talks in recent months and had been concerned about the impact of a work stoppage. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su had earlier been involved in the talks.
President Joe Biden on Friday praised the deal saying it “averts a strike that would have been devastating for the industry and consumers” and demonstrates “once again that collective bargaining benefits workers, companies, and our economy.”
American said the contract will provide immediate financial and quality-of-life improvements for the employees.
Last month, the airline offered flight attendants a new contract with an immediate 17% wage increase and higher profit sharing in 2024, which the union rejected.
American’s flight attendants had authorized their union to call a strike if there wasn’t a deal. The union had proposed an immediate raise of about 33%, saying the flight attendants had not had a pay raise in over five years and endured a lot since the pandemic, notably unruly passengers.
The contract negotiations started in January 2020 but paused at the height of the pandemic. Talks resumed in June 2021.