(Reuters) – United Airlines flight attendants have voted to authorize a strike, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said on Wednesday.
More than 90 percent of flight attendants participated, and 99.99 percent of the votes were in favor of authorizing the strike, the union said.
It was the first time since bankruptcy negotiations in 2005 that United flight attendants had voted to authorize a strike, it said.
More than 28,000 flight attendants at the Chicago-based AFA-affiliated airline have negotiated a double-digit increase in base salary and higher pay for time worked – including ground duty, back pay, flexible hours and improvements to work rules.
“With travel beginning on Labor Day, United management is reminded of what is at stake if we don’t get this done,” said Ken Diaz, president of the United affiliate of the AFA.
The situation comes amid new collective bargaining negotiations in the United States and Canada, where airline cabin crew are also demanding compensation for ground duties such as boarding passengers and waiting between flights.
Last year, United flight attendants filed a federal mediation petition with the National Mediation Board (NMB).
The union added that it could now request a layoff period from the NMB, which would result in a 30-day “cooling off period” and a strike period.
Even if the strike is authorized, the flight attendants cannot stop working until they receive permission from the board, which has determined that both parties have reached a deadlock and further negotiations would not be productive.
(Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru and Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago; Editing by Alan Barona and Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
