| AFA-CWA | |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Affiliation: | AFL–CIO, CWA, ITF |
| Members: | 45,377 |
| Full Name: | Association of Flight Attendants-CWA |
| Founded: | August 22, 1945 |
| Headquarters: | Washington, D.C. |
| Website: | www.afacwa.org |
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (commonly known as AFA) is a union representing flight attendants in the United States. As of January 2018, AFA represents 50,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines. Since 2004, AFA has been part of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), an affiliate of AFL–CIO. AFA is also an affiliate of the International Transport Workers' Federation.
There had been several previous attempts at unionizing over the years, however, many of the would-be union leaders faced intimidation, threats, and termination for their efforts.[1] It was not until 1944 when Ada Brown, along with four other flight attendants began forming the Airline Stewardess Association or ALSA (the precursor of the AFA). Despite the previous difficulties in organizing a union, United Airlines offered no push back against this newer group, recognizing that dealing with an organized entity is the favorable option.[2] The ALSA was officially established on August 22nd, 1945.[3]
The relationship between the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) and ALSA was crucial for the flight attendants. The ALPA offered “essential information and necessary material” to the fledgling union.[4] This was, however, the beginning of what would become years of disagreements between the two. The ALPA had been allowed by the leadership to begin recruiting and unionizing other airline employees, including the flight attendants.[5] The quick and efficient unionization efforts of ALSA founders threatened the ALPA’s plans for companywide unionization. Negotiations between ALSA founders and airline officials began in December 1945, “Ada Brown, Frances Hall, and Sally Thometz met with company negotiators Charles McErlean and E.H Johnson.”[6] The negotiations dragged on through the new year. As finances got tighter during the negotiation process, sporadic donations of $5-$10 became a saving grace.[7] Negotiations ended and ALSA leadership signed its first contract with United on April 25th, 1946.[8]
One of the first changes negotiated by the newly established union was capping the flight hours an attendant could be assigned. Flight attendants were now allowed to only fly eighty-five hours per month and no more than 255 over the course of three months.[9] This was a major change since previously there were no maximum hours an attendant could fly, often leading to the woman overworking. Additionally, the starting salary for flight attendants rose from $125 to $155.[10] Talks of merging with other unions began shortly after its foundation and reached a head on December 2, 1949, ALSA merged with the Air Line Stewards and Stewardesses Association (ALSSA), an affiliate of the ALPA.[11] By 1951, ALSSA had 3,300 members.
ALPA created two separate divisions in 1960, one for pilots, and one for stewards and stewardesses. Nearly half of the USA's 8,700 flight attendants were members of ALPA's S&S division at that time. Discussions about autonomy for the S & S division of the ALPA kicked up during the 1970s. A vote for autonomy was conducted in June of 1973 however the necessary favorable votes (2/3rds) were not reached.[12] A second vote was conducted in October 1973 and a similar outcome was reached.[13] Later that year S & S Division flight attendants chose self-determination and formed the independent Association of Flight Attendants, leaving ALPA.
In 1973, ALSSA flight attendants chose self-determination and formed the independent Association of Flight Attendants, leaving ALPA.[14]
In 1982, AFA had 22,000 members at 18 American airlines. In 1984, the AFL–CIO granted AFA a charter.[15]
In 2004, after the September 11th attacks, the AFA merged with the Communication Workers of America.[16]
In July 2006, Northwest Airlines flight attendants voted to replace their independent union with AFA. AFA's membership rose to 55,000 flight attendants. On November 4, 2010, AFA was decertified by the National Mediation Board as the bargaining representative for the pre-merger Northwest Airlines flight attendants of Delta Air Lines, after narrowly losing a representational election of the combined group the day before.[17] AFA filed objections to the election with the National Mediation Board alleging interference.[18]
On June 29, 2011, AFA won one of the largest private sector union elections in decades, winning representation rights for the combined workforce of approximately 24,000 flight attendants at United Airlines, Continental Airlines and Continental Micronesia.[19] That election was triggered by a National Mediation Board ruling that those airlines had formed a single transportation system as a result of a corporate merger.
CHAOS is AFA's trademarked strategy of intermittent strikes designed to maximize the impact of an industrial action while minimizing the risk for striking flight attendants.
In May 1993, AFA members at Seattle-based Alaska Airlines were facing a 30-day cooling-off period after more than three years of negotiations.[20] In June, 1993, the cooling-off period mandated by the Railway Labor Act had expired. The first CHAOS strike took place in Seattle when three flight attendants walked off an Alaska Airlines flight just before passenger boarding.[21] A month later, another crew of flight attendants struck the last flight out of Las Vegas.[22] A few weeks later, AFA struck five flights simultaneously in the San Francisco area.[23]
America West,[24] AirTran and US Airways[25] all settled with AFA on the eve of, or a few minutes after, the end of a 30-day cooling-off period in the 1990s. AFA flight attendants at Midwest Express (now Midwest Airlines), completed a cooling-off period without reaching agreement on a first contract in 2002. After three weeks of a CHAOS campaign, and on the eve of CHAOS strikes,[26] management agreed to terms that were ratified by the flight attendants. United Airlines flight attendants used the threat of CHAOS to leverage their negotiations during the airline's bankruptcy,[27] succeeding in doubling the value of the replacement retirement plan management had proposed.
Flight attendants at Northwest Airlines, locked in a round of bankruptcy negotiations, deployed a CHAOS campaign days after joining AFA in July, 2006.[28] Union negotiators concluded a new tentative agreement with millions of dollars in improvements, but which was voted down by a narrow margin. AFA continued preparations for CHAOS strikes at Northwest pending the outcome of negotiations and litigation surrounding the case.[29]
The bankruptcy court ruled in favor of the union, denying the strike injunction sought by management.[30] On appeal, the federal district court and the court of appeals ruled that workers under the Railway Labor Act cannot strike in response to rejection of a collective bargaining agreement in bankruptcy.[31] Northwest and AFA returned to negotiations and reached a new tentative agreement, which was narrowly ratified by the flight attendants on May 29, 2007.[32] The flight attendants became the last major work group at Northwest to agree to new contract terms in bankruptcy. The new contract provided Northwest with $195 million in annual cuts through 2011, and secured a $182 million equity claim for the flight attendants before it was lost upon the company's exit from bankruptcy.
On August 16, 2023, Alaska Airlines flight attendants protested across the US for better wages and working conditions.[33] Across the US, it has been estimated that over 1,000 flight attendants were in attention outside of airports demanding a higher pay.[34] In September flight attendants a part of the union voted for a new contract with a 99.47% approval rating.[35]
AFA represents the flight attendants at the following airlines:[36] [37]
1945: Ada Brown [38]
1947: Frances Hall[39]
1948: Irene Eastin
1951: Mary Alice Koos
1953 Rowland K. Quinn Jr
1973: Kelly Rueck
1979: Linda Puchala[40] [41]
1986: Susan Bianchi-Sand
1991: Dee Maki
1995: Patricia A. Friend
2010: Veda Shook
2014: Sara Nelson