About Seniority
The IAM Flight Attendant agreements at Continental, Continental Micronesia and ExpressJet all have provisions to protect Flight Attendants in a merger. The IAM contracts require fair and equitable integration of seniority, which prevents any other union from imposing a seniority integration method on IAM Flight Attendants.
Regardless of which union wins representation elections for the combined group of Flight Attendants at a merged Continental/Continental Micronesia/United or ExpressJet/Atlantic Southeast, the IAM contracts will survive for our current members until a new agreement is negotiated and ratified. If IAM Flight Attendants do not agree with a seniority integration method proposed by another union, they have the contractual right to have the issue arbitrated.
Additionally, the 2007 McCaskill-Bond Amendment requires fair and equitable integration of seniority in airline mergers. The amendment provides for binding arbitration if an employee group in an airline merger is unhappy with proposed seniority integration. No seniority integration method can be imposed on Flight Attendants without first giving an affected group the option to plead their case before a neutral arbitrator.
Following representation elections, the IAM will create Seniority Integration Committees made up of representatives from both pre-merger airlines to resolve seniority issues. Any Flight Attendant interested in serving on the Committees will have an opportunity to submit a request following a representation election. The Committees will have access to the necessary legal counsel and resources to complete their tasks. If agreements cannot be reached, outstanding issues will be submitted to a neutral arbitrator for resolution. The IAM’s position on seniority integration conforms to the McCaskill-Bond Amendment and does not impose anything on anyone.
Seniority integration will not be determined by the IAM, but by Flight Attendants themselves. Since the IAM is a democracy, the combined Flight Attendant group will establish their own method of seniority integration. While it would be easy to dictate how seniority will be integrated, it would also be undemocratic, irresponsible and subject to legal challenge.