Contracts

The question about which union represents the combined flight attendant group at a post-merger airline will be resolved separately from the issue of which collective bargaining agreement survives the merger.

A collective bargaining agreement is not owned by a union – it belongs to the union members. If a group of airline employees decide to change union representation, the new union will inherit the contract negotiated by the prior union and be bound by its terms until it can negotiate new terms to bring both pre-merger groups under the same collective bargaining agreement.

Even after there is operational integration, IAM flight attendants will continue working under the terms of their contracts until two things happen:

1. Representation issues are resolved and the combined flight attendants are represented by a single union

                       – AND -

2. The surviving union negotiates an agreement with the new carrier to bring all flight attendants under a single collective bargaining agreement.

Similarly, pre-merger non-IAM flight attendants will continue working under the terms of their agreement until negotiations for the combined group are concluded.

The IAM agreement is superior in wages, retirement security and scheduling flexibility. Your bargaining committee is currently in negotiations with to improve on what is already the leading contract in the industry.

If the IAM is the successful union following an election, we will use our contract as a starting point and work up from there, bargaining to include the elements that flight attendants find favorable.

When those negotiations are completed, the combined flight attendant group will get to vote on the  IAM flight attendant contract.