The updates section provides historical information about scheduled bargaining sessions.
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This week, the American and APFA negotiating teams met in Dallas with Senior Mediator Zachery Jones to plan for January’s negotiating session.
The AA and APFA negotiating teams met this week in Dallas with Senior Mediator Zachery Jones. This week's session focused on the financial modeling and analysis associated with the parties' current proposals.
This week, the American and APFA negotiating teams met with Senior Mediator Zachery Jones in Dallas. On Thursday, the American team presented APFA with counterproposals on Article 7 – Hours of Service and Article 9 – Scheduling.
Mediated negotiations are scheduled to resume October 13 in Dallas.
This week, the American and APFA negotiating teams met in Washington D.C., with Senior Mediator Zachery Jones to continue the progress made in past weeks.
The American and APFA teams exchanged counterproposals Article 7 – Hours of Service, Article 8 – Minimum Pay & Credit, and Article 9 – Scheduling. Additionally, the American team presented APFA with counterproposals on Article 6 – Vacation and Article 26 – Sick Leave.
We will continue working with APFA and the mediator to give the remaining contract articles the attention and thoughtfulness they deserve, and are committed to reaching an agreement that recognizes the contributions and needs of our flight attendants while serving the long-term future of our company.
The teams are scheduled to resume mediated discussions on September 16 in Dallas.
During the last two weeks of July, the American and APFA negotiating teams continued to make steady progress at the table, working with Mediator DuBester to reach tentative agreements on six additional articles. Our negotiations for these two weeks concluded on Friday, July 31, as scheduled, after 10 full days at the bargaining table.
To date, the teams have successfully reached 28 tentative agreements – more than two thirds of the total contract articles. But, there’s still more ground to cover, with some of our most complex and challenging issues ahead including compensation, benefits and scheduling. We are committed to working with APFA and the mediator to give the remaining 11 articles the attention and thoughtfulness they deserve.
Our objective remains the same as when we started this process – to achieve an agreement that recognizes the contributions and needs of our flight attendants while serving the long-term future of our company. In the current economic environment, this is a challenge, but one which we believe can be met through hard work and the exchange of creative ideas. And we will continue working with APFA and the mediator to make that happen. Among our proposals in these areas, we seek to:
The company has provided proposals and/or counterproposals on every article of the agreement except Article 3 – Compensation, which is contingent upon the agreements reached on productivity and work rules.
Aside from Article 3 – Compensation, the open and exchanged articles are Article 2 – Definitions, Article 4 – Expenses, Article 6 – Vacations, Article 7 – Hours of Service, Article 8 – Minimum Pay & Credit, Article 9 – Scheduling, Article 26 – Sick Leave, Article 35 – Group Life and Health Benefits, Article 36 – Retirement Benefit Plans, and Article 38 – Duration of Agreement.
We hope to make further progress when we return to the bargaining table at the end of August in Washington, D.C.
Over the course of the last two weeks, the American and APFA negotiating teams made steady progress. The teams worked with Mediator DuBester to reach tentative agreements on Article 1 – Recognition/Merger & Acquisition Protection and Article 37 – Effect on Prior Agreements, which did not include changes to the current contract language, and on Article 13 – Seniority General, Article 16 – Reduction in Force, Article 25 – Exchange of Trips and Article 22 – Training and Meetings, where there were modifications to the current language. APFA proposed creating a new Article 22 to consolidate all flight attendant training information for easy reference.
Additionally, the teams discussed and exchanged proposals or counterproposals on several of the remaining contract articles. American presented APFA with industry overview presentations on flight attendant health benefits and pensions, which included proposals on Article 35 – Group Life and Health Benefit Plans and Article 36 – Flight Attendant Retirement Benefit Program. The company negotiating team also presented APFA with a proposal on Article 2 – Definitions and counterproposals on Article 4 – Expenses, Article 6 – Vacations, Article 7 – Hours of Service, Article 8 – Minimum Pay and Credit, Article 9 – Scheduling, Article 26 – Sick Leave and Article 38 – Duration of Agreement. APFA proposed creating a new Article 33, entitled Crew Rest, as well as presented the company with counterproposals on Article 6 – Vacations, Article 7 – Hours of Service, Article 8 – Minimum Pay and Credit, Article 9 – Scheduling and Article 26 – Sick Leave.
The company has now provided proposals and/or counterproposals on every article of the agreement except Article 3 – Compensation, which is traditionally the last item discussed once productivity and work rules have been resolved.
We look forward to resuming our mediated discussions with APFA on August 31 in Washington, D.C.
This week, the American and APFA negotiating teams met with Mediator DuBester in Dallas and continued their productive discussions around several contract articles. The company looks forward to resuming mediated talks with APFA next week in Washington, D.C.
This week, the American and APFA negotiating teams met in Washington, D.C., with Mediator DuBester; some sessions were also attended by Sr. Mediator Zachery Jones. The teams focused their discussions on scheduling and reserve items, and were able to reach a tentative agreement on Article 10 – Reserve.
APFA previously notified the company that they will be taking the month of June to meet with flight attendants at various bases to discuss the state of negotiations. At the request of the NMB, talks will resume for two weeks starting July 20.
This week, the American and APFA negotiating teams met in Dallas with Mediator DuBester to continue the progress made in past weeks.
The American negotiating team presented APFA with proposals on Article 9 – Scheduling and Article 10 – Reserve. The APFA negotiating team proposed creating a new Article 22 entitled Training and Meetings.
The teams discussed these proposals and will continue working through these items at the next mediated session in Washington, D.C., on May 27.
This week, the American and APFA negotiating teams met in Miami with Mediator DuBester to discuss several of the outstanding contract articles.
The American negotiating team presented APFA with counterproposals on Article 1 – Recognition and Merger/Acquisition Protection, Article 16 – Reduction in Force, and Article 26 – Sick Leave. The APFA negotiating team presented American with a counterproposal on Article 16 – Reduction in Force.
The scheduling subcommittees also met this week to continue their discussions around Article 7 – Hours of Service, Article 8 – Minimum Pay and Credit, Article 9 – Scheduling, and Article 10 – Reserve.
American values and respects the contributions our flight attendants make every day in serving our customers, and we remain committed to working collaboratively with APFA to reach a competitive contract that addresses flight attendants’ needs while at the same time positions the company for long-term success.
We look forward to resuming our mediated talks with APFA in Dallas on May 12.
This week, the American and APFA negotiating teams met in Fort Worth with Mediator DuBester and continued to make progress on several contract articles. The American negotiating team presented APFA with counterproposals on Article 7 – Hours of Service and Article 8 – Minimum Pay and Credit, and proposals on Article 1 – Recognition and Merger / Acquisition Protection and Article 16 – Reduction in Force.
The APFA negotiating team presented American with a proposal on Article 26 – Sick Leave, and also proposed a new Article 27 entitled Injury on Duty and Hostile Acts. Each team is in the process of reviewing and evaluating the proposals or counterproposals on the table.
The scheduling subcommittees also met this week to continue their discussions around Article 9 – Scheduling and Article 10 – Reserve.
We look forward to resuming our open dialogue with APFA and Mediator DuBester on April 28 in Miami.
This week, the American and APFA negotiating teams met in Dallas and worked collaboratively with Mediator DuBester to reach five tentative agreements on articles in which there were proposed modifications to the current contract language: Article 11 – Language, Article 20 – Medical Appeals/Arbitration, Article 30 – General, Article 32 – Health and Safety Committees, and Article 34 – Purser.
The American negotiating team also presented APFA with questions regarding APFA’s proposals on Article 7 – Hours of Service and Article 8 – Minimum Pay & Credit. The teams will resume discussion on these items at their next session.
We look forward to continuing our dialogue with the APFA and Mediator DuBester on April 14 in Dallas.
This week, the American and APFA negotiating teams met in Dallas without the mediator and focused their discussions on several of the contract articles. The American negotiating team presented the APFA with counterproposals on Article 11 – Language, Article 20 – Medical Appeals and Arbitration, Article 30 – General, Article 32 – Health and Safety Committees, and Article 34 – Purser.
The APFA negotiating team presented the company with proposals on Article 7 – Hours of Service and Article 8 – Minimum Pay & Credit, and counterproposals on Article 20 – Medical Appeals and Arbitration, Article 26 – Sick Leave, Article 30 – General, and Article 34 – Purser.
The American and APFA scheduling subcommittees also met this week to discuss Article 10 – Reserve.
With several proposals on the table, the teams will continue to work toward narrowing the open items at next week’s session in Dallas with Mediator DuBester.
This week, the American and APFA negotiating teams met in Atlanta, Georgia, with Mediator DuBester and resumed their discussions around five of the open contract articles. The American negotiating team presented the APFA with counterproposals on Article 20 – Medical Appeals and Arbitration and Article 34 – Purser.
The APFA negotiating team presented the company with counterproposals on Article 11 – Language, Article 32 – Health and Safety Committees, and the new Article 33 – Safety and Security.
Each team reviewed their respective counterproposals and will continue working through the items at the next session in Dallas on March 24 without the mediator. The American and APFA scheduling subcommittees will also resume their discussions at that time.
This week, the American and APFA scheduling subcommittees met in Dallas without the mediator to continue their discussions on Article 9 – Scheduling. The teams also reviewed data and feedback regarding the Volunteer to Fly program currently underway. We look forward to resuming our discussions with APFA and the mediator in Atlanta on March 10.
February 11-13, 2009
This week, the AA and APFA negotiating teams met in Washington, D.C., with Mediator DuBester, and agreed to focus their discussions on Article 27 – Bereavement/Personal Leave, Article 30 – General, Article 31 – Union Security, and Article 37 – Effect on Prior Agreements. The teams worked collaboratively to narrow and clarify the open items surrounding each of these articles, and were able to reach tentative agreements on Article 27 – Bereavement/Personal Leave and Article 31 – Union Security, in which there were proposed modifications to the current contract language. The scheduling subcommittees also met to discuss the Volunteer-to-Fly program currently underway. We look forward to continuing our discussions with APFA in Dallas on February 24.
January 22 & 23, 2009
This week, the American and APFA negotiating teams met in joint and individual sessions with the NMB mediator. We are hopeful that our mediated sessions will continue to build on the progress that has been made at the table, and we look forward to resuming our discussions on February 11.
