United flight attendants announce strike authorization in Las Vegas

Kim Wells, a flight attendant with United Airlines for 34 years, raised a yellow sign above her head, announcing to dozens of United workers on Wednesday outside Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas that their union had authorized a strike.

Right before the announcement, Wells scribbled down the percentage of workers voting in favor of striking: “99.9.” The flight attendants, marching in a circle outside Terminal 3, erupted in cheer.

“I’m elated,” said Wells, a local union representative. “It just shows that we do stick together, and together we’re going to make this happen for ourselves and for all the other flight attendants.”

The union is asking for a “significant” double-digit pay increase, further flexibility for members’ schedules and job security, the Association of Flight Attendants wrote last month. Wells added that she additionally was looking for respect from United Airlines.

The strike vote results, which were announced Wednesday across the country at nearly 20 informational picket lines, including in Las Vegas, come days before a potentially record-setting Labor Day weekend, with a projected 2.9 million people flying on Friday alone, according to the TSA.

The union, however, has a long road before it can strike, including being released from mediation by the National Mediation Board if talks reach a standstill.

“The company is still asking for concessions,” said Bill Carico, the local union’s vice president. “They haven’t presented anything to us to improve our contract in any way.”

The demonstrators, largely flight attendants, marched in a circle near the terminal’s passenger drop-off area prior to the strike announcement. Along with matching red umbrellas, the workers carried signs with phrases like “World class airline, world class contract” and “Pay us or chaos.”

One sign read “Ground time pay leads the way,” referring to the common policy of not paying flight attendants for time before the plane’s doors close.

“I can go out and work a 14-and-a-half-hour day and only be paid for 7 hours,” Wells said. “It’s inhumane. It makes it difficult to maintain the morale that I like to come to work with, which is uplifted and very safety focused.”

A United Airlines spokesperson wrote to the Sun Tuesday night that the company remained eager to reach an agreement.

“We continue to work toward an industry-leading agreement for our flight attendants, including negotiations this week and every month through November,” United wrote. “Both sides have been actively engaged in these negotiations facilitated by the federal mediator requested by the union.”

The airline added there have been no work stoppage and that off-duty flight attendants made up Wednesday’s demonstration.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant Airlines was able to strike a deal with its flight attendants union in March, reaching an agreement for a five-year contract that was ratified in April. TWU Local 577, which represents Allegiant’s flight attendants, negotiated an average 25% increase in wages.

While American Airlines was able to avoid a walkout, flight attendants for Frontier Airlines and PSA Airlines started voting on strike authorizations on Aug. 20 and 21, respectively. United’s 28,000 flight attendants started voting on Aug. 1, ending their voting period Wednesday.

Carico emphasized that recent strike votes have, in the months after, led to contracts. He hopes the same can happen for United’s flight attendants.

“We are the face of United Airlines and planes don’t take off without us,” Ken Diaz, the president of the Association of Flight Attendant’s United chapter, said in a release after the strike authorization. “As Labor Day travel begins, United management is reminded what’s at stake if we don’t get this done.”