FORT WORTH — Several dozen flight attendants picketed outside American Airlines headquarters on Wednesday morning as arbitration on a new contract began 1,200 miles away in Washington, D.C.
The flight attendants picketing locally are not upset with the airline as much as they are the union representing them.
Demonstration organizers said they're mad at the Association of Professional Flight Attendants for agreeing to immediately go to binding arbitration with American rather than continuing to negotiate.
"Basically what we're looking to do is capitalize on the unprecedented profits all the airlines are reaping," said veteran flight attendant Trice Johnson. "Oil prices are at a record low. There's plenty of gas and profits and that need to be shared."
Airline workers protested their own union Wednesday over how it handled negotiations with the carrier. WFAA
But the union said it's legally bound to begin arbitration in an agreement the APFA made with management before American's merger with US Airways was ever complete.
Last month, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants — which represents American's 24,000 flight attendants — narrowly rejected the contract from American which included a pay raise.
But many wanted profit sharing, as well.
"We have literally helped this company survive through a bankruptcy... through a merger... and it's only fair that we share — now that we're profitable — that we share in that," said Linneah Gallant, a 17-year employee of American.
Arbitration will last for 30 days and will produce a new contract.
The APFA said its members will get a raise, and that it originally agreed to arbitration to help get the merger done.
"The APFA has a long and storied history of fighting for the flight attendants at American, and the union will carry on that tradition," said union spokeswoman Leslie Mayo. "Right now, the next step in the process is clear: APFA is bound by a legal agreement with the company that says our contract will be determined in binding arbitration ... We should have the arbitrators' decision in 30 days, and we expect it to provide mid-contract improvements of $112 million per year."
The union will still pressure American for a contract its members deserve, Mayo added.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker offered a different perspective on why profit-sharing wasn't part of the company's offer.
"We think the right way to pay people is to give them what they deserve every couple weeks in their paycheck, and not have it tied to whether the company is profitable or not — particularly in our business, with fuel prices, Ebola threats, and things like that," Parker told News 8 two weeks ago.
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