Now Boarding: Delta AFA Organizing and Boarding Pay
April 30, 2022 - This week, Delta management announced they would begin paying boarding pay at 50% of flight time pay, starting in June 2022, while also unilaterally increasing boarding times from 35 to 40.
News media immediately picked up on the fact that this is connected to our organizing:
- Delta, facing a union drive, says it will start paying flight attendants during boarding, CNBC
- Delta Offers Flight Attendants Boarding Pay Amid Union Drive, Skift
- WATCH: Flight Attendant Pay, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
This is good news for all of us! Our organizing has always forced Delta to improve conditions, which then helps our bargaining at every other airline. The problem is that Delta management can give and take away at any time - until Delta Flight Attendants vote for the union. A few years ago, Delta management moved Flight Attendants to bi-weekly pay – forcing Flight Attendants to fly within every two week period in order to get a paycheck and keep benefits. There's a whole lot of ugly without a union contract that locks in our pay, work rules, and benefits so management cannot take them away.
All Flight Attendants should get boarding pay. Full stop. Our demand to change this at the bargaining table hasn't had a chance to move as we spent 20 years post-9/11 fighting to keep what we had before. We are finally getting back to the bargaining table across the industry to advance our demands in negotiations. Read more boarding pay background.
This week, Alaska AFA said “Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants definitely deserve boarding pay, and boarding pay will be in our opening proposal to management!” United AFA is already in contract negotiations and included a new section called “Ground Time Pay.”
The implementation of boarding pay for cabin crew at a major airline has major implications for collective bargaining in the U.S. aviation industry going forward. This is why we organize. This is why we collectively bargain. We are stronger together, better together.
