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AA Giving Pilots and FAs A Pay Raise Outside of their contract


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American Airlines announces pay raises for pilots and flight attendants

By Andrea Ahles

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American Airlines announced plans to give pay raises to pilots and flight attendants even though the two groups are currently under contract and not in negotiations.

The Fort Worth-based carrier said it wants to give pilots an average pay raise of 8 percent and flight attendants an average pay raise of 5 percent. The pilots and flight attendants unions will have to agree to the raises before they can go into effect.

Both the Allied Pilots Association and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants have complained that their pay rates, while industry-leading when contracts were signed in 2015, now lag pilots and flight attendants’ pay at Delta Air Lines and United Airline

In a letter sent to employees on Wednesday, American’s chief executive Doug Parker and president Robert Isom said the raises were about “doing the right thing” for employees who have helped the company through its successful merger with US Airways.

“While the commitment was met when the contract was signed, we never anticipated this large of a gap for this long a period, and we don’t like that it exists, contract or not,” the letter said. “Therefore we intend to work with the unions to adjust the hourly base pay rates of all American pilots and flight attendants to levels that are equal to the highest rates currently in place at either Delta or United.”

 

As we move forward, if we see sizable discrepancies in pay rates between our team members and other major airlines and our contracts are still years away from their amendable dates, we will work to address those discrepancies.

American Airlines CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom

Pilots will receive raises between 7 percent and 8.7 percent depending on their seniority and what type of aircraft they fly. Flight attendants will receive pay raises between 4.2 percent and 6.5 percent depending on seniority. The raises could go into effect as early as May.

“This long-overdue pay rate increase represents a welcome initiative by management,” said APA president Dan Carey in a message sent to American’s 15,000 pilots. Carey said management also indicated that discussions regarding length of service and long-term disability provisions will continue. “This kind of collaborative, problem-solving approach will definitely help foster the culture change that has been a stated goal of both management and APA since the merger of American Airlines and US Airways.”

Neither the pilots or flight attendants are in contract talks with the company as the pilot contract becomes amendable in January 2020 while the flight attendants contract becomes amendable in December 2019.

Earlier this month, the APFA, which represents 26,000 flight attendants, lost an arbitration ruling related to its pay rates. The union had argued that flight attendants should have received mid-contract adjustment pay raise of 8 percent instead of 1.6 percent. The panel ruled in favor of the company’s 1.6 percent raise which is retroactive to September 1. The pay raises announced Wednesday are on top of the September pay raise.

In a government filing, American said the pay raises will cost the company $230 million in 2017 and $350 million in 2018 and 2019. The company will be reporting its first quarter earnings on Thursday morning before the stock markets open.

 

Letter from American executives about the pay raises

American is currently in contract negotiations with its mechanics and ground workers union groups but the company implemented pay raises for those employees in September. The letter said it has not offered additional pay rates to other employee groups, such as gate agents, because their pay is already industry-leading.

American’s executives said the pay raises reflect “a real philosophical change” at the carrier.

“As we move forward, if we see sizable discrepancies in pay rates between our team members and other major airlines and our contracts are still years away from their amendable dates, we will work to address those discrepancies,” the letter said

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