January 12, 2026
Last week, we met in Federal Mediation in Chicago to continue our push for a revised Tentative Agreement.
Discussions at the beginning of the week focused on the remaining non-economic issues, including hotels and electronic notifications. We have made progress in these areas and will now move on to the next phase of negotiations. As is typical, economic provisions, including pay rates and major work rules, are discussed towards the end of negotiations.
Economics discussion started this week and will continue during our next session from February 10th to 12th, and for the two weeks in March. We have been joined by our financial analyst, Dan Akins who along with our attorneys assists the committee in taking on the company. At this point in negotiations, everything is assigned a value, and accurate costing of proposals is very important.
AFA provided a comprehensive proposal early in the week, and the company responded on Friday morning. Major issues discussed included pay rates, retro pay, profit sharing, sit rigs, Reserve Availability Periods, retirement healthcare, grievance remedies, as well as management's plan to link our healthcare benefits to a minimum flight time credit requirement.
We have made progress on the sit rig issue and have engaged in extensive discussions on our proposals to shorten the RAPs. The Company is willing to reduce the length of the RAPs but has attached unacceptable proposals to cut the reserve guarantee, eliminating the reserve override, and shortening our three-hour call out time to two (2) hours. Obviously, we are fighting for a better Reserve system and are adamantly opposed to the company’s proposals in this area.
As we reported previously, the company has proposed a list of concessions that they believe could be used to fund improvements in a revised Tentative Agreement. As we discussed in our last negotiations update, we are fighting hard for improvements and refuse to be distracted by the company’s non-starter concessionary proposals.
We anticipate some tough bargaining over the coming sessions, but are ready to do what it takes to achieve our objectives.
We have Federal Mediation scheduled through March, and we are pushing hard to reach an agreement during this period.
Join us this Thursday, for our Informational Picket on January 15th, from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM, as Flight Attendants come together to take our fight directly to the front steps of United Airlines’ Headquarters. This is a critical moment to show our Solidarity. Whether you are walking the line in person or standing with us through our virtual picket on social media, your participation matters. Now is the time to make your voice heard.