November 3, 2025

Targeted Proposals Presented to United Management

From October 29th to the 31st, your Negotiating Committee met with United management to commence bargaining for a revised Tentative Agreement. Attending the negotiations on behalf of the Union were MEC President Ken Diaz, Committee Chair Melinda Beal, and members Randy Hatfield and Chris Bruton. AFA General Counsel Joe Burns, AFA Staff Attorney Megan Havern, financial analyst Dan Akins, and Christopher Thurber, serving as the official AFA note taker, were also present to support the committee during bargaining.

Our Federal Mediator was not present at this negotiating session due to the Federal Government shutdown. As previously reported, we were able to secure an agreement with management to continue negotiations despite the mediator’s unavailability, which was a change from United’s position in the past. 

At the negotiations session, AFA presented the company with a targeted list of proposals that address the key issues identified by Flight Attendants in our survey. When we negotiate a second Tentative Agreement, the focus is to fix the key issues of concern for Flight Attendants so we can secure an improved TA in a timely manner. This is especially important now, given United Flight Attendants are currently being paid almost 35 percent behind our counterparts at Delta and American when we factor in pay and boarding pay. 

The key issues that we are fighting for in these negotiations include:

Scheduling Improvements

• Sit Time: A key concern of Flight Attendants was the issue of excessive sit time at United Airlines. While the first TA had boarding pay, one of the final issues on the table was the sit rig, which addresses ground time between segments on a duty day. Here, we are continuing our push to secure a sit rig that would both compensate Flight Attendants for sit times but also incentivize the company to build better, more productive pairings. 

• Another key concern of Flight Attendants included the issue of redeye flying, and particularly the issue of multiple legs combined with the redeye. This was another big issue until the end of the negotiations for our last TA, and we will continue to press for this on both safety and quality of life. 

• Notification improvements: We are proposing to eliminate the language regarding notification on layovers, as well as checking CCS after flight segments. 

• Other scheduling issues include targeted crew rest concerns on flights between 7 and 8 hours, rescheduling out of co-terminals, and clarifying rules on language and purser trades with open time. 

• Ensuring Contract compliance: In survey responses, many stressed the importance of securing language regarding compensation for violations of the agreement, particularly in scheduling and reserve misapplications. We plan on renewing our push to secure language compensating Flight Attendants who have been illegally scheduled.
  

Reserve Issues

In our first Tentative Agreement, we spent more time on the Reserve section than any other section. We will continue to push here, with a focus on reducing the length of the Reserve Availability Periods (RAPS) and refining the language on how RAPS can be scheduled. Additionally, although the last TA improved the rules on picking up on days off, we will be seeking to relax the restrictions to make it easier for reserves to utilize the provisions. 

Hotels and Lodging

The prior TA included improvements in Union involvement in the hotel selection process. Here we are proposing targeted improvements in the hotel language, including inserting language on business class, further clarification on downtown hotels, and utilizing the same hotel list as the pilots. 

Benefits/Retirement 
We are proposing that the company establish a Retiree Health Care Reimbursement Account (RHRA), which would be open to all Flight Attendants upon retirement. This would be funded by accrued sick leave and, consistent with the IRS code, can be used to fund medical premiums prior to and post 65 as well as other health and dental expenses. We are also proposing to eliminate the 480 requirement for employer subsidized health care. 

Economic Issues
We will present our economic proposals to the company at future sessions, which will include our proposals on compensation and retro pay. This is standard in negotiations, as we need to assess our proposal at the time we are negotiating the provisions. We also proposed to increase the profit sharing formula.

Next Steps
Once we presented our proposal, the United management team analyzed it, and we were able to work through some of the non-economic issues as well as identify areas for further discussion at our next bargaining session. We would characterize the conversations as productive, as both sides seem committed to reaching an agreement. 

We anticipate some tough bargaining in the coming months. Our position was very clear that we have concerns that need to be addressed in this TA. Management, as anticipated, is resistant to adding to the economic total of the deal. Those issues will be addressed in future bargaining sessions. Our next session will be from December 9th to 12th.