American Airlines customer service workers hold informational picket

“Workers haven't had a raise since 2015... We're working with pay rates from 2015."

After a year of negotiations, very little progress has been made toward a contract between American Airlines and customer service workers represented by the joint CWA-IBT Association. With negotiations scheduled to resume today, workers at 10 airports are holding informational pickets. I spoke with customer service worker Heidi Andrews and Jane Crompton, Secretary-Treasurer for CWA Communication Workers Local 1171, outside T.F. Green Airport in Warwick this morning.

American Airlines recently settled a contract with their pilots, and are also negotiating with flight attendants. Customer service workers, who work at the ticket counter and the gates, meet flights, assist customers, work the ticket counter gates, and handle whatever customer service needs are necessary, such as rebooking and special needs, have seen little progress.

“We’ve had very little response,” said Heidi Andrews. “We've been in negotiations for a year and they keep pushing Scope aside.” Scope is the part of the contract that spells out what work the Union employees are contractually guaranteed to perform, and right now the company is looking at ways to outsource elements of the job to AI.

“They're working on other articles of our contract, but the Scope just keeps getting pushed,” said Andrews. “At the same time, systems in our computers are coming out that do more of our job and the company is not addressing it. That's what our negotiating team is on right now.”

“Workers haven't had a raise since 2015,” said Jane Crompton. '“Since then the pilots negotiated a terrific contract, and flight attendants are in negotiation now. The company wants to redirect us in different areas [effectively changing the Scope of the work] and perhaps replace some of the functions that we currently do with AI.

“We're working with pay rates from 2015. We all live in the same world and the prices today are nowhere near what they were in 2015 - housing, gas, everything. Our future scope is our future. That's our job protection.”

Many workers took concessions on past contracts when the companies were in a financially difficult situation, added Crompton. Now that revenues are back to or even exceeding pre-pandemic levels, the company should do right by workers.

Jane Crompton, Heidi Andrews, and Nanette on the picket line.

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