Summary
- Negotiations between Avelo Airlines and flight attendants union intensify ahead of contract vote, with political groups opposing union efforts.
- The Day by day Signal alleges that only 8 flight attendants are leading unionization efforts for over 200 employees, accusing them of disenfranchising others.
- AFA-CWA claims Avelo used delay tactics and management interference to diminish voter turnout and reduce flight attendants eligible to vote for the union.
Negotiations between Avelo Airlines and its flight attendants union seem like heating up ahead of a vote on contract negotiations. While the vote on contract negotiations has yet to be scheduled, outside political groups have begun to voice opposition to union efforts.
In probably the most recent escalation, The Day by day Signal, a conservative media outlet owned by The Heritage Foundation, recently alleged that fewer than eight flight attendants were leading efforts to unionize greater than 200. The piece, published by Russ Brown, president of the Center for Independent Employees, echoed statements the airline had made on Twitter in April of 2022 and claimed that the eight flight attendants had taken advantage of a legal loophole to disenfranchise the opposite employees of the airline.
The difficulty stems from the Avelo Airlines flight attendants voting to affix The Association of Flight Attendants-Communication Staff of America (AFA-CWA) on April thirteenth, 2022, six months after Avelo’s flight attendants filed for an election with the federal labor officials. At the moment the brand latest low-cost carrier had 77 flight attendants in total. The airline itself only began operations as Avelo Airlines a yr earlier.
PhotoL Avelo Airlines
AFA-CWA told Easy Flying that it believes the piece in The Day by day Signal is a results of Avelo’s management attempts at union busting. In line with AFA-CWA, the flight attendants union had several difficulties when calling its vote to form the union from the airline’s management’s actions, which resulted in lower turnout.
The background behind unionizing efforts
In line with AFA-CWA, the flight attendants organized, citing quite a few issues at work, which also had a hand in stopping flight attendants from voting to form their union. The AFA-CWA claims that Avelo used delay tactics to scale back the variety of flight attendants originally eligible to vote on the formation of the union in accordance with policies arrange by federal authorities on the National Mediation Board (NMB).
When Avelo’s flight attendants first began their efforts to call a vote to unionize, then U.S. President Trump’s political appointees had staffed the NMB, and set terms to find out which flight attendants could be eligible to vote to unionize. The AFA-CWA claims that the vast majority of flight attendants on the airline voiced support for the union’s organization.
Photo: Avelo Airlines
Within the time for the reason that union first began to arrange, and prior to calling a vote, U.S. presidential elections modified the makeup of the NMB. Avelo Airlines would then file a lawsuit against the NMB, claiming that the NMB, which was now under control of the Biden administration, was supporting the union unfairly. The drama reached a national stage, when at a rally with Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont), U.S. President Joe Biden voiced support for the union.
Airline growth
For its part, Avelo Airlines, which recently gave its pilots their fifth pay increase within the airline’s two-and-a-half-year history, operates a fleet of 14 737s that the airline acquired secondhand to service as many as 31 destinations across the USA and Puerto Rico. The airline today is a descendant of Casino Express Airlines, and Xtra Airlines, two casino-related charter aircraft operators. Avelo Airlines also recently announced that it had increased its passenger traffic 85% in 2023 in comparison with 2022.
“Management has not come seriously to the table,” the AFA-CWA said. “We’re taking every step available under the law to advance these negotiations and reach an agreement.” The AFA filed for federal mediation in September of 2023. Avelo Airlines didn’t reply to press inquiry.