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The 6,700 flight attendants who work for US Airways are set to vote on whether to authorize a strike, their union said Wednesday, after voting to reject the airline’s two latest contract offers.
The vote will run through Nov. 20. Although flight attendants can vote in favor of a strike, they would have to be released by the National Mediation Board and wait through at least a 30-day cooling-off period before taking any action, meaning a strike isn’t likely on the immediate horizon.
“The decision to take a strike vote is not made lightly...The unanimous conclusion of every AFA Officer - Local, MEC and International - was a strike vote is necessary to achieve a different dynamic for these negotiations,” said the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA in a statement.
Negotiations between US Airways and the flight attendants have been grinding on for years. Like the airline’s pilots, the flight attendants still do not have a unified contract following the 2005 merger of US Airways and America West.
Last month, US Airways flight attendants voted down a proposed contract 51 percent to 49 percent. US Airways had also expected an earlier offer to be approved, but flight attendants voted to reject it in March.
