United Airlines pilots have signed a $10.2 billion deal that will increase their salaries by as much as 40 percent over four years.
The Air Line Pilots Association was able to trade for a significantly improved deal due to pilot shortages and increased demand for travel.
American Airlines and Delta pilots have already won lucrative new contract deals this year, with industrywide demands focused on higher wages, higher retirement benefits and planning.
United Pilots approved the new contracts with 82 percent of the vote, with the settlement also including a provision requiring other airlines to match or exceed each other’s pay, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Southwest Airlines is now the last of the four largest airlines to still agree to new pilot contracts.
United Airlines pilots have secured a lucrative $10.2 billion deal to see their wages rise by as much as 40 percent, four years after strike action and negotiations concluded this week
The Air Line Pilots Association said 82 percent of United pilots approved the new deal, which also included a provision requiring other airlines to match or exceed each other’s pay.
The aviation industry has been in flux since the pandemic, when a large number of pilots retired and demand for flights plummeted.
As of January 2021, more than half of the world’s airline pilots were out of a job due to a combination of retirement, furlough and unemployment, and airlines are racing to recruit and train new pilots as travel resumes .
The dynamic has given airline unions greater bargaining power for their members, and several airlines are also engaged in negotiations with flight attendants.
The ALPA union has indicated that sitting at the table with airline chiefs is the result of numerous workforce issues in the industry, namely that pilots feel out of control of their schedules.
This has led to many co-pilots with sufficient experience avoiding becoming captains, as the higher pay was considered by many not worth the demanding timetable.
After closing the deal this week, ALPA said there is hope it will lead to more members wanting to become captains, an important step given increased recruitment at airlines post-pandemic.
The successful contract talks come as several other major industries are also reeling from strike action, with Hollywood brought to a standstill as writers formed picket lines to protest for higher wages and auto workers caused the closure of auto plants across the Midwest.
As A-listers joined the strikes, the streets of New York City and Los Angeles became must-see attractions, as stars like Jason Sudeikis, John Oliver, Margot Robbie and Olivia Wilde were spotted among the ranks.
Jason Sudeikis joined the picketers in New York City as the double strike of Hollywood actors and writers hit the streets of the Big Apple earlier this year
Actors Jack Black, left, and Bob Odenkirk join protesters outside the Paramount Pictures Studio in Los Angeles, Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Protest Barbie! Margot Robbie joined her fellow actors at a SAG-AFTRA meeting in September, along with Australian actress Samara Weaving, pictured behind her
Film productions, television sets and a whole range of media were shut down for months due to the strikes.
But earlier this week, five months of slow negotiations came to an end when studios and streamers reached a deal with writers’ union SAG-AFRA.
It was celebrated as the return of Tinsel Town when the writers’ union announced a five percent pay increase, along with streaming bonuses and AI protections.
However, the writers still have to vote to ratify the contract itself, but the lifting of the strike will allow them to get started during that process, a hurdle that has caused nearly every television show and movie set in the country to be shut down.
United Airlines’ success this week could serve as a promising sign for members of the United Auto Workers union, which on Friday announced an expansion of the strike to more than 25,000 auto workers after negotiations with Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers collapsed.
UAW President Shawn Fain announced the escalation against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis after the picket line was strengthened Tuesday by a historic visit from President Biden.
Biden made history as the first sitting president to join a picket line, a move quickly followed by his likely rival in the 2024 general election, Donald Trump, who chose to speak to the strikers rather than attend the second Republican presidential debate on Wednesday.
Fain called on another 7,000 auto workers to join the 18,000 people protesting the strike action. He said the move will add a Ford plant in Chicago and a General Motors plant in Michigan to the action, with further strikes already underway that will also affect Chrysler maker Stellantis.
UAW workers march through the streets of downtown Detroit after a rally on the first day of the UAW strike in Detroit, Michigan, on September 15, 2023
UAW President Shawn Fain on Friday called on another 7,000 auto workers to join strike action against Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers — GM, Ford and Stellantis — on Friday
Workers have been on strike at three factories: a Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio; a Ford plant in Detroit that produces Bronco SUVs and Rangers; and a GM plant in Missouri. The crippling factory shutdowns were also amplified by picket lines at 38 parts distribution centers in 20 states.
In August, as strike action was threatened but increasingly a reality, estimates from the Anderson Economic Group put the cost of even a 10-day union strike at a loss of $5.6 billion to the economy.
The strikes entered their 16th day on Friday, now involving 25,000 of the union’s 146,000 members.
Biden’s historic visit, a moment Fain leaned into as he announced an escalation of strikes, saw the president address the crowd through a bullhorn while exchanging a series of fist bumps.
“You’ve heard me say it many times: Wall Street didn’t build this country, the middle class built this country,” he said.
‘The unions built the middle class. That’s a fact. Let’s keep going, you deserve what you’ve earned. And you’ve earned a lot more than you’re getting paid now.’
Asked whether workers deserved the 40 percent pay increase they campaigned for, Biden said, “Yes. I think they should be able to negotiate about that.’
The president told workers he joined casino workers in Las Vegas during the 2020 campaign, but noted, “This is my first time doing it as president.”
President Biden addresses striking auto workers; he spent 12 minutes on the picket line
Donald Trump chose to speak to protesters instead of attending the second Republican presidential debate
The strikes have received widespread support in the weeks since they broke out, but some are wary of the growing threat to jobs and low maintenance wages on offer as they continue.
Some workers have already been laid off, including at a GM plant in Kansas, due to the ripple effect of the strikes that disrupted parts production.
On Thursday, around 6,000 striking workers were dismissed or risked losing their jobs as a result of the strike action, the report said. Wall Street Journal.