DENVER — Frontier flight attendants voted to authorize a strike Wednesday.
The Association of Flight Attendants, or AFA, said they don’t like the out-and-back business model put into place earlier this year. That model means flight attendants come home every night.
The AFA said the business model before this kept flight attendants away from home for a few days, which is a reason they chose to fly with Frontier.
They said the new model is costing them more money.
“So our goal is to bring back what's been taken from us by taking away the overnights and the hotel transportation and those things,” said Andrew Henderson, AFA Frontier Vice President. “We're fighting to get that back now. While it is a great thing for Frontier and we understand that Frontier needs to make money at the end of the day, it shouldn't be levied onto the backs of the flight attendants to make that money.”
Henderson said the flight attendants prefer to be away from home a few days at a time.
“The reaction was this wasn't a welcome change,” Henderson said. “I think there's a lifestyle that we signed up for that. We're used to the trips. A lot of us joined the industry for that adventure and that's been taken away from us. And so I don't think this was a welcome change from the flight attendants’ perspective.”
Frontier issued this statement:
“Frontier Airlines is fully committed to maintaining a positive and collaborative relationship with our flight attendants and to negotiating a fair contract. However, negotiations are nowhere near a point where a strike can legally occur. The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) knows this but is resorting to tactics designed to generate publicity and fuel fear at the expense of the flying public. Frontier and the AFA are not currently in supervised mediation and, consequently, a strike vote cannot even be considered by the National Mediation Board (NMB). Even if the parties were in mediation, the NMB would then have to determine that an impasse in negotiations has occurred, followed by a number of additional steps. In the meantime, Frontier has been meeting monthly in direct bargaining with the AFA since last December and remains committed to negotiating in good faith to achieve an agreement that supports our flight attendants and ensures the continued success of our company.”
Strike vote ballots were sent to 4,000 flight attendants.
"The flight attendants are ready to strike. They voted overwhelmingly to do so. But they may be delayed because there is a process they have to go through,” 9NEWS legal expert Whitney Traylor said. “And that process involves the National Mediation Board declaring there’s a deadlock, then a 30 day cooling off period. Until that happens, they can't really go forward.”