AFA Leadership Likes It -- Deal Now Goes To Membership

AirTran and its flight attendants appear very close to a new contract that, if approved by the rank and file of the Association of Flight Attendants, would take effect June 1st.

Union leaders have endorsed the contract, but won't talk about terms of the deal until the full membership vote, within 30 days or so.

It wasn't an easy deal to reach. It took a federal mediator to step in after the AFA last year declared talks at a standstill over scheduling issues, among other things.

Further, endorsement by union leaders is no guarantee that the deal will actually pass a vote by the rank and file. An earlier deal, struck two years ago, was endorsed by the leadership but turned down by the membership.

Still, AFA leaders seemed optimistic Monday. So did the airline.

"We've very pleased it's over with. We're hoping it passes," AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Once we get the flight attendant deal done, we'll have time to concentrate on getting the pilot deal done."

Even as company executives cross their fingers and hope for AFA ratification, they have another big issue hovering on the distant horizon. AirTran is also negotiating with its pilots.

Pilots want "significant improvements in our overall compensation" through better work rules, pay and benefits, according Capt. Mat Pfaffly, an officer with the National Pilots Association, also quoted by the Atlanta paper. "There hasn't been a lot of motivation on the company's part to meet with us."

While AirTran has been able to fend off the worst of the slump that's gripped the airline industry since late 2001, it recently posted an $8 million loss for the first quarter of 2005. The company cited higher fuel costs as the primary factor in its economic downturn.

FMI: www.airtran.com