American Airlines Customer-Service Agents Approve Labor Contract

A majority of the 14,500 customer-service agents and reservationists at American Airlines Group Inc. on Monday ratified a five-year labor contract by a 73% vote, according to the Communications Workers of America union, which, along with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, represents the group.

The new pact represents the first combined contract since American and US Airways merged in late 2013, the CWA said, and is the first contract ever for the American agents, who voted to join the unions last year after a yearslong effort to be represented. The former US Airways group had already been unionized.

A total of 6,993 people voted for the new accord, with 2,522 voting against it, the CWA said. The contract will raise pay by 30% over the term and will provide pay equal to that of agents at Delta Air Lines Inc., plus 3% over the term, the union said. At a time when airlines are producing record profits, some labor groups in recent months have rejected tentative contract agreements, hoping for more to make up for previous years of sacrifices and concessions. Delta pilots and Southwest Airlines Co. pilots and flight attendants defeated proposed deals earlier this year.

Separately, an American flight attendant was charged in a federal criminal complaint last week with interfering with flight crew and assaulting federal air marshals on a flight she worked from Charlotte, N.C., to Frankfurt, Germany, earlier that week. In an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Charlotte, Joanne Snow was accused by Air Marshal Joseph Fialka of slapping other attendants and shoving and hitting air marshals assigned to the flight.

Ms. Snow, who couldn't be reached for comment on this article, made unsolicited remarks to Mr. Fialka even before the flight departed, the affidavit said, called herself "crazy" and a "train wreck." The marshal said he had been told by several other attendants that Ms. Snow was behaving irrationally and that the others had asked American to remove Ms. Snow from the flight.

On the return flight to Charlotte from Frankfurt Nov. 25, the marshal said, Ms. Snow "appeared to be mentally unstable this entire flight as well." When the plane landed, the attendant allegedly started screaming and attempted to bypass the passport control officer, so Mr. Fialka said he handcuffed her and took her to an interview room, where she kicked him five or six times.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the union that represents American cockpit crew, couldn't immediately be reached for comment. In a statement, American said it is aware of the incident and the subsequent criminal complaint and is cooperating fully with law enforcement in the investigation. It also said it is working with its employees but declined to comment about Ms. Snow.

Write to Susan Carey at [e-mail]

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November 30, 2015 16:55 ET (21:55 GMT)

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