American Airlines pilots vote to strike amid negotiations
- Allied Pilots Association members voted to authorize a strike
- To avoid strike, the airlines will have to offer the requested market rate
- Tajer: "A strike would shut down the airline. It's a very serious thing"
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CHICAGO (NewsNation) — American Airlines agreed to match Delta Airlines’ salary increase for its pilots, but pilots are still threatening to go on strike, claiming matching salary increases isn’t enough.
The Allied Pilots Association (APA), the union representing American Airlines’ 15,000 pilots, said its members have voted on Monday — almost unanimously — to authorize a strike.
Although the airline said it is prepared to match recent wage hikes from Delta, pilots said that it is not enough and will be picketing at 10 airports across the country Monday in support of a walkout.
A strike isn’t guaranteed, and it could be months before a work stoppage even happens.
Capt. Dennis Tajer, the Allied Pilots Association’s communications chair and spokesperson, has been an American Airlines pilot for more than 30 years.
Tajer explained that in order for the airlines to attract pilots to fly the airplanes, they’re going to have to offer the requested market rate.
“There’s not much debate there,” Tajer said. “What this is really all about is almost every one of our pilots, for the first time in over 25 years, have said they are willing to strike to get a repair to the operation.”
In the post-pandemic world, pilots are being scheduled to the maximum, causing further delays, Tajer said. He said that management needs to join them in order to secure this summer, but at the moment, management isn’t seeing that.
“They’re not as urgent in their cause, and we’re hoping that this draws their attention to this because they are pushing American Airlines to a strike,” Tajer said.
And a strike is what the APA wants to avoid, according to Tajer.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) just did a study on airlines recovery since the pandemic, and Tajer said that the GAO actually places the blame on airline management for trying to fly more airplanes and sell more tickets that they could not reliably service.
“They have not changed that,” Tajer said. “We’re not seeing the structural changes, which is what we’re at the table for.”
But with summer around the corner, more Americans are looking to travel. That means the last thing the airlines would want is a strike that could delay or cancel travel.
“A strike would shut down the airline. It’s a very serious thing,” Tajer said.
Watch Capt. Dennis Tajer’s full interview in the video player above.
