American Airlines Customer Service Employees Vote to Join Union, APA to Jointly Represent AA and US Pilots

American agents checking in passengers

The move to integrate employees from American Airlines and US Airways moved ahead with two significant labor developments on Tuesday.

The National Mediation Board announced that non-union American customer-service agents and reservationists voted to join the CWA-IBT Customer Service Employee Associate, a coalition of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The coalition dates back to the US Airways-America West merger in 2005, when the union representing US Airways agents joined forces with the union in place at America West.

In a statement, American Airlines said it will work with the coalition “on joint collective bargaining agreements covering the combined employee groups.”

Separately on Tuesday, the National Mediation Board issued a ruling that the union representing American’s pilots, the Allied Pilots Association, can serve as the bargaining agent for US Airways pilots without holding a representation election.

The move allows the APA to take over negotiations for a joint contract with the airline, although a protocol agreed upon in early September calls for the US Airline Pilots Association to have some input.

American Airlines Group said in a statement it looks “forward to working with APA as the representative of American’s 15,000 pilots,” commending the APA and USAPA “for getting us to this important milestone in the integration of our airline and our pilot workforce.”

(Photo: Accura Media Group)