Frontier Airlines flight attendants decided not to form a union with the Association of Flight Attendants in a vote that ended Thursday.
Frontier fought the effort to unionize, and a competing group of flight attendants proposed an independent union instead of the international AFA.
“We’re pleased,” said Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas after results of the vote were released.The airline industry is highly unionized, but Frontier has less union representation than older carriers such as United. That can give Frontier, like other low-cost carriers, the advantage of lower labor costs.
“Labor costs and costs on the whole are obviously critical for a (low-cost carrier),” Hodas said.Even so, Hodas said, “our flight attendants actually get paid very well, comparatively speaking.”
Their average base salary is $31.75 per hour, and flight attendants are guaranteed 75 hours of work a month.
Union representatives told flight attendants that union workers earn 27 percent more than nonunion workers and are more likely to receive health care and pension benefits than those without a union contract.
Of 744 eligible to vote, 320 flight attendants voted for the AFA, and eight wrote in votes for the independent union.
“We lost, and that’s the unfortunate reality,” said AFA organizer Scott Barnes.
This was the fourth attempt to unionize Frontier flight attendants. AFA organizer Kevin Mulligan said the group will create an associate membership for Frontier flight attendants and will work towards another election.
Frontier lobbied against the union by sending e-mails to flight attendants and producing a DVD with information from chief executive Jeff Potter “about the importance of direct communication and why we feel it’s so critical,” Hodas said.
AFA representatives said that flight attendants were concerned about gaining more control over work rules, such as getting a five-minute grace period for check-in.
“I was disappointed,” said flight attendant Diane Grenier. “I just felt like we needed a written contract so that we have some say in our work rules.”
Some Frontier flight attendants may have different expectations if they don’t view the job as a career.
“Several flight attendants told us that they worked there because it was their hobby,” Barnes said. “They work minimum hours, and they do this job for the flight benefits.”
Perry Richardson, a flight attendant coordinating for the Frontier Flight Attendants Association’s independent unionization effort, said his group will file for an election of its own after the one-year waiting period required by the National Mediation Board.
Richardson said an independent union would give the benefits of a contract without “the negative aspect of having a large organization that has to represent the interests of other companies’ flight attendants as well.”
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-820-1488 or kyamanouchi@denverpost.com.
