Horizon Air flight attendants vote overwhelmingly to authorize strike, union says

SEATTLE (KPTV) - Horizon Air flight attendants have voted nearly unanimously to authorize a strike, according to the union representing them.

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) says that 99.8% of the 650 unionized Horizon Air flight attendants voted to authorize the strike on Tuesday.

According to the AFA-CWA, the vote was the result of “seriously delayed bargaining and months of outrageously low economic proposals from Horizon management.”

Lisa Davis Warren, president of the Horizon chapter of the AFA-CWA, made the following statement regarding the announcement.

“Our 99.8% vote shows Horizon and Alaska management that we will do whatever it takes to get the contract we have earned. We have dedicated our lives to Horizon and the communities that we serve. We are simply asking for the pay, benefits, and improvements we have earned. But Horizon management seems uninterested in resolving this dispute or showing the slightest concern for frontline workers who can’t afford rent or other basic life necessities.”

Flight attendants with Horizon held a rally at Portland International Airport earlier Tuesday, ahead of the results of the vote.

Horizon Air is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alaska Air Group, which owns Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. It offers daily flights in the Western United States, Mexico, and Canada.

A representative from Alaska Air Group provided the following statement regarding the announcement:

“The union for Horizon Air’s flight attendants – the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) – has conducted a ‘strike-authorization ballot,’ which was approved as expected. 

This type of vote is a common step in the negotiation process. Whatever the decision of the vote, it does not mean a flight attendant strike will happen anytime soon if at all. Our guests and operation will not be impacted by the outcome in the near term or potentially at all.

Initiating a strike in the airline industry is rare and a lengthy process. For it to happen, there would be a series of complex steps that would need to take place following a specific timeline. The process is governed by the Railway Labor Act and requires, as a first step, participation in a federally mandated mediation process (just recently underway) that takes many months, sometimes years.

We have a history of reaching agreements with our unions and we have no reason to believe that our negotiations with AFA will be any different. Even amid the challenging global economic environment and outsized financial impacts to airlines, we remain committed to continued negotiations and reaching a new agreement that provides market-competitive wages and industry-leading benefits to our flight attendants."