FORT WORTH, Texas — Flight attendants at American Airlines voted down a proposed five-year contract on Sunday, sending the union to binding arbitration to try to reach a labor agreement with the Fort Worth-based airline.
The tentative agreement, which included annual pay raises, failed by only 16 votes out of more than 16,000 cast, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants said in a statement. The first date for arbitration will be Dec. 3, the union said.
About 50.05 percent, or 8,196 flight attendants, voted against the contract while 49.95 percent, or 8,180, voted for the contract out of the 16,376 ballots cast. The contract would cover flight attendants from both American and US Airways, which merged last December.
The contract did not include a profit-sharing plan which the union had negotiated in a previous contract. The plan had paid out only once to the legacy American Airlines flight attendants, but with the company now posting record profits, some wanted to see profit-sharing reinstated.
