Flight Attendants at Omni Air International Vote to Authorize a Strike
Flight Attendants vote to authorize strike on the heels of management proposals that would leave them near the bottom of industry pay
Washington, D.C. (February 29, 2024) —Flight Attendants at Omni Air International overwhelmingly voted 100% to authorize a strike, with 91% participating.
“Omni Flight Attendants are at a breaking point, we’re sending a clear message today: management's offers are unacceptable," said Patricia Huber, AFA Omni President. "We face a relentless combination of disrespect, health concerns, schedule instability, excruciatingly long duty hours, inadequate crew rest, and poverty-level wages. The current state of affairs at Omni is unsustainable. We're fighting to change that."
Omni Air Flight Attendants and allies took the contract fight public on February 13th picketing throughout the country in solidarity with Flight Attendants across the industry fighting for new contracts at American, Alaska, United and more.
Omni Flight Attendants have been engaged in contract negotiations for a year-and-a-half and overseen by the National Mediation Board. Negotiations slowed after management put forward offers with inadequate pay increases, unacceptable duty lengths, and inadequate rest.
“Omni management is trying to hide behind the charter curtain and justify horrible working conditions,” said AFA International President Sara Nelson. “Management’s current proposals would exacerbate the problem. Omni Flight Attendants want a fair deal, and if it takes a strike to get one we’ve got their backs across the industry.”
Now that members have authorized a strike, the union can request a release from the National Mediation Board (NMB) leading to a 30-day "cooling off" period and strike deadline. AFA has a trademarked strike strategy known as CHAOS™ or Create Havoc Around Our System™. With CHAOS, a strike could affect the entire system or a single flight. The union decides when, where and how to strike without notice to management or passengers.
Omni Air International, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, operates international and domestic passenger charters. In addition, Omni Air also provides cargo and troop airlift for the U.S. military.
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The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, (AFA) AFL-CIO represents 50,000 Flight Attendants at 19 airlines. AFA is the union that has advanced the Flight Attendant profession for 78 years, beating back discrimination and improving wages, benefits, working conditions, and aviation safety, health and security in the aircraft cabin. AFA also partners with the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afacwa.org.
