United Stonewalls on Scope as Committee Reassesses Next Steps

December 19, 2025

The Teamsters National Negotiating Committee for United Airlines met again this week in Houston expecting real engagement on scope. Instead, the company made its position clear: it is not prepared to move forward or bargain in good faith.

United’s response to the committee’s scope proposals showed no meaningful change and no seriousness about protecting the work of members. Once again, the company’s actions fell short of its promises.

After internal discussion, the committee determined that United’s overall approach to scope does not deliver the job protections members have demanded. The company’s proposals fail to meet those expectations, and it has become clear that continuing under the current framework will not be productive. As a result, the committee will not meet with the company during the next planned session in San Francisco.

The Airline Division will instead develop several options for how to proceed before reconvening internally with the full committee during the next scheduled round of negotiations. 

During this session, the committee also learned that several heavy maintenance checks on 757 aircraft were recently outsourced to an overhaul shop visit (OSV) in Ireland, without advanced notice to the union as required under the contract. When asked to explain, the company had no answer. That silence is telling.

“What United says and what it does are two very different things,” said Clacy Griswold, Chair of the United Airlines Teamsters National Negotiating Committee. “If the company can’t explain why work was sent overseas without notice, it only underscores why strong, enforceable scope language matters.”

Despite frustrations, the bargaining committee remains unified and focused. Protecting our work is not optional, and the committee will continue pressing forward until United takes these negotiations seriously.

The Teamsters committee will meet in San Francisco in January.