United Bargaining Update 04.03.26

The Teamsters National Negotiating Committee for United Airlines met again this week in Chicago and continued to make steady progress at the bargaining table, building on momentum from the last bargaining session. Several important issues were resolved, and discussions are moving forward on core priorities that will shape a stronger agreement for all mechanics and related employees.

Tentative agreements have been reached on Article 5 (Filling of Vacancies), Article 13 (Training) and Article 14 (Safety and Health), marking meaningful movement on issues that directly affect daily working conditions and long-term job security. These tentative agreements are another step forward in securing the protections and improvements members have consistently called for and move us closer to securing an agreement that reflects the value of the work members perform every day.

In addition to these tentative agreements, the committee delivered a full scope pass to the company — an important development on one of the most critical issues in these negotiations. Discussions within the GSE subcommittee are also ongoing as both sides continue to work through one outstanding issue.

Following the scope pass, the company requested a meeting to discuss several outstanding Article 1 (Scope) grievances that are currently bound for arbitration. During that meeting, the company expressed a desire for the union to withdraw those cases rather than present them before a neutral arbitrator — a strong-arm tactic the company also used with the Association of Flight Attendants. The company also indicated that if the union continued to pursue these grievances, United may pause negotiations until decisions are issued in each case.

The Teamsters are not willing to risk losing work to vendors or putting member jobs at any station in jeopardy. Trading away jobs in exchange for grievances we believe have merit is too high a price to pay for continued bargaining. While we believe a path forward can be found that keeps negotiations moving, any resolution must include the job protections members deserve and that we believe would be upheld if these cases proceeded to arbitration.

We are committed to continuing negotiations and are staying focused on securing the contract members deserve. The committee will meet again in Chicago on April 14.