Roughly 15,000 pilots at American Airlines may be one step closer to new union representation. Currently, the group is represented by the Allied Pilots Association (APA), though a majority of members voted earlier this year to explore a merger with the larger Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).
ALPA represents nearly 80,000 pilots at several major carriers, including Delta and United.
Last week, the APA’s board of directors signed off on plans to form a negotiating committee between the APA and APLA. This comes after 58% of pilots recently polled at the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier say they “strongly” or “somewhat favor” a committee to explore a merger.
The union will hold a special board meeting in late June to elect members for the merger committee. About 25% of APA-represented pilots polled said they were “firmly opposed to an ALPA merger, don’t want a committee or want to fund a committee …”
This push for a tie-up between the two labor groups is nothing new. Last year, a group called AA Pilots for ALPA told Forbes it collected 8,219 cards in support of the merger, roughly half of the airline’s total pilot group.
