RLA Mediation · Weekly Snapshot
United–AFA remains the central flight-attendant mediation track before the National Mediation Board, with other airline cases holding steady and no new high-visibility releases or cooling-off periods this week.
Current posture (publicly confirmed). Negotiations between AFA-CWA and United Airlines remain in active mediation under the National Mediation Board (NMB). AFA’s public bargaining updates reaffirm that economics and quality-of-life protections remain open items. United has acknowledged that bargaining continues and has characterized recent sessions as constructive, consistent with Railway Labor Act confidentiality requirements.
NMB mediation cadence. There has been no release to a 30-day cooling-off period. Mediation is scheduled to continue into mid-December, with the NMB maintaining a structured but moderate cadence, consistent with later-stage bargaining but without indications of impasse.
CrewSignal assessment. United–AFA remains the highest-visibility, actively mediated flight-attendant contract currently before the NMB. While the specifics of in-room discussions remain confidential under the Railway Labor Act, union-side communications confirm that primary economic and quality-of-life categories are still open for resolution.
All cases below are confirmed publicly via NMB dockets or union press releases.
Mediation remains active. ALPA has publicly highlighted scheduling stability, duty-day concerns, and compensation alignment as continuing subjects in the open sections of negotiations.
Hawaiian pilots remain in NMB mediation following unresolved economic issues. ALPA has reported incremental progress while noting that major economic sections are still open.
Mediation continues with ALPA identifying retention matters, wage progression, and training pipeline stability as broad bargaining priorities. No release or escalation signals have been issued by the NMB.
PSA remains in active mediation focused on staffing-related incentives, reserve utilization, and fatigue mitigation themes as identified by ALPA in public communications.
IAM confirms ongoing NMB-mediated negotiations with open discussions centered on economics and workplace standards. No major procedural developments were reported during the week.
United/AFA remains the primary mediation track to watch as sessions continue into mid-December. The NMB has maintained stability across all active airline mediation cases, with no case approaching a release or cooling-off period this week. Industry-wide mediation activity remains steady but without signs of escalation, even as union-side stakeholders continue to use mediated disputes as focal points for broader labor strategy.
These notes summarize the public materials relied upon for this snapshot. Under the Railway Labor Act, in-room mediation discussions are confidential; topics listed here are limited to what unions, carriers, or the NMB have themselves chosen to disclose.