Governing Documents and Merger-Policy Sources

Governance source stack

TWU governance operates through a layered source structure: the International Constitution, local-union bylaws, local election rules, collective bargaining agreements, and member-facing local policies. For airline Flight Attendants, that structure is especially important because TWU’s model uses dedicated carrier locals under a broader multi-industry international union.

TWU International Constitution

The currently located public TWU Constitution is the 27th Constitution, 2025 Edition. The constitutional history page states that the Constitution was amended by the 27th Constitutional Convention held September 15–18, 2025. The table of contents includes articles addressing structure, local unions, local union elections, local officer duties, appeals, grievances, collective bargaining and contracts, strikes, referenda, education, COPE, and amendments.

TWU’s official convention recap confirms that the 27th Constitutional Convention opened on September 15, 2025, and describes the organization as having grown to more than 160,000 members across the leadership cycle leading into that convention.

Primary links: 2025 TWU Constitution; TWU 27th Constitutional Convention recap.

Air Division and carrier-specific Flight Attendant locals

TWU’s Air Division identifies JetBlue, Southwest, Allegiant, American, and other carriers among the air-carrier groups within the division. The Air Division also describes its coverage as spanning nearly every aviation craft and class, including Flight Attendants, mechanics, dispatch, fleet service, flight crew training instructors, flight simulator engineers, and stores members.

For Flight Attendants, the public governance pattern is a dedicated local model rather than a single carrier-only international union. Local 579 identifies itself as the union of JetBlue Flight Attendants. Public Local 579 election rules provide for elected officers and seven base executive board members, one each for BOS, EWR, FLL, JFK, LAX, MCO, and SJU. Public Local 556 materials identify Local 556 as the union of Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants and describe local bylaws as part of the legal governance structure that works with the TWU International Constitution.

Primary links: TWU Air Division; TWU Local 579 member resources; Local 579 election rules; Local 556 bylaws.

Member rights, dues, and local control

Local 579’s member-facing dues page states that 70% of dues is returned to the local under the TWU Constitution. It also distinguishes members from nonmembers: members may attend union meetings, nominate officers, run for office, hold office, vote for officers, vote on contracts, and participate in union business, while nonmembers receive contract protection but do not have those internal union governance rights.

The same page states that Local 579 members remain responsible for complying with the TWU Constitution, Local 579 bylaws, and Article 33 of the JetBlue/TWU CBA. This makes the Local 579 governance stack visible in public materials even though the Local 579 bylaws text itself is listed as a member resource rather than displayed publicly on the page.

Primary link: TWU Local 579 All About Dues.

Airline-merger policy source record

The public TWU merger-policy record is more fragmented than the CWA-AFA merger-policy record. A standalone TWU airline merger policy is referenced in public airline labor agreements, but the standalone policy text has not yet been located in a publicly accessible union document. Public TWU-represented airline agreement language refers to a “TWU/TWU Airline Merger Policy” when both employee groups are represented by TWU, and separately uses Allegheny-Mohawk seniority integration and NMB representation procedures when the other carrier’s employees are represented by a different union or are unrepresented.

Flight Attendant-specific history provides a separate public example. In the Alaska/Virgin America integration, TWU and CWA-AFA entered a seniority integration protocol for Virgin America Inflight Teammates and Alaska Flight Attendants. The public CWA-AFA Alaska explanation states that the integration would proceed by competitive or bidding seniority date under CWA-AFA’s merger policy, with training-credit adjustments to make the lists comparable before integration.

For JetBlue, the most important current source remains the JetBlue/TWU collective bargaining agreement’s merger language. That agreement supplies the JetBlue-specific successorship, single-carrier, McCaskill-Bond/Allegheny-Mohawk, no-bumping, no-system-rebid, and base-protection language used in the United/JetBlue merger comparator work.

Primary links: TWU/TWU Airline Merger Policy reference in public airline agreement; TWU/CWA-AFA Alaska–Virgin America seniority integration protocol explanation.

Seniority integration relevance for merger analysis

Seniority integration is separate from representation. A combined carrier’s Flight Attendant representative may be determined through National Mediation Board procedures, while seniority integration is governed by federal labor-protective standards, applicable union policy, transaction protocols, and the relevant CBAs. In a United/JetBlue scenario, the seniority question is central because any integration by Flight Attendant seniority date, date of hire, or competitive bidding seniority date would place JetBlue Flight Attendants behind United Flight Attendants who hold earlier comparable seniority dates.

That issue matters even where one workforce is much larger than the other. Representation elections turn on more than seniority, but seniority placement directly affects bidding power, base access, reserve exposure, vacation selection, schedule quality, and long-term career expectations. The TWU governance report therefore links the public TWU governing documents and airline-merger source record alongside the United/JetBlue comparator reports.

Related reports

• Representation Model: Locals and Divisional Structures
• Funding, Dues, and Financial Governance
• Hypothetical United / JetBlue merger comparator