| National President's Year-End Update - 2025 |
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To:
Re:
Date: | AMFA Members
National President’s Year-End Update - 2025
December 31, 2025 |
Dear Members:
The start of a new year is always an opportunity to advance our goals, strengthen relationships, and build on the progress we have already made together as a craft-specific union. AMFA’s leadership remains fully committed to our core objective: upholding the highest standards of this industry, and our goal is to secure the recognition you deserve—from your employer, from regulators, and from the flying public—for the critical role our profession plays in aviation safety across North America.
We will continue to be the voice for skilled aircraft maintenance workgroups by driving top-of-scale wages at our represented carriers to within cents—not dollars—of one another, as the market responds to the true value of licensed AMT/AME skillsets. As AMFA raises top-of-scale all-in rates in the United States and Canada, the clear expectation is that other labor organizations will be forced to keep pace with the “AMFA Effect,” setting a new industry standard established by AMFA at the bargaining table.
Year-End Growth Snapshot
- The heightened interest from other technician/engineer groups across the U.S. and Canada suggests that each high-profile contract functions as both a retention and a recruiting tool, contributing to approximately 83% membership growth since 2018.
- Membership has expanded from just over 3,000 AMTs and related at Southwest and Alaska in 2018 to more than 6,200 by the end of 2025, with the addition of new members at Horizon, Spirit, Sun Country, L3 Harris (Trenton), WestJet, Calm Air, Jazz Aviation Line, and Jazz Technical Services. Once Aircraft Maintenance Technicians and Engineers at Hawaiian Airlines and Air Canada complete their representation votes and formally join AMFA, the union’s membership will have tripled compared to its 2018 size.
- Ongoing campaigns at Alaska–Hawaiian and 2,200 Air Canada professionals, combined with recent CBAs that average around 30% wage increases and stronger job protections and bargaining outcomes have been central to AMFA’s membership growth because “industry-leading” contracts at key carriers created a reputation for higher pay and better quality of life that drew AMFA as a leading alternative to “catch-all” industrial unions and non-unionized workgroups.
Organizing Wins and Strong Contracts
- New certifications and accretions at U.S. and Canadian carriers, plus maintenance and control groups, directly add members while showcasing AMFA’s bargaining results in multiple operations and countries.
- Recent contracts at WestJet, Jazz Line/JTS, Calm Air, Horizon, and Alaska feature double-digit raises, improved work rules and benefits, and upgraded job protection and scope language, reinforcing AMFA’s reputation for securing top-tier economics.
Contract Gains and Wage Focus
- Leadership emphasizes “industry-changing” contracts, with strategies to push represented carriers to leapfrog each other’s wage scales and improve quality of life; these high-profile gains make AMFA more attractive to non-union and other industrial union member groups.
- The public highlights significant double-digit raises, seniority protections, and scheduling improvements achieved in recent CBAs, which support word-of-mouth growth among aircraft maintenance technicians and engineers.
Craft-Specific and Democratic Model
- AMFA represents only AMTs/AMEs and skilled trade professionals, focusing 100% of union resources on a single craft and contrasting itself with industrial unions that spread attention across many sectors and classifications.
- Direct election of national officers, open negotiations, and full access to tentative agreements before ratification give members transparency and control, which AMTs/AMEs cite as key reasons for moving to and staying with AMFA, which leaders cite when explaining why AMTs/AMEs are shifting to AMFA.
Wage Gains and Industry-Leading Deals
- AMFA frequently highlights double-digit raises, high top-of-scale rates, and premium structures in recent CBAs at carriers such as Southwest, Alaska, Horizon, WestJet, Jazz Aviation Line/JTS, and Calm Air, framing these contracts as setting or matching the top of the market.
- Historical examples, such as the Northwest Airlines CBA in early 2001 with hard the fought battle with NWA management and successful legal battle at mediation with the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) that delivered an industry-changing contract resulting in significant $10-13 hourly wage increases with 37% raise top-of-scale, pension rate increase of 113%, retroactive pay rate of 3.5% of W-2 earnings, secured outsourcing limits (there were no outsourcing limits in the prior IAM-negotiated contract) and briefly led the industry, illustrates and reinforce a long pattern where strong economics reinforced members’ decisions to choose or stay with AMFA.
Scope, Outsourcing Limits, and Work Protection
- At several AMFA properties, contract language governing vendor use and scheduled maintenance limits outsourcing and preserves core work – an important consideration for those concerned about job security and the erosion of in-house line maintenance. AMFA members understand outsourcing limits and protections because they directly shape that language through the contract proposal and ratification process, retaining final authority over scope, outsourcing limits, and work protection.
- Critics from rival unions occasionally point to AMFA contracts as having weaker scope language; however, those attacks highlight how central scope protections, growth language, and clear voting information are when AMTs/AMEs and related skilled professionals evaluate which union best defends long-term job security. By contrast, industrial unions like IBT, TWU, and IAM frequently criticize AMFA while avoiding transparent disclosure to their own members about outsourcing, despite it remaining a significant issue at the carriers they represent.
- According to the DOT Inspector General, major U.S. air carriers outsource approximately 71% of heavy airframe maintenance, with about 27% performed at foreign stations— meaning roughly one in five U.S. flights has undergone overseas maintenance. Network airlines remain the largest outsourcing spenders, with American Airlines paying providers ($1.9B), Delta ($1.1B), and United ($1.6B) leading in 2019; Southwest and JetBlue spent $837 million and $579 million, respectively.
Visibility and Organizing Leverage
- National updates from AMFA emphasize that visible bargaining wins at existing carriers “raise the bar” on compensation and conditions across the sector, which in turn makes non-union or differently represented groups more receptive to AMFA organizing campaigns and open negotiation process.
- AMFA leadership explicitly links major, ratified industry-changing CBAs to tangible gains for members, including job protections, top-of-scale wages, retroactive pay, and improved work-jurisdiction safeguards. Notable examples include Southwest (2019 and 2023: $160M retro pay, top wages, job protections), Alaska (2024: $65.85 top rate, OT protections), WestJet (2024: 27% wage increase, 20% matching retirement), Horizon (2025: 20% top-of-scale increase), Jazz Aviation Line/JTS (2025: 19–40% immediate wage increases, 63% average five-year progression), and Calm Air (2025: 22% first-year wage increase, comprehensive contract reorganization, strengthened subcontracting protections).
As we enter the new year, AMFA’s record demonstrates that a craft-specific, member-driven approach delivers tangible results: industry-leading wages, strong job protections, and transparent, democratic processes. These achievements not only reinforce the value of skilled AMTs/AMEs but also position AMFA as the benchmark for representation in aviation maintenance across North America. By continuing to set high standards at the bargaining table, AMFA ensures long-term security, career growth, and recognition for its members, while strengthening the union’s influence and appeal to new and existing professionals.
In solidarity,
Bret Oestreich
National President |
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