January 6, 2025 

The AMFA–Sun Country Airlines Negotiating Committee requested, in November 2024, that a referendum vote be taken to determine whether AMFA is authorized by its members to call for a legal strike at Sun Country Airlines. Due to this request, and the impending strike authorization vote, AMFA issued a Priority Level 2 (PL-2) strike alert at the end of November 2024. The voting period for the strike authorization commenced on December 19, 2024, and closed on December 31, 2024. The votes for this referendum by AMFA’s members at Sun Country Airlines have now been tallied and the results speak volumes.

An overwhelming majority of AMFA-Sun Country members voted in favor of authorizing AMFA to call for a legal strike in accordance with the Railway Labor Act (RLA). AMFA is now empowered by its members to request a release from mediation by the National Mediation Board (NMB), which if granted, will lead to a thirty-day cooling-off period and a strike deadline. AMFA is therefore elevating its legal strike alert at Sun Country Airlines from the previous Priority Level 2 (PL-2) to Priority Level 1 (PL-1).

AMFA has been engaged in negotiations toward a first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with Sun Country Airlines for two and a half years – since July 2022. In October 2023, AMFA filed for mediation with the NMB, and a federal mediator was assigned to mediate negotiations. In AMFA’s opinion, Sun Country’s slow pace of negotiation has unnecessarily delayed reaching an agreement on a CBA that would reward the Aircraft Maintenance Technicians (AMTs) and related employees for their contributions to the Company’s success.

The parties remain engaged in mediated negotiations and AMFA will continue to bargain in good faith with Sun Country Airlines toward a first CBA that recognizes the AMTs and related employees’ hard work and importance to Sun Country’s operation. AMFA prefers to reach an agreement on a first CBA without resorting to a legal strike. However, given our members’ overwhelming vote in favor of a strike authorization, AMFA will closely monitor the pace and productivity of negotiations to determine whether to request release from mediation by the NMB and, if necessary, begin the process under the RLA to engage in a legal strike at Sun Country Airlines.

Bret Oestreich
National President