What Are Dues at AFA?
Dues keep our union ours.
Dues keep our union independent, answerable to no company, and they fund the resources we need to protect Flight Attendants and stand up to management at every phase: organizing, negotiating, enforcing. For a decade they were $50 a month at every AFA airline. Here is the whole story, including what changed this year, and why SkyWest Flight Attendants owe nothing until we vote to ratify our first contract.
*At regional carriers, dues remain $50 a month under the rebate program. How the rebate works →
Two increases in two decades.
Tap a year to see what happened.
2016. Dues rose to $50 a month and then stayed there for a decade, through a pandemic and the biggest contract fights in the union's history.
Monthly dues per member. Dues are flat, not a percentage of pay, so a raise never raises your dues.
A promise AFA made in 2003.
When AFA members voted to join CWA in 2003, the agreement they approved said AFA dues would equal the average monthly dues of CWA members once a four-year freeze ended. Most CWA members pay about 2.25 hours of pay a month.
For about five years CWA's systems could not calculate that average, so AFA dues stayed at $50. Once the figure was confirmed at $65.36, the constitution required AFA to match it.
Dues are set by the AFA Board of Directors, made up of the Local Council presidents Flight Attendants elect at every airline. No executive sets them, and no company collects a dollar of them for itself. The Board paired the new rate with a rebate program, explained next.
Relief where it's needed, decided by Flight Attendants.
At every AFA airline, Flight Attendants elect a Master Executive Council, their MEC, to lead their airline's priorities and negotiations. That is who holds the rebate decision.
Alongside the new rate, the AFA-CWA Board of Directors voted in a rebate program. At carriers where Flight Attendants would face hardship from the increase, the MEC can suspend the increase for up to two years. The call is made by the Flight Attendants' own elected leaders at that airline, not by the International office and never by a company.
For SkyWest Flight Attendants the point is simpler still: none of this is owed until our first contract is ratified. By then, the rate, the rebate and the contract math are all ours to weigh, with our own MEC at the table.
Dues are part of the deal we vote on.
Flight Attendants never vote on a contract without seeing the cost of dues next to the gains. Try your own numbers.
An illustration, not a promise. The real numbers come from negotiations led by SkyWest Flight Attendants, and the final say is a vote by SkyWest Flight Attendants. Dues are flat, so a bigger raise never means bigger dues.
Most of it stays at your airline.
What SkyWest Flight Attendants ask.
Do I pay anything when I sign a card?+
No. Signing a card costs nothing, and nothing is collected during the campaign, the election, or negotiations.
When would dues start?+
Only after SkyWest Flight Attendants vote to ratify our first contract. Until that day, the amount is zero.
How are dues collected?+
Through company payroll, once a contract is in force. AFA never takes money out of your check on its own.
Are dues a percentage of my pay?+
No. AFA dues are a flat monthly amount, so every raise you win goes to you.
Is there relief where the increase is a hardship?+
Yes. The AFA-CWA Board of Directors voted in a rebate program that lets an MEC suspend the increase for up to two years at a carrier where Flight Attendants would experience hardship. Each MEC decides for its own Flight Attendants.
Who decides if dues ever change again?+
The AFA Board of Directors, which is made up of the Local Council presidents elected by Flight Attendants at every AFA airline. With AFA, SkyWest Flight Attendants have seats at that table.
Zero today. A contract tomorrow.
Request your card and info. The only cost right now is two minutes.
Confidential · protected by federal law Request Info & Sign Your CardSources: AFA-CWA, 53rd Board of Directors Convention (March 2026); United AFA, Understanding the AFA-CWA Dues Increase (March 2026); AFA-CWA Constitution and Bylaws, Appendix A (merger agreement).
