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(NEW YORK) — United Airlines flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, moved closer to a strike Wednesday after the union announced that 99.99% of service members voted in favor of strike authorization.

The vote included 90% of the United Airlines flight attendant staff.

Among the strike requests, flight attendants are demanding significant double-digit base pay increases, being compensated for time at work outside of flights, schedule flexibility and work rule improvements, job security, retirement and more, according to the union.

The historic vote marked the first time in 20 years that United flight attendants have authorized a strike, since the airline’s 2005 bankruptcy negotiations.

However, a strike will not occur immediately and despite the vote, there will be no immediate disruptions to airline operations.

Experts say it’s highly unlikely United flight attendants will actually walk off the job. There are a number of steps that must happen before a strike can take place and the president and Congress have the power to stall or stop an airline strike.

“To be clear, there is no work stoppage or labor disruption,” United told ABC News in a statement Wednesday. “Off-duty flight attendants are simply exercising their right to conduct an informational picket.”

The results of the strike authorization vote were announced as nearly 20 informational picket lines were seen at airports across the country.

“We deserve an industry-leading contract. Our strike vote shows we’re ready to do whatever it takes to reach the contract we deserve,” Ken Diaz, president of the United chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants, said in a statement Wednesday.

“We are the face of United Airlines and planes don’t take off without us. As Labor Day travel begins, United management is reminded what’s at stake if we don’t get this done,” he added.

After this week, the union walked away from federally mandated negotiations. The union will now ask the National Mediation Board to release them into a 30-day “cooling-off” period, which would set a potential strike deadline.

“The United management team gives themselves massive compensation increases while Flight Attendants struggle to pay basic bills,” Diaz continued. “The 99.99% yes vote is a clear reminder that we are unified in the fight against corporate greed and ready to fight for our fair share of the profits we create.”

Similar strike authorization votes have been cast at competing airlines including American, Alaska, Southwest, and more.

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(NEW YORK) — Fearless Fund, a venture capitalist firm that invests in female entrepreneurs of color, has settled a discrimination lawsuit over a grant program specifically for Black women.

The lawsuit from the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) claimed that the fund’s Fearless Strivers Grant Contest, which was open “only to Black females,” was discriminatory.

The grant program was at its end when the court case began in 2023, according to an online post by Fearless Fund founder Arian Simone, and the fund said it was motivated to avoid a court ruling so as not to lead to a Supreme Court decision that could end minority-based funding nationwide.

The Fearless Fund said it will continue to focus on “helping under-resourced entrepreneurs who have been ill served by traditional capital markets for far too long.” In a statement on the settlement, it announced a new $200 million debt fund with the goal of lending to more than 3,000 under-resourced founders.

Representatives of Fearless Fund partners Simone and Ayana Parson told reporters in August 2023 that the fund was established to address the wide gap in venture capital funding for businesses led by women of color “who confront barrier after barrier to obtain support and investments for their businesses.”

The Fearless Strivers Grant Contest was created specifically for Black women because Black women-owned businesses receive less than 1% of venture capital funding, according to the organization.

AAER called the grant program “divisive and illegal” and claimed that it “encouraged the Fearless Fund to open its grant contest to Hispanic, Asian, Native American and white women but Fearless has decided instead to end it entirely.”

White women-founded companies take home 64% of “Diversity Investments” by deal count, meanwhile women of color-owned businesses only take home 10%, according to an analysis of Crunchbase data by venture capital firm BBG Ventures.

Fearless Fund partners have long defended their work, citing the poor representation of women of color among venture capital recipients and evidence of racial bias in the investment decisions of asset allocators.

“From the moment the lawsuit was filed, I pledged to stand firm in helping and empowering women of color entrepreneurs in need. I stand by that pledge today and in fact my commitment remains stronger than ever,” read a statement from the organization’s co-founder Arian Simone. “Our overarching mission remains focused on helping and empowering entrepreneurs who have been historically overlooked in the venture capital marketplace.”

AAER’s founder Edward Blum also leads the Students for Fair Admissions, the group that initiated the anti-affirmative action case that reached the Supreme Court and won the case, setting new limits on the use of race-based policies in college admissions.

The conservative group claimed that affirmative action, which was implemented to address racial inequities in access to higher education, violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

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(SEATTLE) — Tens of thousands of striking Boeing machinists are casting ballots on Monday over whether to approve a contract offer that could end their work stoppage after seven weeks.

The new offer delivers higher pay increases and a bolstered ratification bonus that would deliver each worker $12,000 if the union approves the deal, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the union representing 33,000 Boeing workers in Washington, Oregon and California.

The ongoing standoff has strained the finances of both sides. Union members have received $250 per week from a strike fund, beginning in the third week of the work stoppage. That compensation marks a major pay cut for many of the employees.

Boeing and its shareholders have lost about $5.5 billion since the strike began in September, according to an estimate last month from the Anderson Economic Group. Shares of Boeing have plummeted 40% this year but have ticked up slightly over the past month.

Union members resoundingly defeated two previous proposals from Boeing, but the latest offer marks the best deal the workforce is likely to receive, the union said in a public letter to membership on Saturday.

“This is truly the time to lock in these gains and work to build more in future negotiations,” IAM President Jon Holden and the union’s negotiating committee told members. “Allow yourself to capture this win and be proud of your sacrifice.”

The proposed contract would deliver a 38% raise over the four-year duration of the contract, upping the 35% cumulative raise provided in a previous offer overwhelmingly rejected by workers in a vote two weeks ago. Workers had initially sought a 40% cumulative pay increase.

The proposal also calls for hiking Boeing’s contribution to a 401(k) plan, but it declines to fulfill workers’ call for a reinstatement of the company’s defined pension. Workers lost a traditional pension plan in a contract ratified by the union in 2014.

Nearly two thirds of union members rejected the most recent contract offer in a vote last month. The outcome followed the overwhelming defeat of a previous proposal in September, which drew rebuke from more than 90% of union members.

“It’s time we all come back together and focus on rebuilding the business and delivering the world’s best airplanes,” Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg wrote in a memo to employees on Friday. “There are a lot of people depending on us.”

It will take a majority vote of union members to approve the contract offer. If workers ratify the deal, they can return to work as early as Wednesday, the union said.

“The decision to end this strike is right where it needs to be — in the membership’s hands,” Holden and the negotiating committee said in their public letter.

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