American Airlines' passenger service agents vote to unionise

[NEW YORK] Passenger service agents at American Airlines backed union representation for the first time in their history on Tuesday, with about 86 per cent of members voting in favour of collective bargaining, the union said.

The vote affects about 14,500 agents who work at both American and US Airways. The workers will be represented jointly by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represented agents at US Airways for more than a decade prior to its merger with American last year to create the world's largest airline by passenger traffic.

The CWA said that 9,640 agents voted in favour of the union while another 1,547 opposed it.