Alert · For United Airlines Flight Attendants
Agency Fee Objection: Know Your Rights
Resigning from AFA-CWA at United Airlines — the letter, word for word, and where it goes.
This is the Guild’s first post on the line. If you are a United Airlines Flight Attendant, your resignation and objection stand on your rights under the Railway Labor Act. Use the approved wording below — do not amend it — and act before another cycle of dues is taken for purposes you have not authorized.
The change begins one letter at a time
Resign your membership — and file a permanent agency-fee objection.
The Founding Member Packet contains the Guild’s approved resignation and objection letter for United Airlines Flight Attendants leaving the AFA-CWA. The letter does two things at once: it resigns your union membership, and it objects — as a permanent, continuing objection — to any fee being used for anything other than the lawfully chargeable costs of collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment.
The letter is quoted below exactly as approved. Fill in your name, address, and date where the placeholders appear. Do not change the wording — the Guild’s literature and cards must stay consistent with what members print and mail.
The approved resignation and continuing objection letter
Quoted verbatim from the Founding Member Working Packet, Version August 20, 2026 — not amended.
AFA-CWA RESIGNATION AND PERMANENT AGENCY FEE OBJECTION [FULL NAME] [STREET ADDRESS] [CITY, STATE ZIP] United Airlines Flight Attendant United Airlines Employee/File No. [________________] [DATE] VIA EMAIL AND CERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
CWA Agency Fee Administrator Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, CLC 501 Third Street NW Washington, DC 20001-2797
AND
AFA-CWA Membership Services Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO 501 Third Street NW Washington, DC 20001
Dear CWA Agency Fee Administrator and AFA-CWA Membership Services:
I hereby resign as a member of AFA-CWA.
My resignation is effective immediately. I will continue to meet my lawful obligation of paying a representation fee to the union under its "union shop" or "agency shop" agreement with United Airlines.
Furthermore, I object to the collection and expenditure by the union of a fee for any purpose other than my pro rata share of the union's costs of collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment, as is my right under Ellis v. Railway Clerks, 466 U.S. 435 (1984). Pursuant to Teachers Local 1 v. Hudson, 475 U.S. 292 (1986), I request that you provide me with my procedural rights, including: reduction of my fees to an amount that includes only lawfully chargeable costs; notice of the calculation of that amount, verified by an independent certified public accountant; and notice of the procedure that you have adopted to hold my fees in an interest-bearing escrow account and give me an opportunity to challenge your calculation and have it reviewed by an impartial decision maker.
Please reply promptly to my request. Any further collection or expenditure of dues or fees from me made without the procedural safeguards required by law will violate my rights under the Railway Labor Act and/or U.S. Constitution.
Please consider this objection to be permanent and continuing in nature.
Please provide written confirmation that: 1. My AFA-CWA membership status has been changed to reflect my resignation effective as of the date of this letter. 2. My permanent and continuing agency fee objection has been received and processed. 3. United Airlines payroll has been notified, as appropriate, so that only lawfully chargeable representation fees are deducted.
Regards, ____________________________________ SIGNATURE [FULL NAME]
How to send it
Print it, fill it in, sign by hand — two copies, one to each office.
Print the letter and fill in your name, address, employee/file number, and date where the placeholders appear. Sign it by hand in your own ink. Make two copies — one goes to the CWA Agency Fee Administrator, and one goes to AFA-CWA Membership Services, both at 501 Third Street NW in Washington, DC. Send by email, then follow up with a signed hard copy by certified mail, and keep your receipt for your records.
What this letter does
- Resignation is effective immediately — and the objection is permanent and continuing.
- You keep meeting your lawful obligation: a representation fee for collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment only.
- The objection covers any fee used for any other purpose — under Ellis v. Railway Clerks.
- Procedural rights under Teachers Local 1 v. Hudson: fee reduction, an independent CPA-verified accounting, and an escrow with a challenge process.
- The letter asks for written confirmation of your resigned status, your processed objection, and United payroll notice.
Where the letter goes
The letter is addressed to both offices, and the packet instructs members to send it by email and certified mail, return receipt requested:
CWA Agency Fee Administrator
Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, CLC
501 Third Street NW
Washington, DC 20001-2797
AFA-CWA Membership Services
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO
501 Third Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
- 1. Make two copies of your signed letter.
- 2. Send one to the CWA Agency Fee Administrator and one to AFA-CWA Membership Services.
- 3. Keep your signed original, the certified-mail receipts, and delivery confirmations for your records.
The full Founding Member Packet has everything — the card, the instructions, the letter.
Download the approved packet, print it, and keep every word consistent with what you mail.
