That's a load of BS... that union will make up the stupidest nonsense. There's no discrimination in adding a tier to your workforce. The Coaching and observation programs are similar. If US was serious about international expansion and having a consistently delivered onboard product, they'd be looking into this. It's offers a slight level of advancement in a workforce that has little initiative to begin with, and adds a level of accountability and service recovery in the company's most visible customer interaction- on board the aircraft. Look who we are talking about though.
The blockade is that neither airline ever had such a program, and the small minded see it as a seniority violation. Both carriers were/are regional carriers that in the past never had a need for such things as language speakers, qualified pursers... schlepping around on a 737 doesn't really require those things. The membership needs to grow up as much as the company does if they really want to be the type of carrier that flies to Asia and is part of a global alliance.
I am SO tired of the union's cloudy crystal ball "oh, that would never pass..." "oh the membership wouldn't go for that" "i don't think the company wants that...". Now "it's dicrimination"... what? These are all things other carriers have, and guess what, they don't have 20 year reserves, displacements every two months, and arguably the most unhappy F/A workforce in the industry. Has no one at AFA ever heard of thinking outside the box, or even if it's broken let's fix it?