- Retirement
Seminar
- Another Year and
We are Still Here!
- 14 Hours vs. 15
Hours
- New Day for Labor
in the 110th Congress
- Contract
Negotiations
- Delta? Enough
Said!
- Building a Better
Airline? Start with US first!
Dear
Council AFA-CWA Members,
Retirement Seminar
On January 31st AFA will be holding a retirement seminar
at Washington National Airport at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM
in the customer service training room downstairs near
the break room. A representative from the Pension
Benefit Guarantee Corporation will be there to answer
all the questions about how to get your benefits and
where to go to find them. These seminars have been held
in other crew bases and have been very popular and full
of information. Whether you plan on retiring the next
year or several years from now, this information will
provide you with the tools to make the right decisions
and know the benefits you will receive. If you can not
attend, please send a friend to get all the written
information and get answers to your questions concerning
your retirement benefits.
Another Year and We are Still Here!
It is hard to believe that another year has come and
gone and we are still here. If we all had a dime for
every person that said we would be in the airline
graveyard, well, we wouldn't have to be here. US Airways
now finds itself in the role of the buyer with the
current offer for Delta on the table (more about that
later). What a difference a year makes. Of course the
merger with America West is still a long ways from
completion. Contract negotiations still seem to proceed
at a glacial pace. Also the Company has a vision of
integration this spring, not sure what crystal ball they
use but it may currently have a few cracks. Looking into
the future there is one thing I feel sure about, they
will be many changes ahead for the flight attendants.
Hopefully they will all be for the good of the group but
even I have to take off those rose colored glasses. The
bottom line is that it will be another exciting year and
hopefully one that will see some positive changes.
14 Hours vs. 15 Hours
How long can I be forced to
stay on duty? That is one of the many calls that I get,
especially when the weather falls apart or if you are
going through PHL on a normal day. You can be scheduled
and/or rescheduled up to 14 hours. However during the
normal operations of the schedule or reschedule you can
be forced to remain on duty up to 15 hours. OK, in plain
English what does that mean? For example, if you are
going from PIT to DCA with a block time of 1+00 and you
are at 13+30, do you have to fly that leg? YES. With the
block time and the 15 minute debrief that would put you
at 14+45. If you are working the same leg and at the
time of departure you are at 14+00 do you have to fly
the leg? NO. What if the pilots say they can fly it in
40 minutes? The answer is still NO. Always add the
scheduled block time and add 15 minutes for the debrief
and that is your actual time. In the last example you
would have been at 15+15 with the scheduled block time
and 15 minute debrief. The important thing to remember
is to add your scheduled block time plus the debriefing
time to the on duty time you already have for the day.
If you have any questions please call one of your local
officers. Also please remember to pick up and carry your
contract with you at all times. There are copies
available in the DCA Inflight Office and also in the
mail room in the lower file cabinet to your left.
New Day for Labor in the 110th Congress
With the New Year comes a new day for labor on Capitol
Hill. With the results of the midterm elections,
labor-friendly congressional leaders are now taking a
proactive approach to our legislative agenda rather than
protecting ourselves against anti-labor lawmakers. Of
course now is the time to act! The Legislative Policy
Committee for AFA has held meetings to set our political
agenda for 2007 and select our priorities. Among the
issues will be OSHA protection for flight attendants.
With OSHA protection on the aircraft, occupational
injuries would be dramatically reduced. As anyone who is
out on OJI can tell you, this Company has a rubber stamp
on OJI claims, DENIED! At that point it involves getting
an attorney, depending on the size of the claim, and
dealing with the court system. With OSHA protection,
this nightmare could be avoided by many flight
attendants across the country. Among the other issues
this year will be Cabin Air Quality and providing an
exception for flight attendants when it comes to
qualifying for Family Medical Leave (FMLA). Each carrier
interprets the FMLA law differently. The law reads that
you must work 1250 hours a year to qualify. There are
many labor groups like ours that work full time but we
get paid in a very different manner than the "real
world" Exceptions have been provided for other labor
groups since the beginning of the FMLA and we will be
working for the same type of exception. We will continue
to work aggressively on Cabin Air Quality and crew
member fatigue. More information on what you can do to
move our agenda through Congress will follow.
Unfortunately a byproduct of the election is that a
number of our republican friends were not returned to
Congress. Among them was Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT). Rep.
Simmons lost his election by 91 votes. He was a great
supporter of our issues and we will miss working with
him. The gains we made were in large part by your
support of Flight PAC. We must continue to support our
friends in this new Congress and make sure they remain
in the majority and control the agenda.
Contract Negotiations
Merged contract negotiations continue take place between
both the flight attendant groups represented by AFA.
Currently only a handful of sections have been closed
out with many others currently open and proposals being
exchanged across the table. The Company has a vision
that we will have operational integration this May but
that can only happen with a ratified contract on both
the east and west side. Unless the Company was to
suddenly come to the table and agree with most of the
AFA proposals, I would be shocked if that goal could be
met. If that truly was their goal they would not have
spent that past several months wasting time over
non-economic issues and really get to the business of
negotiating a contract. Since the announcement of the
Delta merger the Company has been all over the map
concerning their "cost neutral" stance. One person says
it will be cost neutral (Sherri Shamblin) and another
says that it will not (Scott Kirby). Who do you believe?
Well, if the ridiculous pace of negotiations is any
indication they don't want to give the flight attendant
group one penny. The truth of the matter is that a cost
neutral contract will not come up for a vote. AFA has
told the Company time and time again that a cost neutral
contract will not fly and it is a waste of time to
believe so. We are not under the threat of bankruptcy or
liquidation so what makes them think that any group
would vote in our current agreement when it was brought
to us basically at gunpoint several years ago? The next
couple of months will really show just how serious the
Company is about both their new stance towards merged
negotiations and integration of the two flight attendant
groups. I will believe it when I see it.
Delta? Enough Said!
So much has been said about the Delta merger, will it be
approved? Will it get the OK by the government? What
will happen to the various hubs and crew bases? As I
have stated before those are all secondary questions to
me. My primary concern is the representation of the
flight attendants. If the flight attendant group is not
represented then all the other questions about
seniority, contracts and merger integration will be
answered by the Company with no input from the flight
attendant group. If the merger proceeds as planned there
are a number of things that have to happen. Because
there are more Delta flight attendants than US Airways,
even if the Company voluntarily recognized AFA as being
the voice for the combined group, a union could not be
forced on Delta. The Company could say that we don't
need an election by the National Mediation Board if
there are enough cards filled out by the Delta flight
attendants wanting representation. While the Company
could make this statement today they have not. From the
initial announcement about the merger, Doug Parker and
his team have been calling for labor peace surrounding
this merger. Well, Mr. Parker can have that peace when
he steps up and informs the NMB that we will not need an
election. Until such time, labor peace will be a dream.
I have received a number of questions from leaders on
Capitol Hill about the merger and is labor for or
against. I have told them at this time I am neutral
pending the actions of management and how they approach
the question of representation. If management continues
to "ride the fence" on the question of representation,
at some point in the not to distant future I will not
ride the fence and come out against it. Really the ball
is in Mr. Parker's court. He can actually live up to his
words about labor peace or stay high atop the fence.
After some time the fence becomes a little to painful to
ride and he will come down on one side. Actions speak
louder than words.
Building a Better Airline? Start with US first!
I took some time (and a sedative) and went to the new
Company website regarding the Delta merger. While it was
filled with press releases and news articles in favor of
the merger I couldn't really find anything about
"building a better airline". In fact all I kept on
thinking of is instead of focusing all their energy on
this pending merger, why not focus on the one at hand.
The slow pace of negotiations, catering problems, crew
bases out of balance, shortage of flight attendants,
continued violations of the existing collective
bargaining agreement. Is this really how you build a
better airline? I imagine it can only be a sign of times
to come which can't be good. My suggestion would be to
focus the Company time and energy on the task at hand.
This merger may not happen but we are still here and it
would appear that they have more than their hands full.
In Solidarity,
Alin Boswell
LEC President, DCA
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA |
