April 6, 2006

Airline Ride Across America

On March 30, US Airways Captain Tom Heidenberger began his last flight as a US Airways captain. Instead of flying back from Los Angles, Tom and a crew of other airline employees began a 33 day ride across America to pay tribute to the 33 flight crew members who lost their lives on September 11th, 2001. As well as paying tribute, the crew will be raising needed funds for the 3 memorials in NY, PA and VA for our fallen flying partners. Tom lost his wife Michelle on the morning of September 11th when her flight was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon. While the past years have been difficult for Tom and his family he has remained focused on his family and ensuring the safety of his passengers and crew at all times. The crew will end their ride at the Pentagon on May 9th where they will pay final tribute to the crew of American flight 77. They will be making scheduled stops in Phoenix, Dallas, Shanksville, New York City and Washington, DC. Along the way local riders will be encouraged to join the crew and I'm sure there will a large media following along the way building up to the final stop in Virginia. If you would like to follow the progress of the crew you can log onto www.airlineride.org were you can read bios of the riders and also donate online. As well there are various items you can purchase to support this ride. On a personal note I have had the privilege to fly with Tom on many occasions and also talked to him about the struggle that he and his son and daughter have gone through since the loss of his wife and their mother. It has not been an easy 4 years since that day but I believe that this is a wonderful end to a long aviation career. I hope all of us who will not be flying on May 9th can join Tom and the crew when they arrive at the Pentagon and join him in remembering the crews lost and celebrate their lives. Continue to follow the progress at www.airlineride.org and purchase items related to the ride as well and don't forget to mark your calendar for May 9th and welcome the crew home. If you have any questions you can contact the crew via their website or call one of your local officers. For those joining the crew at the Pentagon at the end of the ride, they have asked us to wear our uniforms. I'm sure it will be a great day to remember those who lost their lives and to wish Tom good luck during his retirement. We hope to see you there!

CWA Legislative Affairs Conference

On March 12-15th, the Communication Workers of America held their annual Legislative Affairs Conference. Over a thousand CWA members came in from around the world for the conference. Steve Schembs, Liz Haransky and Alin Boswell attended representing Council 41. The focus of the conference for AFA members was on the Leave All Blades Behind Legislation and the legislation to stop the current administrations proposal to allow foreign owners control over the day-to-day operations of US airlines. While a foreign owner can invest up to 25% in a US carrier they can have no say in the operations of the airline. This notice of proposed rulemaking seeks to circumvent congressional authority. In short it is a way to get around congressional oversight of the airline industry. With the recent uproar over the Dubai port deal, one staff member commented that once again AFA's timing was perfect. While some members of Congress may support increased foreign ownership, they did not agree with the rulemaking basically stripping them of their oversight. If you want to upset Congress just tell them that you are ignoring their opinion. 

Both pieces of legislation gained many co-sponsors which included Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) who was one of the first to put his name on the Leave All Blades Behind Act. This did not happen by accident as your legislative affairs committee has lobbied this office long and hard on flight attendant issues. Rep. Moran would usually vote the right way on our issues but for many years would never co-sponsor legislation, which is the important first step in getting a bill out of committee. As of this writing, the Leave All Blades Behind Act has passed an important hurdle moving past the subcommittee and hopefully will soon head to the floor of the House of Representatives. 

During the conference Rep. Bob Simmons (R-CT) came to talk to the group of flight attendants. I have heard hundreds of political speaks in my life but have never heard a member of Congress express just how important what we do every day and how it is vital to the economy and fabric of the nation. He talked about the flight attendants on September 11th and quoted from the September 11th report which praised the action of the flight attendants from phone calls that were made to people on the ground. As he was speaking all I kept on thinking was "why isn't this man my representative". That is one of the important things that FlightPAC does, support people running for office that are concerned and will do what is needed to protect the flight attendants both on and off the aircraft. In the coming weeks you will see local flight attendants signing more of our flight attendants up for FlightPAC. During this important election year, we must elect and support candidates that will help do our work and that can only happen through FlightPAC. If we don't do that then we can kiss our political agenda goodbye. While we are a diverse workgroup that covers a number of political affiliations and social issues, AFA and FlightPAC are only concerned with flight attendant issues and those of working families. I don't care if you have a D or a R after your name, you are with us or against us. It is just that simple. I would like to thank Liz and Steve for attending the conference and look forward to seeing them soon during our PAC drive.

The New Contract is Here!

As some of you know the new printed contract has finally arrived. This has been a long time coming and was very labor intensive bringing three restructuring agreement together for one final printed document. The new contracts are available in the DCA Inflight Office and every flight attendant should not only pick up a copy but keep it in their flight bag next to the flight attendant emergency manual. Many of the questions we receive could be answered by having a copy of the contract. I know it has been difficult the last couple of years carrying around all the documents and referring to them when there has been a conflict with Scheduling or other departments. Also some of the contract language can be very gray or confusing. If you are unsure about certain language, please call one of your local officers for help. That is one of the things we are here for. Go in and say hi to Carol and get your copy today!

Thank you Christine Stout

Christine Stout, who has been serving on our Air, Health, Safety and Security Committee has decided to leave US Airways. She has served on this committee for many years and has been a valuable member of Council 41. She has helped many flight attendants at very difficult times and there is no way to replace her. On behalf of your LEC Officers we wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors and will miss her professionalism. Good luck and thank you!

Over and Under Flying, What does it mean with the ETB?

With the elimination of the flying options and the creation of the electronic trade board (ETB) there has been much confusion about what a flight attendant is responsible for and when a flight attendant should expect a letter from their supervisor for under or over flying. I do take over flying very seriously. If someone is over flying, they are keeping a more junior block holders from making their time and, with the current least time order in place for our reserves, not allowing reserves to even come close to breaking guarantee (I will get to that later). Hopefully this will help explain your responsibilities. If you are a primary block holder and receive an eighty (80) hour line that is your first obligation. You may reduce your time via SAP but your obligation will still be eighty hours. However if you increase your hours via SAP, that will now be your new obligation. You can not reduce your obligation via SAP, you can only increase it. After SAP and when the reserves get their days off, the ETB opens. You can then lower your obligation at that point. If you started with your original obligation of eighty hours and reduce that via the ETB to fifty (50) hours that is your new obligation. Now for the more difficult part. If in this example your obligation is fifty hours but you need more time in your paycheck to live you must increase your obligation via the ETB. You will know what your obligation (OBL) is on option 2 in our CATCREW system. You can be three (3) hours over or two (2) hours under your obligation. If you reduce your obligation via the ETB down to fifty hours and then pick up the extra time via the bidsheet (AIL) without adjusting your obligation upward, that time will in the end will be considered over flying. The US Airways MEC has one of several ways to deal with this problem. We could instruct Scheduling not to give flight attendants trips that would put them over their current obligation. Just so everyone is clear I do not agree with this approach at all! The job of Scheduling is not to hold flight attendants to their obligation. While a flight attendant may over project themselves early in the month, they may be doing that knowing that will be trip improving down later in the month. I don't approve of anything that would restrict a flight attendants use of the AIL. The short answer to the issue is if you reduce your time via the ETB then you must raise your obligation via the ETB. If you can not then you are stuck with the hours you hold via the ETB. While this issue has been a huge problem in other bases, when I receive my over fly report every month, the DCA base has only a small percentage of flight attendants who would actually be considered to have over flown. Also if you raise your obligation via the ETB and are unable to meet that requirement then you will receive a low block letter. Both can become issues under the current Dependability Control Program (DCP). While I am not happy with either option do we allow Scheduling to deny trips to flight attendants or hold flight attendant accountable for their actions? I believe at this moment, since it is such a small problem for the DCA base and we are all responsible adults, that each can take accountability for our own actions. Of course if I am wrong please let me know but I believe from what I hear on the jumpseat and in the crew room that flight attendants would rather have as much flexibility as possible. I know that it can be very complicating and would encourage each of you to call or stop us in the crew room to give further explanation. If I were back in college I could write a thesis on this subject but would just encourage each of you to call us for further clarification. 

New EAP/Professional Standards Volunteers

I am proud to announce the addition of two new EAP/Professional Standards volunteers for the DCA flight attendant base. Walter Davis and Barb Collier have attended training and our now qualified to serve the flight attendants in Council 41. This is in addition to our long standing volunteer Annette Hill who continues to do a superb job. Both Barb and Walter have many years of experience working for US Airways and will be a welcome addition to our AFA family. Without volunteers such as Annette, Barb and Walter, this LEC would have a difficult time functioning. I would like to thank both of them for stepping forward and becoming part of our AFA family. You can contact our EAP Committee at:

Annette Hill 703.212.0580
Barb Collier 202.230.7026
Walter Davis 202.230.7633

Thanks!

Reserve, Guarantee and ETB!

I have heard a number of flight attendants complaining about reserve flight attendants being paid above guarantee for the Electronic Trade Board trips they fly on their days off. Most of these complaints have come from flight attendants outside the DCA base but from a few DCA members as well. The question often comes down to the fact do I think it is far that they get paid 73 hours of guarantee and then above that for their ETB trips. My answer has been an unqualified YES! As a reserve flight attendant they get 11 days off in the bid month. Most of the reserve can not give up their days off for various reasons but some can fly a few of their days off. With the new least time order, it is rare for a reserve to break guarantee in a normal month. Most of the reserves often end up flying around 55-65 hours. Also with the new language surrounding split trips, many of the trips that reserves fly are much less than what normal trip pairings pay. I often hear from reserves that they are flying 2 or 3 hour one day trips that carry over into multi day trips that nobody would want to fly but they have no choice in the matter. If we all were flying 2 hour one day trips it would be impossible for anyone to break the 73 hour barrier. Also, if reserves were not paid above guarantee, who would be picking up the trips via the ETB that the blockholders are trying to drop? It is not as if they have the option of being a lineholder. This also plays into the Company's hand of pitting flight attendants against flight attendants when the real issue should be our focus against contract violations with management and continued negotiations for a merged contract agreement. As always, if I am off the mark please let me know but I believe that the system is working for both parties and at this time should remain as is. 

Since we all have cell phones please take the time to save our phone numbers so that you can call us when you have a questions

Alin Boswell LEC President 703.212.8090
Katie Whitney LEC Vice President 703.719.6940
Steve Schembs LEC Secretary 202.249.2549

Don't be caught without them when you need them!

The Power of ONE!

On a recent lobby visit for the Leave All Blades Behind Campaign a staff person for Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) asked us to have a flight attendant who lived in Rhode Island to contact the office requesting the senator to co-sponsor the legislation. After leaving the office we contacted a US Airways flight attendant who lived in the state to make the call. With one phone call the Senator signed on to the legislation by the end of the day. That is the power of ONE! Please take the time to contact these offices today and make your voice heard.

Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)
Senator John Warner (R-VA)
Senator George Allen (R-VA)
Rep Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)
Rep. Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD)
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD)
Rep. Dutch Rupperberger (D-MD)
Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-VA)
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA)
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA)
Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA)

If you see your representative on this list please call today!


Alin Boswell
LEC President, Council 41
Association of Flight Attendants