|
Dear
Council AFA-CWA Members,
Notes From Your LEC
I know it has been
longer between newsletters than normal. Normal is not a
word I would use concerning the operations of this
airline over the past few months. Every time I would
write this newsletter another new problem would make
itself known. If it wasn't the change over to SHARES,
the operational meltdown in PHL from a winter storm or
possible displacements I would have had a few more hours
to dedicate to this endeavor. Also, as some people know,
I had a death of someone very close to me. For a few
weeks it sucked some of the wind out of my sail. Thank
you to many of you during this time and thank you for
your patience. The call volume has been very high with
all the problems over the past couple of weeks but has
slowly gotten back to normal. Please continue to call
with any issues you encounter.
Bed Bugs
From the nicest hotel to
the biggest flea bag we stay in there has been one
common thread over the past couple of months, bed bugs.
It is a subject that no one wants to talk about but we
must. Both flight attendants and pilots are encountering
these pests in record numbers. Here are some helpful
hints on what to do when if you become affected by these
critters. If you notice in the morning that you have
been bitten, immediately call the hotel staff and report
the situation. The next call should be to your captain
or another flight attendant to verify the problem. Have
the hotel staff verify the problem as well, in writing!
If you have a cell phone with a camera take pictures of
the bugs and if possible place one or more in a zip lock
bag. I know that this may sound like a great deal to go
through but you more than likely will be unable to fly
for the next couple of days or weeks and this is a
worker compensation issue. To date there has only been
one case of bed bugs that has been paid out by the
Company and their insurance company without it going to
an appeal process and that was a DCA flight attendant
who had the captain and hotel verify the problem. Also
the flight attendant took pictures with her phone. There
was no way that the Company could use their rubber
denial stamp with so much proof of the infestation. Many
hotels don't want to admit that they have a problem and
will deny it when questioned. Also, since bed bugs can
be carried on and in your suitcase it is important to
get rid of the old and get a new replacement so that you
do not continue to carry the bugs to other hotels and to
your home as well. Also please fill out the hotel forms
online at www.afausairways.org immediately and notify
your LEC officers of the situation so that we can make
sure that the room is removed from inventory
immediately.
Legislative Update
During the week of March
25th, 55 AFA Legislative Activist joined nearly a 1,000
of our CWA brothers and sisters for the CWA
Legislative-Political Conference. With the victory labor
earned during the recent 2006 elections, it was time to
turn all of our hard efforts into action. AFA members
lobbied Congress to fund a comprehensive flight
attendant fatigue study that is long overdue. Foreign
ownership of US airlines is once again front and center
with the recent US-UK "open skies" agreement. The Bush
administration is once again attempting to circumvent
Congress and allow US carriers to be controlled by
foreign residents. The US has currently negotiated over
70 "open skies" agreement that have not required any
change to the US laws governing this issue. The reason
that this is coming up at this time is for the benefit
of one person, Sir Richard Branson. Mr. Branson wants to
start Virgin America in the US. He also wants to have
day-to-day control of the operations which is not
allowed under the current law. Since Congress voted
overwhelmingly last year with AFA to NOT change the law,
Mr. Branson has decided that he would stand in the way
of an open skies agreement until he got his way. Well,
he is about to get is way which most likely will cause
further hardship for US carriers but also for all the
employee groups associated with aviation today. Since
the announcement of the open skies agreement, details
have been far and few between. It would seem that the
very people who negotiated this agreement have no idea
what the hell is in it when asked for details. AFA has
called for extensive hearings to ferret out the details
of this agreement. The last item that AFA members
lobbied on was OSHA protection. This is the year we are
going to make it happen. As an officer, the most
frustrating issue we deal with is worker compensation
cases. Flight attendants are the largest worker group In
the country without any basic OSHA protections and
suffer one of the highest injury rates while at work.
Many of the OJI cases faced by flight attendants would
not occur. AFA members made it very clear to members of
the House and Senate that we would not support the FAA
Reauthorization Bill if we did not have basic OSHA
protection. We have been fighting this battle for over
30 years and enough is enough. As the summer approaches
we will need for each member to contact Congress in
support of these and many other issues. Council 41 was
represented by Steve Schembs, Alin Boswell, Lori Vitto
and Julia Orlandi. I would like to thank Steve, Lori and
Julia for attending the conference and their continued
support of our issues. It is a great deal of work
keeping after Congress to address our issues, but the
dividends can pay off for decades to come.
Meeting and
Communicating with In-Flight.
As happens from time to
time, you may receive a request for information
concerning an incident from your supervisor or asked to
schedule a meeting. If you are asked to schedule a
meeting please make sure that you call one of your local
officers immediately to schedule this at the earliest
possible time. Avoiding the situation will not make it
go away, it will only get worse. As well, if you receive
a request concerning a specific incident please get back
to your supervisor with the all the information needed.
If you have any questions call your officers
immediately. In the past couple of months I have seen a
rise in the number of people not getting back to
In-flight in a timely manner. And it usually is over
something very minor but without a response it becomes a
much bigger issue. If you do need to have a meeting with
your supervisor, please, please, please take an officer
with you. There is not much that can be done after the
fact.
Future Dim Bulb Award
Every single time I sat
down to write about the Dim Bulb Award something even
more stupid would happen. You all know the endless sea
of ridiculous decisions that have been made by upper
management the past couple of months. So I dusted off my
crystal ball and thought I would look into the future.
From past decisions, if the Company learned nothing from
the problems with the A320 reconfiguration, you can only
imagine what they will do with the A321. I can see
emergency equipment all over the place, in the
overheads, galleys and if they had their way under the
sink in the lavatory. No overhead space for the first
class passengers. Why would they need it, they are only
our most prized customers. No closet to hang their
coats, I'm sure they have not come to expect that at all
over the last couple of decades. Seats so close together
so that if the person in front of you reclines you could
probably perform dental work on them. Unscheduled fuel
stops due to the extra weight of the aircraft. The one
thing I can not see in the crystal ball is if the
Company will have the vision to actually sit down with
the people who work the aircraft and that would be us.
They haven't done this in the past but I can only hope
that they have the vision to do this in the future.
They Don't Care
This is not the type of
article I enjoy writing but after watching the actions
of this Company over the last year it has to be said. I
am usually a glass is half full kind of guy (after
drinking the first half) and when a new management team
comes onboard, via a merger or another avenue, I always
try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Well after
some of the recent and not so recent errors and the
reaction by company officials to the problem I have come
to the conclusion they just don't care. A crew member
asked how they are suppose to list themselves for a
flight if they don't have a computer. The answer, the
Company doesn't care. Why did the Company ignore the
advice of flight attendants and ignore the complaints
afterwards concerning the reconfiguration of the 320.
The answer, the Company doesn't care. They only
responded to the situation after an avalanche of
complaints from the first class passengers when they had
no room for their carry-on luggage. One can only imagine
what a nightmare the new design for the 321 will be
like. Another question concerns catering issues. I have
heard and seen first hand the catering problems across
the system. Short first class meals on long haul
flights, no ice, no sodas, no BOB meals. The answer is
always the same; we will not take a delay for catering.
What is the Company's response? We will look into the
situation, which is a polite way of saying "We don't
care". These are just a few of the examples.
Unfortunately if you find yourself asking why followed
by just about any question, the true answer right now is
that they don't care. Hopefully that will change.
What can we do to get
their attention and draw a light to the problems? When
it comes to issues on the aircraft, take a delay. If you
don't have the tools to do your job, how can you be
expected to meet the needs of our passengers? The number
one thing that will get the company's attention is a
delay and the investigation into what caused the delay.
If you were working in the Sand Castle in Tempe and
didn't have the resources to do your job then how would
you be expected to achieve the expected results for your
job? They wouldn't and neither should you! It is a sad
state of affairs when you have to take a delay to get
the attention of the Company but I really don't see any
other alternative. Hopefully this team will see that we
know what it takes to meet the needs of our passengers
and we actually do know what we are talking about.
Spending as many hours as we do with the people who pay
the bills, we know what it takes to get the job done.
After a few delays and some investigation they might
actually start believing us instead of some pencil
pusher who hasn't done this job in years if ever.
Lavatory Spray on the Aircraft
If you come across some
of the current sprays for the airplane lavatory, please
remove them from the aircraft. If you read the warning
on the label it states that you need to wear a mask when
spraying and that it should not be used in a confined
area. I know, another what were they thinking moment.
In Solidarity,
Alin Boswell
LEC President, DCA
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA |
