May 2, 2006

Local Meeting

On May 17th from 11:00-2:00, Council 41 will be holding a local union meeting. Topics to be discussed include merger negotiations update, Legislative Affairs, Northwest Airlines Organizing and other local issues. Also we will be electing a female uniform representative. You do not need to be present to be elected but someone must nominate you from the floor and second the nomination to be considered. If you are interested or have questions, please call one of your local officers for details. Remember, the meeting is Wednesday, May 17th from 11-2 at the Hampton Inn in Alexandria, south on Route 1.

Legislative Affairs Update and Flight PAC

The AFA legislative affairs department continues to work full steam ahead on 2 very important issues, blades and foreign ownership. On the issue of foreign ownership of US airlines, the Bush Administration is seeking to circumvent congressional authority to allow foreign owners to have control of the day-to-day operations of US airlines. This could have direct impact on your job. Foreign owners could then take widebody aircraft overseas and limit US airlines to narrow body aircraft for domestic use. What would this do to your job? Well, it would eliminate your job as it would then be held by someone outside the US working for a much lower wage. This is only one example of this dangerous proposal. Currently the number of cosponsors to stop this is nearing 200 which would kill the proposal. This only happened from AFA members directly visiting members of Congress and the repeated phone calls and emails that their offices have received from members. This is also an example of what Flight PAC is doing for you. Flight PAC offers financial support for our friends both currently in Congress and those running for Congress. Unfortunately campaigns cost money and union dues cannot be used in this manner. By supporting Flight PAC with a $1 a week, we can elect congressional members who care about our issues. Currently Council 41 members have nearly doubled their contributions to Flight PAC but we still have a long way to go. You will be asked to donate via payroll deduction by out legislative committee. I hope you will join us in this important election year.

Dim Bulb Award for Management

Considering some of the recent decision by management, I thought that there are those that deserve a Dim Bulb Award. Years ago I was taking the train from London to Brussels. After hundreds had boarded the train, we were informed that we had been directed to the wrong train. As we gathered our bags an elderly British woman asked a representative of the Company "Who is the dim bulb that literally sent hundreds of people to the wrong bloody train?". She asked this question in such a nice tone and I couldn't stop laughing. It has stuck with me ever since. In the past couple of weeks, the new management team came up with the bright idea that part of the new recurrent program would be a computer based test. While this may sound great not all of us have computers and some of those computers as so old and unable to run the program. Your MEC immediately jumped on the situation. The first response from the Company was to go to the training center (CLT) or to the local library. Unfortunately you can only be on the library computer for 20 minutes and they do not allow you to place a foreign CD into their computer for security reasons. After AFA pointed this out, the Company agreed to have a workbook for those who would be unable to complete the computer based training. Original US Airways management should have been the first to point this out but failed. And for that I believe they deserve a Dim Bulb Award for there lack of pointing out the obvious. 

Airline Ride Across America Update

US Airways Captain Tom Heidenberger and crew continue their fundraising ride across the United States on pace to arrive in Washington, DC on May 9th at approximately 2:30pm. As of this newsletter the crew plans on ending their journey at the Pentagon, remembering the crew of American #77. There were two reasons for the ride. One was to pay tribute to the fallen crew members of September 11th. The second was to raise nearly $300,000 for the memorials in New York, Shanksville, PA and Washington, DC. I have received a number of emails from Tom during his journey. The crew has been joined by large numbers of riders along the way. I know that a number of flight attendants have seen Tom on CNN and other national news programs. I expect that there will be considerable coverage on the final legs of their journey. In one of the emails from Tom he asks that US Airways crew members donate to the fund to create these lasting memorials. You can donate online at www.airlineride.org. You can also follow the journey and see photos associated with the ride. If you would also like to join in the ride, information can be obtained via the website. Tom has asked that active and retired crew members wear their uniform on the final leg of the ride if possible. If you need further information, contact one of your local officers or visit the website. I will also have elines concerning the final leg as the crew draws closer to the Washington area.

AFA is in the middle of one of the most exciting organizing campaigns currently in the labor movement. Northwest Airlines flight attendants will soon have the opportunity to be represented by AFA. Volunteers will soon be needed to Get Out The Vote for AFA. Stay tuned for upcoming information on how you can help give others a voice in their workplace!

US Airways is currently in the process of recalling hundreds of flight attendants back to mainline. For many of these flight attendants it is a different world then the one they left. While the initial recall does not involve DCA, I expect that once given the opportunity a number of flight attendants will transfer back to DCA. Please help welcome them back and answer many of the questions they may have in this new world. It is exciting that US Airways is finally able to offer this flight attendants employment at mainline. Many of them have been to hell and back in the years away from US Airways and we are glad they can finally come back home.



Alin Boswell
LEC President, Council 41
Association of Flight Attendants