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Dear
Council AFA-CWA Members,
I AM NOT A VENDING MACHINE!
Most of you should have received your new bag tags in the mail
regarding the Company proposal of selling sodas, water and coffee on the
aircraft by flight attendants. Your LEC officers have taken a very strong stand
against this proposal and how the Company wishes to reduce your job to nothing
more than that of a cashier at a 7-11, Circle K or gas station mini-mart. As we
have stated previously, you are a federally certified and trained safety
professional. As we have also stated this is not a plan to keep the airline in
the air. If that is the case then the future is very dark for all involved.
Anyone who has had a basic economics class will tell you, this is a plan that
will not work or a plan that we can believe in. The only way for any airline to
remain afloat is to raise fares with fuel costs at their current levels. The
Company has taken a very Darwinian approach, survival of the fittest. It would
appear their goal is to last as long until either there are significant capacity
reductions in the industry or a number of other airlines liquidate thus reducing
capacity. We also believe, after reviewing trends in the industry, that there is
a movement to dramatically reduce the hourly wages of flight attendants and
force crew members to sell various items on the aircraft to collect a commission
on those sells. AFA-CWA, the US Airways MEC and your LEC officers have and will
continue to take a strong stand against this trend.
As well there was a recent CBS message sent out stating that all bag tags have
to have the approval of management. We anticipate this response and consulted
with AFA-CWA legal staff prior to the distribution of the bag tags. Our legal
staff concluded that your luggage is yours; you purchased it when you became a
flight attendant and it is your property. You have every legal right to display
this bag tag and any other in a professional manner. We were also told on Friday
that the Company viewed them as unprofessional. In the words of management "What
would you tell a passenger if they asked about it?" We would tell them the same
thing with or without the tag. We do not support this decision and to not
support it in any way. So keep those bag tags on and display them proudly! They
were created by union members, produced by union members for union members. They
do not mention US Airways specifically and are professionally made with a
professional message.
If you are approached by any individual in the Company please notify us
immediately with the name of the individual and what that specifically said. If
you are threatened in any way we must know immediately. This is a fight to
maintain the dignity of our profession.
In Solidarity
Alin Boswell
LEC President
Steve Schembs
LEC Vice President
Stephen Smith II
LEC Secretary
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