August 17, 2006

Thank you Katie Whitney

As many of you are aware, Katie Whitney (Council 41 LEC Vice President) has decided to resign her position as a LEC officer. After a more than 14 year career volunteering for AFA and a longer career as a union activist, Katie has decided that it was time to focus more time on her family. I could not have supported this decision more. As I always tell everyone involved with union work, family comes first. There have been a number of flight attendants asking if there was a fight among the officers in DCA? (No) Is Katie leaving the company? (No) Is Katie joining a cult? (Not sure but ask her) Katie has been an absolute joy to work with and her knowledge of union issues has been an asset to all that have worked with her. Her positive attitude and straight forward manner are a breath of fresh air. She doesn't hesitate to "tell it like it is" and not sugarcoat an issue. Also her sense of humor and great wit keeps things lively. She served at some of the most difficult times in our history when it would have been very easy to throw in the towel. Thank you just does not seem enough. We are very lucky to have her in our base and look forward to the many opportunities to fly with her in the future.

Northwest Airlines Flight Attendants and AFA

In one of the largest organizing drives currently in the labor movement, Northwest Airlines (NWA) flight attendants voted to join AFA. Not only was this one of the largest but the fastest organizing drives in labor history for a group this size. In 10 months, AFA was able to mobilize the flight attendants at NWA. With 84% of the flight attendants voting, AFA now represents this group of 9200 members. It was not easy and often not pretty but once again shows that AFA is the largest union representing flight attendants around the world. The celebration of the vote was very short given the fact that NWA is in bankruptcy and ready to impose an agreement that would have turned back the clock on decades of contract gains for the NWA flight attendants. Your LEC officers wish to congratulate and thank the many volunteers from NWA on their successful efforts and will offer any and all help in their negotiations.

How long can you be kept on duty?

During the recent storms on the east coast a number of crews were rescheduled and/or found themselves in situations where they were close to or went over the 15 hours on duty. You can only be scheduled and/or rescheduled for 14 hours but may be required to remain on duty for the original and/or rescheduled day up to 15 hours. If you are coming close to the 15 hour mark and have questions about what will push you over add the remaining scheduled block time (regardless of how fast the front end say they can fly the segment in) and add 15 minutes for your debriefing. If that takes you over 15 hours you do not have to fly that segment. Some pilots have said that they can fly up to 16 hours but that is only if they are flying international to Europe. Domestically both contracts stop at 15 hours. There has been no change to this language for many years. Please get your copy of the contract and review this section. Just because the pilots may tell you one thing it is important for each crew member to carry and understand this contractual language.

Split Trips: The New Reality

With the new contract came some very different language concerning split trips. Here is the long and the short of it, all split trips pay actual time, period. It does not matter if these split trips are generated by the flight attendant or the Company, they will only pay what the trip is actually worth. As I addressed in a previous newsletter the majority of split trips have been going to reserves because of this language change and it has been creating a great deal of difficulty in reserves reaching the 73 hour guarantee. When you are working a 1 or 2 hour one day trip day after day it is near impossible to break guarantee even if you work every day on duty. I hope that AFA will be able to change this language in contract negotiations and it is a priority, among other things, to change this contract language. It is important that you get the value of the trip from scheduling prior to the trip assignment. If you have problems please call your LEC for further information and clarification. 

Thank You Scott Haskell

Scott Haskell, LEC 41 Male Uniform Representative, has decided to leave US Airways to pursue a different career path. Scott has been a longtime volunteer for AFA and served as the male uniform representative for many years. He has also been an active volunteer for the many AFA events and supported FlightPAC via payroll deduction for many years. He has been a valued supporter for AFA and specifically Council 41 and on behalf of this LEC and AFA we wish him the best of luck in his new career. We look forward to hearing from Scott about his new career and the challenges it presents. Thank you Scott for your support and good luck in the future!

CHAOS coming to an airline near YOU!

Two AFA carriers may soon be participating in CHAOS™ actions around the country. Currently the flight attendants at both Northwest and Mesaba Airlines are about to have a court ordered contract imposed on their membership. If that should happen CHAOS will begin. We will keep you informed about future actions and how you may help our flying partners at these two AFA carriers. It may be a long fall for those who fly the skies!

Corporate Greed Alive and Well with US Airways Management

Several management officers have decided to exercise their stock options over the last couple of weeks giving them literally millions of dollars in profits. Who can vault them, after 9 months of stonewalling negotiations they must be exhausted of trying to tell our negotiating committee that we are not worth the time of day. I know that I am not making any friends with this new management but then again they are doing their best to not make any friends with the employees of US Airways. The bottom line is that this will not be a "no cost contract" as Mr. Parker continues to tell the press and employees. Here is the issue as I see it, if you can take the time to make literally millions then so can we. With the pay reductions taken to create the "new US Airways", we should be the first in line for the benefits of those pay reductions. While I would like to have the employees at the front of the line it is obvious that these "highly valued employees" have rushed to the plate to have their first fill. The front line employees know that we made this merger happen but with this action the greedy have rushed up to the front of the line. When I first heard of this "profit taking" the bile was rushing up in my throat. Actually my real reaction was " Who do the *&%@ do these people think they are?". But then again I had to remember the state of our country and the control of those who have wealth and the "working poor" as we are so often referred too. We deserve better and should be compensated for the pain that we have been put through on behalf of our families. I do know one thing to be true, I will never bring forward a contract for a vote that does not benefit the flight attendants. I would rather we use our trademark job action (you know the one I'm talking about but can't say here) then ask you to vote on a contract that would not bring you the benefits that these individuals have enjoyed. While I know that these "people" hate the way I refer to them, so what. I can do business with them but I can not respect them for their actions and gaining such profits on the backs of the employees that made this merger happen. It is time for the Company to get serious concerning our contract negotiations. Mr. Parker can continue to say that the merged contract will be "no cost" but the reality is that it will be anything but. Management can not make millions and believe that we will not ask for our fair share.

Dim Bulb Award

It is sometimes difficult to just name one recent move by the Company that would be worthy of the Dim Bulb Award. This actually would be a continuation of the corporate greed article above. After months of telling employees and specifically flight attendants that the merged contracts would be "no cost contracts", several officials decided the time was right to make their millions. On a corporate level and given the slow pace of negotiations this could not have come at a worse time. Now more than ever, AFA stands strong that this will not be a "no cost contract" and it is our time to benefit in the profitability of the "new" US Airways and all that it offers. On some level I have to wonder that after these individuals have taken their millions, do they continue to have as strong continued interest in the improvement to US Airways. That will be left to upper management to make those decisions. Recently Mr. Parker decided to participate in this stock option stating it was due him from the previous America West agreement. While that may be true, without the merger his stock would have been worthless had America West been forced to file for bankruptcy. While we stand to make a few dollars in profit sharing, it is nothing compared to the millions made by a few in upper management. I do know that our negotiating committee has sent a very strong message to the Company that the actions of these individuals was unacceptable and at best placed them in a very poor light. 

Success in Congress for AFA!

Over the past several months, AFA has seen great success for our legislative agenda. There has been a strong focus on many fronts including Leave All Blades Behind, foreign ownership, crew member fatigue and pension legislation. The Leave All Blades Behind legislation has slowly but successfully moved through Congress and currently the majority on Capitol Hill has agreed to remove many of the items that TSA recently allowed back on commercial airplanes. While it is pending final approval much of the thanks goes to Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) who has spearheaded this legislation on behalf of AFA. This effort would have been lost without his support and we can not thank him enough. AFA also participated in a "sleep-in" to draw attention to an overdue study on crew member fatigue. Following the press from the "sleep-in", the FAA released the study which we knew would say that there is a substantial problem and a greater study is needed. This was to be expected and currently $500,000 is earmarked for this study which will support what we know to be true, the safety of passengers is at risk and the FAA needs to enact new FAR's to ensure crew member and passenger safety. I know this may seem to be a long process but it is what is needed to make the changes on such a large scale. Also the Bush Administration was looking to take away congressional authority concerning foreign ownership of the airlines. As of now, both the Republicans and Democrats have put a 1 year hold on this action. It is obvious from the overwhelming congressional response that there is no interest in changing the laws concerning the foreign ownership of U.S. carriers. These have been 3 great wins for AFA in the past couple of months with what can be considered a "hostile" congressional environment at best. Much of the praise falls at the feet of Shane Larson (AFA Executive Director of Government Affairs). Without the dedication of Mr. Larson none of these issues would have gotten off the ground. His knowledge and contacts on Capitol Hill kept all of these issues moving and is also an example of how Flight PAC has supported our legislative agenda. We must continue to support our friends and defeat our foes on Capitol Hill. It is that simple! Without our friends it does not matter what we want to accomplish we could not do it without them. Thank you to all who have contacted their representatives and pushed our issues to the front of the current Congress.

Fly Safe,

Alin Boswell
LEC President
Council 41 Washington
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA