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Dear Council 41 Member:
Another year is upon us and it looks like another round of concessions. At least the Company is asking for another round. The Company has stated publicly that they need more concessions from labor to survive. Management has not asked AFA for anything specific in regards to concessions; anything you may have heard is rumor. They also put assets (routes, Shuttle, hubs) on the market to make a quick profit. In my opinion that was another shot fired over your head to scare you and the labor leaders back to the table. But, I also believe that they would sell some of these assets if pushed to do so.
So where do we stand? The MEC along with the AFA International President Pat Friend, AFA General Counsel David Borer, AFA Staff Attorney Stephanie Brown and Negotiator Clare Burt met with Dave Siegel, Jerry Glass and Neal Cohen. We were there to hear their "plan" on how to survive. Keep in mind that we were held to our confidentiality agreements and only a "sanitized" version of the meeting has been published.
During the restructuring of the Company (last year) Dave claims the company along with the ATSB, GE and RAS took a conservative look at our outlook. Here is some of what they reviewed.
- Modest improvements in domestic industry revenue versus Gross Domestic Product
- No War with Iraq
- Low Cost Carriers make gradual inroads over the next 5 years
Here is what really happened:
- Industry revenue is below plan
- War with Iraq is still an ongoing concern
--LCC making huge in roads to our system. Did it take a rocket scientist to realize that the LCC were going to take us on head to head? We have been dealing with LCC since the early 90's it should have been no surprise to anyone.
What it sounds like to me is mismanagement of the hundreds of millions of dollars we gave them and yet they want more. The MEC will discuss our position during the MEC Meeting February 17-19. We will keep you updated via the e-line and hotline.
During the month of January the ALPA MEC met with the Company and these talks were described as "productive." Keep in mind that we still have the me-too clauses and would be affected by some changes the pilots could make. We will be watching this very carefully.
In a letter to Dave Siegel from AFA MEC President and US Airways Board of Director Perry Hayes requested that several senior managers step down. ALPA has also taken the same position. Chairman of the Board David Bronner has adamantly opposed this request.
In Solidarity,
Bob Kenia
INVOLUNTARY FURLOUGH/VF
As you already know AFA won a recent arbitration forcing the Company to offer a voluntary leave any time there will be involuntary furloughs. The arbitrator also ruled the company could be liable for damages sustained by the flight attendants that were furloughed on January 15, 2004. Please submit copies of all receipts for loss of deposits, moving expenses etc. to your supervisor.
WHY?
Your local officers have been asked why not take all our issues to court? Unfortunately the answer is we can not. We have a process for any disputes arising from our agreements and that is the grievance. AFA filed a lawsuit in federal court over the furlough because of the complete and total disregard for 2 Sections of our agreement. In this lawsuit we alleged a major dispute. In a major dispute the Union has the ability to withhold services. The Company filed a counter suit to say in essence, we did not have a major dispute. Both parties agreed to settle our dispute with an arbitrator.
Why can't we file a lawsuit on all the other abuses we face each and every day? Simply, some of them are not considered major disputes but interpretation issues or minor disputes. With that we have to follow the grievance process.
A grievance is filed and a hearing is set up with the Company and union representatives. If the Company agrees and upholds the grievance AFA then sends the grievance to an arbitration panel consisting of 2 Union members, 2 Company members and 1 neutral party, the arbitrator. Each month our Grievance Department schedules arbitrations with the most important being placed on the docket as soon as possible.
Grievances have been filed on the following issues (in no particular order):
Some grievances files in 2003
§ New Sick Policy implemented April 2003, awaiting ruling from the ALPA grievance
§ Removal of Side letters L-2 L-3 L-6 L-8 from our agreement with out negotiating their removal
§ Failing to provide flight attendants with the same level of health care coverage and benefits as provided in the May 2000 agreement
§ Understaffing Pay
§ Failure to provide a VISP in accordance with Section 1 of the restructuring agreement
§ ITD supplemental bid displaces ITD flight attendants who bid ITD in the Global Bid
§ Medical Leave of Absence after 14 days. The Company is placing flight attendants on a MED leave after 14 days of sick.
§ Voluntary Furlough. The dates of an Involuntary furlough did not coincide with the voluntary furlough
§ Furlough pay
§ Personal Days. Misuse of contractual personal days
§ Furlough/Moving expenses
§ ACARS this grievance is a result of the Company changing how we get paid. Movement of the aircraft or closing of the door.
Grievances filed in 2004
§ Violation of vacation swap/filler days
§ Violation of back fill filler days during a month a flight attendant calls in sick.
§ Company's new sick policy/late sick calls/sick on assignment
Unfortunately you see what the Company can do in an instant and you cannot see what AFA does on your behalf. It takes time! Please be patient.
RESERVE
A couple of reminders about the system:
§ Ask scheduling if coverage is adequate or inadequate. Let us know if they are not telling you.
§ You are automatically released after receiving a trip from with future or daily unless you are told other wise.
§ Splitting a trip can happen under several conditions, you will need to refer to the AFA information mailed to your home in November or the Company handout. If you are able to split a trip you will have to do it in the order listed that is in base first in another base second and third in any station.
In regard to the crediting of hours the arbitrator made his ruling and sided with the Company. That is, your position on the LTO list will continue to be calculated under the Company's "percentage" system and not in a fair manner based on credited hours. The ruling by the arbitrator was clearly one of helping the "beleaguered" airline and not what was negotiated.
CREW ACCOMMODATIONS REPORT
By LEC Crew Accommodations Chair Rick Poloway
Please place all hotel write-ups in Rick's Mail file
"I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore" This familiar cry from the movie 'Network' rings in my ears on many of our layovers. Our duty days are getting longer, they are peppered with three hour 'productivity' breaks, and in the 'Secondary Bases' (i.e., not hubs) we either leave at '0 dark hundred' or get in after midnight. I don't think it's too much to ask of our company to provide some support when it comes to crew rest.
Many of the hotels we have been using for decades have not been renovated and are showing signs of decay. Face it, if they were strong financially, they wouldn't need contract crew business. I know of very few of our RONs that I would choose if I were traveling on vacation.
As I look around the industry, I also note the inequities at other carriers where the pilots and Flight Attendants work different schedules and stay at very different hotels. I also see how some management (Southwest for example) negotiates great discounts for their crews. Unfortunately, our purchasing team uses our spending habits to subsidize their rates (this also goes for transportation costs and our expected tips).
I have received numerous complaints regarding van report times, especially at the PVD long, where we are leaving with a Southwest crew and arriving at the airport 90 minutes prior to our departure. This is unacceptable. We are only required to be 'on duty' one hour prior to departure. It's bad enough our company doesn't value our time enough to find properties closer, (but they cost more), and it's a trade off (Tampa long ... actually St. Petersburg).
So we must stand up for our right to a restful break. Have the van time changed if it means cutting short your rest period. I don't care if the hotel doesn't have enough vans, that's their problem, they can call a cab for us.
And document it online at AFAUSairways.org. This form is emailed directly to the Purchasing and Crew Support folks who can do something about it. Your
AFA LEC and MEC Crew Accommodations Committee also get copied. If you don't have access to a computer (and we are working on getting this on the hub) use the OF-310 form available in the crew room. Put it in the AFA box, or in my mail file and I promise you'll get a response. Our company writes these contracts with hotels, but only has us to monitor the compliance. WE are the quality control group.
Thanks for reading my rant. I only want us to get a safe, restful, and nourishing overnight.
GOT A PROBLEM WITH ANOTHER CREW MEMBER?
Professional Standards
By Annette Hill LEC EAP/Professional Standards Chairperson
Recently, we have seen a rise in Professional Standards Issues (conflicts between F/A's, Pilots, etc.). Given the problems within the company, it looks as if many or all of our jobs could be in jeopardy. To some degree, we are all experiencing worry and stress about our futures and we've felt that stress for a number of years now. The cumulative stress could be taking a toll on our aircraft interactions. If you should have a conflict on the aircraft, take a moment before contacting AFA or the Company; step back and ask yourself: 1) Is this behavior the same as when we worked together before? 2) Under different circumstances (i.e. less work concerns) would this have happened? 3) Could the problem be the result of added stress?
If, after answering these questions, you still feel the need for Professional Standards assistance, then by all means contact us. Whether your issue is with a F/A, Pilot, Caterer, etc. contact your AFA Professional Standards Rep first. We will then contact the appropriate parties to pursue the matter.
EAP/Professional Standards:
Annette Hill 703-212-0580
Kathy Vieweg 540-687-3737
This newsletter was sent via e-mail and placed in all flight attendant mailboxes.
Sign up HERE
or www.afausairways.org
and Click on the Washington page.
Bob Kenia, LEC President
703-690-6859 office
703-690-9350 Fax
bkenia@afasuairways.org
Alin Boswell, LEC VP
703-212-8090 office
703-212-8089 fax
alin@afausairways.org
Katie Whitney, LEC Secretary
703-719-6940 office
703-719-6935 fax
kwhitney@afausiarways.org
COUNCIL 41
Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO
Committee List
GRIEVANCE
Bob Kenia - Alin Boswell
EAP (PRIVATE, CONFIDENTIAL NUMBERS)
Annette Hill & Kathy Vieweg
703-212-0580 540-687-3737
ahill@afausairways.org
kvieweg@afausairways.org
SAFETY
Christine Stout Denise Beaudoin
703-262-0905
dbeaudoin@afausairways.org
PLEASE LEAVE ALL SAFETY WRITE-UPS IN CHRISTINE'S MAILBOX
LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS
Alin Boswell Lori Vitto
202-297-3610
lvitto@afausairways.org
CREW ACCOMMODATIONS
Rick Poloway Please place all Hotel write-up in Rick's
rpoloway@afausairways.org
202-364-9943
UNIFORM
Scott Haskell
shaskell@afausairways.org
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