• Flight Attendant Agreement NOW Online
• MEC Grievance Committee Update
• Accessing The Hub
• AFA Local Numbers

Flight Attendant Agreement NOW Online

The 2004 Flight Attendant Agreement Incorporating the 2002 & 2003 Restructuring Agreements and the 2004 Transition Agreement into the 2000 contract between AFA and the Company is now posted on the AFA US Airways website and theHub. The Side Letters will be added in the next few days. The contract re-write is also in the final process of being printed. In a few weeks the Company will advise the Flight Attendants of the distribution process for each base once the printed copies are completed.

The 2004 Flight Attendant agreement on the AFA US Airways website has an added feature that does not appear on theHub, this feature will allow you to link to the actual content of the contract when you are reading the Index of the contract. Click on the page number of the listed heading within the index and you will be taken to the exact page. In addition each section in the "Table of Contents" (TOC) listed in the bookmarks, has been labeled with the Section Title. This will make it easier to quickly go to the appropriate section of the contract when needed. The contract is 4.10 MB in size and will take approximately 2 minutes to download with a broadband connection.

2004 FLIGHT ATTENDANT AGREEMENT
(You can right click on the link and choose "Save Target As" to download the contact to your computer. The agreement is in the Adobe *pdf format, and will open in a new window)

Thank you,

Your Master Executive Council

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MEC Grievance Committee Update
December 1, 2005

On August 19, 2005 an MEC Grievance was filed, Grievance #30-99-02-090-2005 - VFLR/Unemployment Compensation Benefits. The Grievance was filed because the Company was indicating to various state unemployment agencies that some participants in the VFLR program had "quit". The word "quit" triggered reviews or audits for many flight attendants and in one case an outright denial of unemployment benefits.

The Association of Flight Attendants filed this grievance against US Airways on behalf of the full membership. 

The Association's position is the Company violated Section 3.g of the 2004 Restructuring agreement, page 28. Under the VFLR language the contract states, "The Company will not contest unemployment." The union believed the Company was contesting unemployment compensation benefits to the participants of the VFLR Program via its third party administrator, Unemployment Tax Control Association, Inc. (UTCA)

In some cases UTCA had been returning information to state agencies indicating the VFLR participant had "voluntarily quit". 

The Company conducted an investigation and hearing and the grievance was denied. The Union felt the decision was unsatisfactory and petitioned the case to the System Board of Adjustment. The grievance was scheduled for arbitration on November 29, 2005. On several occasions prior to the arbitration the Company and the Union tried to settle the case. The Company's offers continued to be unsatisfactory to the Union. However, on the day of the arbitration the Company and the Union reached a satisfactory settlement. The arbitration was canceled and we signed an agreement with the Company. 

The Settlement Agreement includes a commitment from the Company that "it will not indicate in any of its communications with various state unemployment agencies that a flight attendant who is furloughed under the VFLR I "voluntarily quit". The Company or its third party administrator will instead indicate to the agencies: "Voluntary Furlough, Limited Recall'. Additionally, at least for the December 2005 furlough under the VFLR I, US Airways will add to that notation the following: "someone else would have been furloughed". 

The flight attendant denied unemployment compensation was made "whole" by the Company.

Fly Safe,

Your MEC Grievance Chair,
Aida Marski

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AFA Local Numbers

Council 40 PIT 724-695-3329
Council 41 DCA 703-212-8090
Council 69 BOS 781-289-8454
Council 70 PHL 215-492-0840
Council 82 LGA 315-736-3483
Council 89 CLT 704-527-0325

New Hotline Number Toll Free: 866-USA-AFA2
US AIRWAYS Benefits Information 800-872-4780

Reply to Inflight: askinflight@usairways.com

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Association of Flight Attendants
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