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From
the
International President:
Our
display of solidarity at the December 14 “Get to Work Washington!”
rally and the strong support of our members for possible CHAOS action
sent a clear message to airline management that flight attendants were
frustrated with their lack of sincere efforts to reach an agreement.
US Airways and United flight attendants voted overwhelmingly to
authorize CHAOS strike action in the event that the bankruptcy court
granted the airlines’ requests to abrogate our contracts, and over
700 supporters attended the Washington rally.
The
airlines were paying attention. At the 11th hour at the bargaining
table, our negotiating teams struck tentative agreements with these
employers. US Airways flight attendants have approved their agreement,
thus salvaging their contract for the time being. The United MEC has
recommended that members vote to adopt the tentative agreement.
Electronic balloting opened on January 18, and polls will close on
January 31. (Information on both agreements is available on the United
and US Airways websites, accessible through our website at www.afanet.org.)
While
we recognize these events as successes, they are, by no means,
victories. They entail further losses in wages, benefits and working
conditions and, despite the fact that we have done all we can to
support management in restoring these carriers to health, our faith in
their ability to manage wisely is tentative, at best.
AFA
carriers Aloha, ATA and Hawaiian are all in bankruptcy as well. We
trust that the course of action they choose will take into account the
strong resolve of our members.
In the
meantime, we still have carriers trying to improve wages, benefits and
working conditions for our members through normal Section 6
negotiations. These carriers include AirTran, Alaska, America West,
American Eagle, Atlantic Southeast and Independence Air.
If
airline management can muster the competence to invest our enormous
sacrifices in the healthy operation of business, through our
solidarity and resolve, we will emerge from this crisis with our jobs
and our dignity in tact.
In solidarity,
Pat Friend |
AROUND
WASHINGTON
Social
Security 101
In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Old age is at once
the most certain, and for many people the most tragic, of all hazards.
There is no tragedy in growing old, but there is tragedy in growing
old without means of support.” Proposed changes to Social Security
could have an enormous impact on working people for generations to
come. We hope that by providing information that will help AFA members
understand the issues, we will be better equipped to effectively
defend our futures. Following is a summary of a Washington Post
editorial dated 1/17/05, the first in a series on Social Security. The
entire text is posted on their web site at www.washingtonpost.com.
Social
Security was not meant to be the sole source of retirement income but
a supplement to personal savings and employee pensions. Today, without
Social Security, almost half of elderly Americans would be living in
poverty; with it, about 10 percent are. For nearly two-thirds of the
elderly, Social Security provides the majority of their income. It is
the only source of income for one-fifth of all elderly people, for 25
percent of non-married elderly women, and for 38 percent of elderly
African Americans and Hispanics.
Social Security is financed chiefly from payroll taxes--6.2 percent of
income from the employee and an equal amount from the employer up to a
certain ceiling--$90,000 this year. Only six percent of workers earn
in excess of this cap. But, due to growing income inequality, the
wages subject to Social Security tax have decreased from 90 to 85
percent since 1983, a trend that suggests increasing the cap on the
payroll tax as a step toward solvency. The age at which workers are
eligible to collect full benefits will climb to 67 by 2022. Since
1940, life expectancy has risen by about five years—also pertinent
to the upcoming debate.
Fewer than half of private-sector workers are covered by pension
plans, and that coverage is not evenly distributed. Among the
lowest-earning fifth of workers, 85 percent had no employer-sponsored
pension in 2003. Moreover, while the share of workers participating in
pension plans has declined only slightly, the nature of their coverage
has shifted dramatically. One in five workers has a traditional
pension plan that pays a set amount. They are being replaced by
401(k)-type plans which rely on contributions from employers and
workers and are subject to market fluctuations. These accounts have
allowed many workers to accumulate significant retirement savings, but
they may be of less value to lower-income workers with less money to
put aside and do not reap the tax benefits from such savings.
Social Security’s 47 million beneficiaries include about 33 million
retired workers and their dependents, 7 million survivors of deceased
workers, and 8 million disabled workers and their dependents.
Social
Security has been, in the words of President Bush, "one of the
greatest achievements of the American government." It has helped
ameliorate the problem of poverty among the elderly to an extent that
even FDR might not have imagined, and for many old and disabled
Americans, Social Security remains a lifeline.
AROUND
OUR UNION
Sharpen
Your Skills; Strengthen Your Voice
The AFA Policy Committee urges all AFA leaders to attend
a Government Affairs training. The training will maximize your
effectiveness as a legislative advocate by increasing your
understanding of how government affairs work. Trainings will be held
as follows:
Feb. 1 - Manhattan Beach Marriott, 1400 Parkview Drive, Los Angeles,
CA 310-546-7511
Feb. 8 - Hilton Atlanta Airport, 1031 Virginia Avenue, Atlanta, GA
404-767-9000
Feb. 15 - CWA Building, 501 3rd Street, NW, 9th floor, Washington, DC
202-434-0573
Feb 22 - Wyndham O'Hare, 6810 Mannheim Road, Rosemont, IL
847-297-1234
Feb 24 - Radisson Stapleton Plaza Hotel; 3333 Quebec Street, Denver,
CO 303-321-3500
For more information, contact Shane Larson at slarson@afanet.org
Know
Your AFA Staff
AFA Graphic Designer Liani Setyawan designs Flightlog
magazine, MEC and LEC publications, original logos, fliers, and other
materials for publication. She is currently working on a master's of
fine arts at George Washington University. Liani recently became a
citizen of the United States and voted in her first elections in
November. So, when she returned to her native Indonesia for the first
time in 12 years to visit her family at Christmas, her disbelief at
the tsunami that devastated the country the day after her arrival was
mixed with a measure of pride. "I feel proud that the U.S. is
helping my old country despite the cold relationship the two countries
have," she said. "Although I'm a bit disappointed about our
role in the Middle East, our role in the tsunami-plagued countries
helps, but it's like a drop in the bucket. As any citizen who's been
abroad knows, you can't help but feel proud at times like this for the
US aid and presence." Out of respect for the tsunami victims,
Liani avoided the temptation to spend her vacation on the beautiful
beaches of her home island of Java, although it was spared the
destructive force of the tsunami.
AROUND
THE LABOR MOVEMENT
Hotel Workers Ratify Contract
On January 18, UNITE HERE Local 25 members overwhelmingly endorsed a
new agreement, narrowly avoiding a disruptive strike threatened during
the inaugural week in Washington, D.C. Ninety-seven percent of voting
members were in favor of the contract which includes their largest
wage increase in 20 years and a 63% increase in management's
contribution to their pension fund. The agreement changes almost every
article of the contract, improving conditions in the workplace and
strengthening the rights of workers. Thanks to all of you who
supported their struggle and congratulations to our sisters and
brothers at Local 25 for their well-deserved victory.
Despite
the good news, hotel workers around the country still need our
support. Please continue to monitor the HERE website at http://www.unitehere.org
for hotels where workers are picketing or are on strike.
THE
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Qantas Squeezes Workers
Australian Qantas Airways is forecasting record profits as it tries to
offshore thousands of jobs. The Australian Manufacturing Workers'
Union is preparing to negotiate with the airline. AMWU spokesman Tim
Ayres said it was outrageous that Qantas was trumpeting record profits
just days after arguing it needed to shift jobs out of Australia to
remain competitive in a turbulent global environment for the airline
industry, according to Agence France-Presse. Reports said Qantas may
move as many as 7,000 jobs out of Australia and relocate aircraft
maintenance work to India and southeast Asia. Qantas said it was
operating in a global market "and there is no room for
complacency simply because we are currently profitable and
successful," said the report. Flight Attendants' Association
secretary Michael Mijatov said Qantas was penny-pinching even though
it was one of the most profitable airlines in the world. "It's
disgusting. They want to have their cake and eat it," he
said.
"The
airline's booming, they're going to make fantastic profits but they're
undermining employees' job security for no valid reason." Mijatov
said his union would push for the job relocation program to be
scrapped in light of the profit forecast. |
