CLT NewsLine (edited for PHL)

TENTATIVE AGREEMENT- A GOOD BAD DEAL

As you no doubt know by now the AFA and US Airways reached a Tentative Agreement on December 16, 2004. The MEC voted unanimously to accept the Tentative Agreement as presented by the negotiating committee. The MEC also voted unanimously to send the agreement out to the membership for a ratification vote "silent" a (voting) recommendation. The entire T/A along with a "Highlights" page have been posted on the web at afausairways.org. A complete T/A, ballot and balloting instructions have been mailed to each member by AFA International. Road Show dates are to be announced.

The T/A was the culmination of over 5 months of direct negotiations having been proceeded by several months of informal discussions with the Company regarding their Transformation Plan. After discussions with the Company and analysis by our financial advisors the MEC believed the financial condition of the Company was grim and it's future in jeopardy. We knew if we decided to negotiate the likely result would be more concessions. The goal was to preserve as much as we could and allow as many members as possible to be able to earn a decent living in the worst possible industry environment in history. I believe we have met that goal. 

The T/A looks nothing like the initial proposal we received from the Company on July 27, 2004. It is far better. Nor does it look anything like the pre bankruptcy Company proposals of August 18 and September 10. It is far better. After the Company sought bankruptcy protection on September 12, 2004 they had the fallback position of the emergency relief order of a 21% pay cut and the possible abrogation of our entire agreement to force us to agree to their terms. We did not concede. As the bankruptcy case moved forward the Company maintained their demands. Our negotiating committee and the MEC continued the effort to negotiate an agreement that gave the Company what they needed but not what they wanted. There continued to be no real negotiation from the Company side of the table until mid November.

I believe the call of the AFA for a worldwide strike and our overwhelming vote to strike if our contract was abrogated forced the Company to actually negotiate with us. As the negotiations continued into December the Company began to move off their previously unacceptable terms. The bankruptcy case to abrogate our contract moved into the final stages absent an agreement as the two sides continued to meet. Finally the night before the final hearing date of the year an agreement was reached. The final few days were tense with proposals going back and forth almost hourly. The result was the T/A we bring before you for your consideration. Under the circumstances it is what I call a good bad deal. 

This agreement affects all of us in one way or another. We did our best to the limit the pay cut, vacation reductions, sick leave loss and work rules changes the Company had asked for. A buy out and early retirement incentive package were added to the agreement. Although we could not get the Company to give up the LTO Reserve System there are changes to it that will allow Reserves to have a better quality of life and be able to increase their earnings. Options are going to be eliminated upon the implementation of the Trip Trade Board and the ITD fence will come down within the next few months. In short there are a lot of changes that will affect us all. Some members may feel more disadvantaged than others. The difficulty in this process was trying to reach an agreement that disadvantaged the least amount of people in the least amount of ways. We had to reach ONE agreement for all 5600 members. It is simply not possible to reach 5600 different agreements. 

The negotiating committee, Perry Hayes, Carol Austin, Mollie McCarthy and Clare Burt worked tirelessly for 6 months to reach this T/A. They argued every point amongst themselves and the Company. They tried to balance the interests of each member while faced with the knowledge that whatever agreement was reached some would be more affected than others. All of this was done with the backdrop of a very demanding and complex set of financial concessions the Court and the Company required. They did their job and I commend them.

As I said earlier the MEC is sending this T/A to you with a "silent" recommendation. It is our feeling this T/A changes so much in our contract and affects each member's life in so many different ways that it would be hard to put a recommendation on it either way. The condition of the Company and the industry has left an indelible mark on this T/A. It should be left up to each member to weigh all of these factors and vote in their best interest. Our job was to bring out the best possible T/A that we could and let you decide. We have done that and it is now in your hands.