Hello Everyone,
March has proven to be a difficult one for everyone at US
Airways. Flight attendants continue to experience the
difficulties of the reservations change from Sabre to SHARES.
The ETC has become consistent - consistently off-line and of
no use. The 1-800 number to list has been of little help -
seemingly unable to accept calls, especially when the ETC is
off-line. The ice storm left flight attendants stranded and
some were forced to obtain their own hotel rooms because they
couldn’t make contact with scheduling. And then, of course,
there is the news of pending displacements, which will affect
flight attendants in all bases.
Your local council office continues to answer your phone calls
and emails and we want you to continue to let us know when you
are having difficulty commuting because of problems with the
ETC, the 1-800 number, or agents who refuse to put you on a
flight when there are seats and/or jumpseat(s) available. Over
the weekend, the company did make some adjustments to the
1-800 employee travel number, so please listen carefully to
the prompts.
There are a lot of items to pass along today, so let’s get
started.
JUST SAY "NO"We
continue to receive reports from PHL-based flight attendants
that, when passing through PHX, aircraft cleaners have asked
flight attendants to open aircraft doors claiming "we can’t
open the doors or we’ll be fired." DO NOT OPEN AIRCRAFT DOORS
FOR THE AIRCRAFT CLEANERS. Tell them you are not allowed to do
this and that they will have to contact their supervisor. End
of story.
PHL PARKING BADGE
Some of you may have recently
received a letter from Renee Tufts, the Airport Security
Manager at PHL. This letter refers to a recent Homeland
Security directive (SD1542-04-08D) which requires additional
information on individuals who currently hold, or are applying
for, a SIDA or PHL parking badge.
Last week, I spoke with Sharron Roantree, the ID Badging
Manager at PHL and she told me that all flight attendants who
have a PHL parking badge will be required to show two forms of
identification in order to meet the new requirement of the
Homeland Security directive. Acceptable forms of
identification would be a driver’s license, social security
card, birth certificate, etc.
Ms. Roantree informed me that US Airways employees would be
processed in about two months and we’ll keep you informed on
this issue.
COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS
PHL Council 70 has appointed
Brian Morgan as Grievance Chair. Brian served as interim
Council 70 President and has spent many years involved with
the local union and I’m confident he will do a great job in
his new position. You can contact Brian at
bmorgan@afausairways.org
or 215-893-0149.
I’m also pleased to announce that Janet Linton will serve as
Council 70 InfoRep. You will be hearing from Janet later this
week. Janet has also served in various AFA positions over the
years and we’re pleased that she has accepted this position.
As we near the close of negotiations with the company, we will
need a group of volunteers to serve on the InfoRep team to get
the facts out to the members and if you are interested in
this, you can contact Janet at
jlinton@afausairways.org
As the Philadelphia base
continues to grow, I felt it was necessary to add a new
position to the committee to help flight attendants with their
pay claims. Too many flight attendants are losing out on money
they are due because they are not sure if they should file a
claim. So, we are pleased to announce that Kim Kaswinkel will
serve as Claims Assistant for the PHL base. Kim recently
served as the interim VP for PHL and she has an excellent
knowledge of claims. If you have any question as to whether or
not you are entitled to a claim, please contact Kim or the
local office. It’s your money folks and we want you to get
what you are entitled to. You can email or call Kim with your
claims questions at:
kkaswinkel@afausairways.org
or 330-447-8552.
LOCAL COUNCIL CONTACT NUMBERS
Your local council office
number is 215-492-0840 and the fax number is 215-492-0842.
Office hours are M-F, 9-6. Additionally, you can contact your
officers and reps after normal business hours and on weekends.
John McCorkle, LEC President
JMcCorkle@afausairways.org
215-300-4742
Grace Jones, LEC Vice President
GJones@afausairways.org
215-796-0060
Dan Sampey, LEC Sec/Treas.
DSampey@afausairways.org
215-300-8821
Omar Bryant, LEC Council Rep and RSV Chair
OBryant@afausairways.org 215-240-0339
Pat Williams-Harter, Safety
& Health Chair
PWHarter@afausairways.org 215-688-6718
Paul Frishkorn, Benefits,
Maternity, OIJ - Chair
PFrishkorn@afausairways.org 610-544-2875
DISPLACEMENT LIST INFO
Please go to:
http://www.afausairways.org/dis/06_07list.htm
Displacement Q & A
http://www.afausairways.org/PHL/dis_qa.html
Also, make sure your
co-workers are signed up for the PHL E-line
http://www.afausairways.org/PHL/phlemailform.html.
And the MEC E-line sign-up
form is located at:
www.afausairways.org
Your local office will have an
informational packet sent out to all displaced flight
attendants arriving into PHL.
NEWS YOU CAN USE
What’s the difference in
knowing your contractual legalities? Recently, we had two
different PHL crews in two similar situations with two
different results. The first crew was working a SDQ turn. The
second crew was working a BGI turn. The first crew knew that
once they reached SDQ, they were illegal to return to PHL due
to their duty time legality. They overnighted in SDQ. The BGI
crew had the same situation, but because of uncertainty over
duty time, they returned to PHL even though at least one of
the flight attendants knew that they would exceed their duty
time legality. This crew should have overnighted in BGI.
Please carry your contract and know your legalities. Do not
allow, or rely on, the pilots to tell you what your
contractual language is.
Please make sure that your passports and manuals are up to
date. Please don’t wait until the last minute to renew your
passport. You ARE NOT allowed to fly ANY TRIP once your
passport has expired. There simply is no exception to this
rule.
Also, please make sure that your manual is up to date. If you
have an alert update, place it in your manual immediately.
Having a revision or alert update ‘with you’ doesn’t count. If
an FAA inspector asks to see your manual and it is not up to
date, you will be fined. It happened recently to a PHL-based
flight attendant. Don’t let it happen to you.
Also, if you commute to/from PHL, PLEASE make sure you are
signed up as a registered commuter. Go to:
http://thehub.usairways.com/divisions/operations/inflight/forms/CommuterForm.htm
to sign up and please
refer to section 30-8 of your contract.
PHL In-flight recently notified all flight attendants that,
effective April 2, the B-6 Annex and A-West briefing rooms
will be closed from 11:00p - 6:00a to comply with city
ordinances. Because of what we all just experienced with the
recent ice storm in PHL, I immediately called PHL base
director Angela Pellouchoud and explained to her that this
policy would need to be rescinded during periods of inclement
weather and/or irregular operations. She has assured me that
PHL In-flight will coordinate with airport security to have
these two areas remain open during such periods.
Please continue to visit
www.afausairways.org
and the Philadelphia page of that
site.
Regards,
John McCorkle
PHL Council 70 President
JMcCorkle@afausairways.org |
