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-------Copy and Paste the letter below into your email to the BOD Members - Please Sign Your Name------- |
| Dear Board of Directors
Member, As a US Airways Flight Attendant I am writing to you requesting your support. When the Board of Directors convenes in October they will debate and possibly vote on an Agenda Item submitted by the America West MEC that seeks to change the current date of hire policy regarding seniority integration. The current policy has been used effectively and without prejudice by all AFA carriers since its formal adoption in 1986. Prior to that some carriers, ours included, used date of hire to integrate seniority lists rather than impose one group's will on another. Some carriers who were merged or acquired prior to the policy were not so lucky and their members were indeed disadvantaged. The proposed Agenda Item seeks to change this policy by offering an "alternative formula" in order to avoid someone being "grossly disadvantaged by the current policy". Inherent in any merger is the fact that every member will be affected and everyone's place on a seniority list will likely change. At US Airways many of our members have gone through several mergers since 1986. Date of hire has been used in each merger on this property and the results speak for themselves. Some members saw their position change for the better, others for the worse. Coupled with contractual provision governing base transfers and bumping rights the membership received protections that helped insure no one was grossly disadvantaged by the policy. The Agenda Item seeks to change the policy by allowing the leadership of one carrier to arbitrarily ask that an "alternative formula" be applied to the process. The item states that one side must submit in writing the reasons for a deviation from the current policy but does not specify what the "alternative formula" may be. As background the author's state the era of legacy carriers merging with each other is now being replaced by so-called legacy carrier merging with low-cost carriers. As you know all airlines are trying to become low cost carriers and in fact US Airways has recently completed its third round of concessionary bargaining to bring our costs in line with those of the low cost carriers. In order to survive, our members have faced wage cuts, pension terminations and job losses. The downward spiral of the industry has forced many of our more senior members to leave the company. In short, our membership is becoming more junior by the day and the supposed seniority disadvantage faced by our brothers and sisters at America West is taking care of itself. As the industry inevitably faces further consolidation I feel it would be reckless for the Board of Directors to change the current policy. The current policy provides a clear cut stable means of integrating seniority while the proposed agenda item does not. Everyone knows what our policy is and in fact several AFA carriers joined AFA after the policy was adopted. They joined AFA because of the date of hire policy not in spite of it. Future organizing campaigns can turn to the history and stability of the current policy in bringing our message to others. To replace the current policy with what is in effect no policy will bring internal CHAOS to this Union and its members. I respectfully urge you as a member of the AFA Board of Directors to support the current AFA merger policy. Sincerely, SIGN YOUR NAME
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