NWA F/A's Welcome AFA

[aislehopper]

Since you asked . . .



--- Begin forwarded message:

From: "webmaster" <[email protected]>
To: jointogether@localhost
Subject: JoinTogether NOTICE: Summer Plan-Update #1
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 13:59:12 -0700

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JoinTogether - The Interactive Forum for Delta flight attendants from www.deltaafa.org
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From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/ATL
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006

6/29/06

A little while back a couple of your AFA/CWA interim organizing
leaders informed you via JoinTogether of our plans to wrap up
the campaign bringing a successful launch in our second attempt
to vote in AFA/CWA.

Here's what you need to know right now.

1. NWA Flight Attendants voted down their tentative agreement
by 80% against. DCA representatives informed me that as bad as
their TA is, our overall pay, benefits and working conditions
are much worse.

2. On July 06, 2006, the vote will be tallied in DCA rendering
a decision whether the NWA attendants will stay with their
independent union (PFAA) or transition over to AFA/CWA. This
is where you come into the picture.

3. In the event that AFA/CWA is the winner, they will turn
their full attention and resources to the Delta campaign.
At that point you can make a decision to sign or re-sign
an authorization card or just remain the sitting duck
waiting for the ax to fall.

4. Let's talk about what this means to you. To date, BOS,
NYC, SLC, LAX and the AFP bases are on solid footing beefing
up our rosters. The monkey on our back is ATL. Some of you
continue to remain in shock or denial, refusing to take a
stand. AFA/CWA will not touch us until ATL is onboard. Until
ATL based Flight Attendants take their rightful place along
their coworkers at other carriers, we will continue to be at
management's mercy in all decisions made in our careers.
AFA/CWA has a merger policy in place and if consolidation
occurs we would not be stapled to the bottom of some other
carrier's list and then subjected to mass downsizing. Even
if the potential carrier is not an AFA-CWA carrier, the
organization would go to bat for us. Given Delta's condition,
it's wise to have viable options for now all we have is empty
promises of possible profit sharing and nothing in writing.

What can you expect from AFA/CWA in the coming weeks?

A. An email blast from DCA to all Flight Attendants on our
database with a valid email address.

B. Flightlog, an AFA/CWA publication tailored just for you.

C. Another round of postage paid authorization cards. Remember,
your card expires after one year so, if in doubt, sign another. If you're sure your card is still valid, then pass it on to a
coworker. The power of one is great! Management will never know
what hit them until the votes are tallied; let's give them a nice surprise.

D. Go to afanet.org, click on the organizing link for Delta
and arm yourself with lots of legal information and organizing
tools.

After July 06, 2006, you will receive more updates. Copy
these listservers and share them with your coworkers where
appropriate.

--------snipped--------

ah

 

[JAMAKE1]

Fly...

You and I can debate this back and forth until we are both blue in the face. It is clearly stated in the AFA Bylaws that was setforth by prior visionaries such as Susan Bianchi-Sand, the former AFA National President during the late 1980's and early 1990's that part of the the mission of AFA National is to bring as many flight attendants, represented by different airlines, under one union. Doing so, helps to raise the bar for all of us. You can make whatever remarks you want to, regarding Patricia Friend. At the end of the day, she is a United Airlines flight attendant that has more than the interest of lining her own pockets in mind.

Lets take a look at in-house unions at other legacy carriers: American's APFA, buckled under the threat of bankruptcy, and as such, American Airlines flight attendants have lost purser pay on narrow body aircraft, trip guarantee, crew meals, all paid holidays, significantly reduced minimums for legal crew rest, as well as other work rules. Don't take my word for it, sit down and compare contracts. Yes, they still have their pension, but the number of AA flight attendants I have spoken to, the collective sense is that the writing is on the wall as CEO Gerald Arpy has publicly stated that AA must cut costs further. More pain is likely to come.

Then of course, there are our NWA breathen, who ousted Teamsters for an-house union. Where did that get them? A union that has struggled financially from the onset and a tentative agreement that was flatly rejected by 80% of those who voted.

Many other unions have dues upwards of $100 per month. Relative to our pay-scale, our union dues are still a good deal. Especially if you take into acount that AFA National has not raised them in about 15 years.

I challenge you, Fly, to see who has it better. We are the only carrier that has any paid holidays. (USAirways and AA lost all of theirs in their concessions). Contractually, we still have some of the best workrules in the industry. To be quite honest, most of our UA colleages think that many of our work rules are FAA-mandated. They're not. They were negotiated. 8 in 24 is not FAA. 30 in 7 in not FAA. 36 hours free of dute after an island turn, is not. These workrules supersede the FAA minimum regulations (which are admittedly, quite dismal).

Fly, I have worked for 4 airlines. I can tell you, the grass in NOT greener elsewhere. Is AFA perfect? By no means. But at the end of the day, I think they deserve more credit than you, or many of our United colleagues, give them.

 

[Bear96]

I strongly agree with Jamake.

Fly, you will always be able to point to one thing you disagree with AFA about, or say they should have handled some little specific situation better -- those examples are easy to find. If your benchmark from a union or an employer is perfection and nothing less is acceptable, well, there isn't a union or employer on the planet that will satisfy you.

 

[galleyguy4u2]

Very well said JAMAKE1. And AFA would never stand for a stAAple by another carrier. After what AA did to the TWA f/a's I am sure AFA would NEVER surrender SCOPE.

Signed,
Furloughed TWA f/a 21 yrs and stAApled.
:angry:

 

[Fly]

I totally agree that AFA would never allow a staple....regardless if the carrier was AFA or not.

I believe that local AFA reps work very hard but have zero power over the international AFA which has only one agenda....my $$$.

MY impression of AFA is that they only protect you if you are a problem f/a. For the average Joe out there, showing up to work when you are supposed to, they have no interest. Now if you are a raging alcoholic and drug abuser, they will work tooth and nail to help you keep your job. Just MY opinion.

We are the only carrier that has any paid holidays. (USAirways and AA lost all of theirs in their concessions).

Isn't USAirways an AFA carrier? How did they lose so much if they are with AFA?

 

[700UW]

Two trips to bankruptcy and three round of concessions in two years.

It was either give or liquidate.

And what is your answer?

Every single union in the airline industry since 9/11 has given concessions in one form or another, no one has been immune to it.

 

[PRINCESS KIDAGAKASH]

Two trips to bankruptcy and three round of concessions in two years.

It was either give or liquidate.

And what is your answer?

Every single union in the airline industry since 9/11 has given concessions in one form or another, no one has been immune to it.

So, when are the unions in the airline industry gonna start acting like unions should and shut the industry down?

 

[700UW]

Princess I wish I had the answer.

I was part of the NC for the M&R at US Airways, myself, the CLT reps, PHL and the DL President wanted to tell the members vote NO, the PIT reps balked at that and the international made us take the final offer out for ratification after our CBA was abrogated.

The members ratified it to get their severence, until the membership along with the leadership will finally stand up to corporate greed nothing will change.

People need to vote on economic issues and not gun control, abortion, prayer in school or gay marriage.

 

[aafsc]

Very well said JAMAKE1. And AFA would never stand for a stAAple by another carrier. After what AA did to the TWA f/a's I am sure AFA would NEVER surrender SCOPE.

Signed,
Furloughed TWA f/a 21 yrs and stAApled.
:angry:

AA did not staple you; the APFA did. AA has absolutely no control of the UNION seniority lists. Get over it.

 

[USCREW]

US Airways F/As get paid holidays.

 

[Bear96]

Now if you are a raging alcoholic and drug abuser, they will work tooth and nail to help you keep your job. Just MY opinion.

ANY union is legally REQUIRED to represent its members facing termination. So again, if you are looking for a union that won't do that, you are probably going to be disappointed in your search.

 

[Fly]

That's sad. I pay so that losers can remain employed.

 

[JAMAKE1]

Actually Fly, you pay so that your MEC Negotiating Committee that worked tirelessly to minimize the cuts the company wanted in bankruptcy, represents you at the bargaining table. You pay so that you have AFA Flight Pac Volunteers being trained to lobby on Capitol Hill to protect working Americans such as yourself. You pay so that volunteers can be trained in Professional Standards, EAP, Health and Safety, Legislative Affairs, etc. You pay for the infrastructure that is in place that helps to secure you better work-rules, improved aircraft safety and duty time regulations. You pay so that the Jet Blue's of the world can hopefully and eventually be organized so that the pay and work-rule gap narrows between the haves and have-nots relative to compensation, work rules, duty rigs, etc. The AFA vision, as stated in their bylaws, is raise the bar and bring the little guys (read unrepresented airlines) up to our standards so that our careers are not continually undermined by low-cost carriers.

The fundamental problem that I observe with United AFA, is that we have a workforce that is not well-educated in what the union does on your (our) behalf. With 13% of the workforce casting ballots for AFA LEC Officers, there is evidently a big disconnect.

Furthermore Fly, your logic is flawed to suggest that USAirways took paycuts because of AFA. They took paycuts, because as another poster stated, that company underwent two trips through bankruptcy in a relatively short period of time.

Fly, consider Delta's flight attendants, who have described their termsheet (the company's proposal to Delta F/A's for give-backs) as "shocking." Because they aren't represented by a collective bargaining agreement, Delta flight attendants have no leverage with which to negotiate. The company can AND WILL impose all of terms listed in the term sheet. That didn't happen to us, Fly. We preserved international rates-of-pay where the company wanted to pay domestic. We preserved 5 paid holidays. We preserved our hard-fought workrules. We preserved reserve over-ride.

I don't expect you to agree with me, Fly. But I will point out to you where I see your logic being flawed. At the end of the day, it is up to each individual to take some form of responsibility and/or pro-action for one's life. AFA, nor any other union is our sugar daddy. It is up to each of us as flight attendants, to arm ourselves with information and knowledge, because knowledge and education IS power.

Having had the experience of having worked for 4 airlines and having been through two airline mergers (and one bankruptcy) in that time, I feel I speak with a bit of insight. Like I said, I don't expect you to agree with me, but I do feel compelled to provide you with a broader view.

Respectfully,

Jamake1

 

[aislehopper]

Fly, consider Delta's flight attendants, who have described their termsheet (the company's proposal to Delta F/A's for give-backs) as "shocking." Because they aren't represented by a collective bargaining agreement, Delta flight attendants have no leverage with which to negotiate. The company can AND WILL impose all of terms listed in the term sheet. That didn't happen to us, Fly. We preserved international rates-of-pay where the company wanted to pay domestic. We preserved 5 paid holidays. We preserved our hard-fought workrules. We preserved reserve over-ride.

If the flight attendants describing the cuts as "shocking" are the same ones that have been trying to organize us on the afa members' dime for 13 years, this same group was also complaining when we had the best book rate in the industry and are not your most unbiased source of information.

Represented or unrepresented, IMHO, we all pretty much even out in the long run.

ah

 

[Bear96]

That's sad. I pay so that losers can remain employed.

Yup. Feel free to lobby to change U.S. union laws if it bothers you that much. (And just hope that one day you don't need similar union representation if you are wrongly accused of something.)

Guess you should have done your homework and applied to DL if you had such a strong desire to work in a non-union shop.

Do you really think the F/A job would be what it is today (which is apparently a job you covet since you are still around) if it weren't for the work of AFA all these decades?