The “dues holiday†is over writes APFA Treasurer Cathy Lukensmeyer in the latest issue of Skyword. Effective May 15th, APFA dues will increase $3.O0 per month. I recently checked my ePays and sure enough, APFA’s already digging into my paycheck. Yes, even though APFA made no effort to include a “snap-back†provision in the concessionary agreement they and the company jammed down our throats in 2003, APFA didn’t forget to include a snap-back provision in the dues decrease of 2004.
Personally, I wouldn’t consider these past two years a holiday of any sort, not with the huge loss of pay and the gutting of our work rules, so I found it interesting that Ms. Lukensmeyer consider them as such. But after taking a quick glance at the APFA LM-2s from the past two reporting periods, I can easily see why Ms. Lukensmeyer’s out of touch with the APFA membership. Ms. Lukensmeyer’s gross salary from Column (D) of the LM-2 shows a five-percent (5%) increase from the last reporting period and a seven-percent (7%) increase from pre-concessionary levels. Nowhere in the governmental report is it evident that the national officer salaries ever went down. Ms. Lukensmeyer’s gross salary was $79,742, up from $75,967 in the previous reporting period. And Ms. Lukensmeyer still enjoys five weeks (5) vacation, eleven (11) paid holidays and eighteen (18) days of sick time.
So what ever happened to the national officer pay cuts that Tommie Hutto-Blake lead the membership to believe was to be on the top of her agenda upon assuming office in 2004? During the runoff debate with incumbent John Ward, Ms. Hutto-Blake stated, and I quote: “MY SLATE AND I HAVE BEEN IN THE FIELD QUITE A LOT. WE’VE SPOKEN TO A LOT OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS AND IT’S BEEN VERY EXHILARATING. AT TIMES, OF COURSE, YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE ANGER, THE DISILLUSIONMENT DIRECTED AT THE UNION. THERE ARE SOME ISSUES THAT ARE CONSTANTLY RAISED AND ONE OF THEM IS JUST THAT. IF I’M ELECTED PRESIDENT, THE PRESIDENT DOES HAVE ABILITY TO AUTHOR AND INTRODUCE RESOLUTIONS EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT A VOTING BOARD MEMBER. BUT YOU CAN CERTAINLY DEBATE THE ISSUE AND ARGUE THE ISSUE. I THINK THAT IN ALL FAIRNESS TO OUR WORKGROUP WHO HAS TAKEN A STEEP HIT SINCE MAY OF LAST YEAR, THAT THE OFFICERS SHOULD ALSO TAKE A HIT REGARDING BOTH PAY AND BENEFITS.†This was Ms. Hutto-Blake’s answer to the moderator’s question of: “FOLLOWING THE CONCESSIONARY AGREEMENT, ALL FLIGHT ATTENDANTS AND ALL APFA UNION REPRESENTATIVES WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE FOUR NATIONAL OFFICERS TOOK A MINIMUM OF 15.6 PERCENT REDUCTION IN PAY AND A REDUCTION IN VACATION. YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ON THIS ISSUE PLEASE.â€
So what happened to the pay cut? Ms. Hutto-Blake stated that national officer pay cuts were a big issue with the membership during the election period, and she also stated that the national officers in all fairness to the membership should also share in the sacrifice. So what happened? Considering that the national officers haven’t taken a cut in pay and/or vacation even though Tommie Hutto-Blake stated that this was needed in order for her and her administration to share in the sacrifice, it leads me to believe that either Ms. Hutto-Blake forgot to take a pay cut or that she simply reneged on one of her biggest campaign pledges. I do know that national officer pay cuts were an issue with Ms. Hutto-Blake as it was her camp that brought the issue of national officer pay cuts to the debate. It was her question for the opposition.
I realize that many would see this issue as trivial considering the state of the industry as well as the state of our union. But this is a real issue. It’s an issue of trust. How are we to believe that the Hutto-Blake Administration can handle the big issues, issues such as our pensions, when she and the three other national officers can’t handle something as small as putting forth a resolution to take a cut in vacation and pay—a resolution they told us was on the top of their agenda in 2004? Considering that American tells us that the pensions are underfunded by a whopping $3.2 billion, and considering that American is using money taken from us in order to fund their recent $100 million dollar bonus plan, I feel that we, the APFA membership, need to be able to place a small bit of trust in the leadership responsible for representing our economic futures.
And speaking of trust....
After the May 22, 2005 incident on Flight 996, the one in which Cathy Lukensmeyer allegedly told the hard working crew that she “only answers to Gerard Arpey†and that Mr. Arpey is her “supervisor,†you would think that Tommie Hutto-Blake, in an effort to to boost member morale as well as confidence in her administration, would take a moment and commit to a follow-through of one of her most important campaign pledges. But no, Ms. Hutto-Blake has done nothing of the sort. Instead, she tells the membership that she’s “working together†with the company, which, considering the recent $100M dollar executive payout, apparently means helping the company dish out millions of dollars in undeserved bonuses to managers whom have yet to demonstrate that they can turn our company around. A $600M forth-quarter loss does not, in my opinion, demand a bonus.
So what’s the conclusion to the Lukensmeyer/Flt. 996 incident? I took the liberty of asking APFA how the investigation was coming and was told by APFA that the investigation is over. APFA told me that AA conducted an investigation and dismissed it. APFA said that the incident was “politically motivated†and that it really didn’t happen as the Jennifer Harty report suggested. Needless to say I was shocked—shocked because five people from that crew (not including Jennifer Harty) told me virtually the same story, that Cathy Lukensmeyer caused an alcohol related disturbance in flight and that she was telling the flight attendants that she only answers to the chairman of our company.
Alright then, let’s look at this from a different angle. If what APFA told me is true, that the company found no wrongdoing on the part of Cathy Lukensmeyer, what then happened to the flight attendant who filed the report? Was she reprimanded for intentionally filing a false in-flight report because last I knew, that was against company policy? The answer to that was NO, the purser wasn’t reprimanded because, as APFA stated, Ms. Lukensmeyer refused to testify against a fellow flight attendant. So in other words, AA found in favor of Cathy Lukensmeyer and wanted to take action against Jennifer Harty, but couldn’t because Cathy Lukensmeyer refused to testify. This made absolutely no sense to me as AA already had everything they needed, they had the report.
I realize that the Flt. 996 issue is as trivial as the dues increase that the membership was denied the opportunity to vote on. But both of these issues scream volumes regarding the issue of trust. These are the people that we’re relying on to make crucial decisions regarding our economic futures and so far all we’ve seen from this administration is ineffectiveness and embarrassment. Tommie Hutto-Blake made many campaign promises during the election, but so far we’ve seen none of them followed through. Case and point, what ever happened to Election Task Force?
Author Deleted for Privacy!
Now Fellow AA F/A's is this the union you want to represent you?...The time is now to get rid the APFA!!...If there is any other union even the slighest bit interested in representing this workforce now is the time to let you be heard...Petitions are already circulating at the LGA/JFK bases..
You call this UNITY?
Ed
Personally, I wouldn’t consider these past two years a holiday of any sort, not with the huge loss of pay and the gutting of our work rules, so I found it interesting that Ms. Lukensmeyer consider them as such. But after taking a quick glance at the APFA LM-2s from the past two reporting periods, I can easily see why Ms. Lukensmeyer’s out of touch with the APFA membership. Ms. Lukensmeyer’s gross salary from Column (D) of the LM-2 shows a five-percent (5%) increase from the last reporting period and a seven-percent (7%) increase from pre-concessionary levels. Nowhere in the governmental report is it evident that the national officer salaries ever went down. Ms. Lukensmeyer’s gross salary was $79,742, up from $75,967 in the previous reporting period. And Ms. Lukensmeyer still enjoys five weeks (5) vacation, eleven (11) paid holidays and eighteen (18) days of sick time.
So what ever happened to the national officer pay cuts that Tommie Hutto-Blake lead the membership to believe was to be on the top of her agenda upon assuming office in 2004? During the runoff debate with incumbent John Ward, Ms. Hutto-Blake stated, and I quote: “MY SLATE AND I HAVE BEEN IN THE FIELD QUITE A LOT. WE’VE SPOKEN TO A LOT OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS AND IT’S BEEN VERY EXHILARATING. AT TIMES, OF COURSE, YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE ANGER, THE DISILLUSIONMENT DIRECTED AT THE UNION. THERE ARE SOME ISSUES THAT ARE CONSTANTLY RAISED AND ONE OF THEM IS JUST THAT. IF I’M ELECTED PRESIDENT, THE PRESIDENT DOES HAVE ABILITY TO AUTHOR AND INTRODUCE RESOLUTIONS EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT A VOTING BOARD MEMBER. BUT YOU CAN CERTAINLY DEBATE THE ISSUE AND ARGUE THE ISSUE. I THINK THAT IN ALL FAIRNESS TO OUR WORKGROUP WHO HAS TAKEN A STEEP HIT SINCE MAY OF LAST YEAR, THAT THE OFFICERS SHOULD ALSO TAKE A HIT REGARDING BOTH PAY AND BENEFITS.†This was Ms. Hutto-Blake’s answer to the moderator’s question of: “FOLLOWING THE CONCESSIONARY AGREEMENT, ALL FLIGHT ATTENDANTS AND ALL APFA UNION REPRESENTATIVES WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE FOUR NATIONAL OFFICERS TOOK A MINIMUM OF 15.6 PERCENT REDUCTION IN PAY AND A REDUCTION IN VACATION. YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ON THIS ISSUE PLEASE.â€
So what happened to the pay cut? Ms. Hutto-Blake stated that national officer pay cuts were a big issue with the membership during the election period, and she also stated that the national officers in all fairness to the membership should also share in the sacrifice. So what happened? Considering that the national officers haven’t taken a cut in pay and/or vacation even though Tommie Hutto-Blake stated that this was needed in order for her and her administration to share in the sacrifice, it leads me to believe that either Ms. Hutto-Blake forgot to take a pay cut or that she simply reneged on one of her biggest campaign pledges. I do know that national officer pay cuts were an issue with Ms. Hutto-Blake as it was her camp that brought the issue of national officer pay cuts to the debate. It was her question for the opposition.
I realize that many would see this issue as trivial considering the state of the industry as well as the state of our union. But this is a real issue. It’s an issue of trust. How are we to believe that the Hutto-Blake Administration can handle the big issues, issues such as our pensions, when she and the three other national officers can’t handle something as small as putting forth a resolution to take a cut in vacation and pay—a resolution they told us was on the top of their agenda in 2004? Considering that American tells us that the pensions are underfunded by a whopping $3.2 billion, and considering that American is using money taken from us in order to fund their recent $100 million dollar bonus plan, I feel that we, the APFA membership, need to be able to place a small bit of trust in the leadership responsible for representing our economic futures.
And speaking of trust....
After the May 22, 2005 incident on Flight 996, the one in which Cathy Lukensmeyer allegedly told the hard working crew that she “only answers to Gerard Arpey†and that Mr. Arpey is her “supervisor,†you would think that Tommie Hutto-Blake, in an effort to to boost member morale as well as confidence in her administration, would take a moment and commit to a follow-through of one of her most important campaign pledges. But no, Ms. Hutto-Blake has done nothing of the sort. Instead, she tells the membership that she’s “working together†with the company, which, considering the recent $100M dollar executive payout, apparently means helping the company dish out millions of dollars in undeserved bonuses to managers whom have yet to demonstrate that they can turn our company around. A $600M forth-quarter loss does not, in my opinion, demand a bonus.
So what’s the conclusion to the Lukensmeyer/Flt. 996 incident? I took the liberty of asking APFA how the investigation was coming and was told by APFA that the investigation is over. APFA told me that AA conducted an investigation and dismissed it. APFA said that the incident was “politically motivated†and that it really didn’t happen as the Jennifer Harty report suggested. Needless to say I was shocked—shocked because five people from that crew (not including Jennifer Harty) told me virtually the same story, that Cathy Lukensmeyer caused an alcohol related disturbance in flight and that she was telling the flight attendants that she only answers to the chairman of our company.
Alright then, let’s look at this from a different angle. If what APFA told me is true, that the company found no wrongdoing on the part of Cathy Lukensmeyer, what then happened to the flight attendant who filed the report? Was she reprimanded for intentionally filing a false in-flight report because last I knew, that was against company policy? The answer to that was NO, the purser wasn’t reprimanded because, as APFA stated, Ms. Lukensmeyer refused to testify against a fellow flight attendant. So in other words, AA found in favor of Cathy Lukensmeyer and wanted to take action against Jennifer Harty, but couldn’t because Cathy Lukensmeyer refused to testify. This made absolutely no sense to me as AA already had everything they needed, they had the report.
I realize that the Flt. 996 issue is as trivial as the dues increase that the membership was denied the opportunity to vote on. But both of these issues scream volumes regarding the issue of trust. These are the people that we’re relying on to make crucial decisions regarding our economic futures and so far all we’ve seen from this administration is ineffectiveness and embarrassment. Tommie Hutto-Blake made many campaign promises during the election, but so far we’ve seen none of them followed through. Case and point, what ever happened to Election Task Force?
Author Deleted for Privacy!
Now Fellow AA F/A's is this the union you want to represent you?...The time is now to get rid the APFA!!...If there is any other union even the slighest bit interested in representing this workforce now is the time to let you be heard...Petitions are already circulating at the LGA/JFK bases..
You call this UNITY?
Ed
