Doug Parker has no intentions to Meet with AFA to develop a new proposal

[PITbull]

JNC Update - Company's Intentions for Negotiations
November 1, 2012

We have been advised by the Company that they do not intend to develop a proposal for a revised tentative agreement. The Company has indicated they are only willing to meet if directed by the NMB and are not willing to engage in negotiations outside of that process. Additionally, Doug Parker indicated at Crew News that the Company has no plans to put more money into the Flight Attendant Agreement.

The JNC met earlier this week in PHX and the Joint MECs will be meeting next week in CLT. We will provide further information at that time.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

CC deserves all the credit.

Thanks CC.

CC and pITTbULL have cost me $8,000.00 SO far.

It's YOUR JNC. It's YOUR LECPs.

Why can't the Nobilizer Zombies keep from failingl

Zombies. They can't read and they can't count.

Is it $40 million over the life of the contact or is it

$200 Million! Morons?

CC must go.

MoronZombies MM!

 

[700UW]

Lets see Pitbull had nothing to do with the 2 failed CBAs.

Yesterday it was $7k, you lost a grand in one day?

And it was your fellow FAs that voted it down, not CC nor Pit,

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

I heard that a lot of the YES voters will not back a strike vote.

Just passing on what I "heard".

MM!

 

[johnny kat]

Is anyone surprised that mgmt. would not be in a hurry to settle anything (just look at the pilots thread)?

The only ones who look like fools in all of this are the F/As. Anyone ever hear of the old adage "...Live to fight another day". No one was overly excited by the two failed agreements, but something is still better than nothing. And nothing is exactly what the F/As have to show for the past 7 years.

For all of those F/As talking about how much they are worth, now is probably as good a time as any to go ahead and make the big career move. I personally enjoy my job so I want be going back to my law practice anytime soon.

Now, for those who are serious about going on over to the future, we need a 100 percent strike vote. At this point it is the next phase. And along with that strike vote everyone needs to understand that your personal derrier will be needed on the pickett line or willing to scrub the flight and walk off. This is the part were talk was cheap.

So, get use to being pawns between the NMB, US, and AFA - your butts are needed on the chess board. Like it or not this is what we are in for, so NO WHINING. Mike Flores tried to warn us, then Veda Shook and all the leadership tried to warn us. Doug Parker himself has told us about the lengthy recess with a sparkle in his eye. Call it what you want...Stockholm Syndrome, Battered Spouse Syndrome, Stupidity, or what ever else that comes to mind that means lesser awareness. By not picking the fight carefully we will all suffer through this with PHX affected the worst.

If a merger is announced APFA will bargain with the goal of Single Carrier Status in mind (whenever that occurs). Until then the average US F/A will have lost $6500.00 per year. The company will have begun to reap the savings from the failed T/A. By the time a contract is signed the company will have more than wrung the savings from our smart well educated F/A group out in such a way as to have turned it from cost neutral to nice bonuses for others.

I know our F/A group is smarter than this. I work with some of the finest people, whom, if not for a bad job choice back in their 20s' would have certainly been assets to better paying corporations. IMHO, just get a contract signed and get started away from concessions and into the future. It is easier to moan and groan about your treatment when you are compensated better.

 

[700UW]

Better to die standing up then to beg on your knees.

US has been making profits and the FAs deserve to be rewarded, the two TAs still set you backwards, the increase in pay was lost due to increases in medical.

Majority rules and the majority felt the TA wasnt enough. Live with it and unite and take the company on, as you are showing division, the company is not going to give you anything.

 

[johnny kat]

700UW:

Better to die standing up then to beg on your knees.
US has been making profits and the FAs deserve to be rewarded, the two TAs still set you backwards, the increase in pay was lost due to increases in medical.

Majority rules and the majority felt the TA wasnt enough. Live with it and unite and take the company on, as you are showing division, the company is not going to give you anything.
____________________________________________________________________

Yes, we see your advice working sooo well for the p - lots.

 

[Keroseneuser]

700UW:

Better to die standing up then to beg on your knees.
US has been making profits and the FAs deserve to be rewarded, the two TAs still set you backwards, the increase in pay was lost due to increases in medical.

Majority rules and the majority felt the TA wasnt enough. Live with it and unite and take the company on, as you are showing division, the company is not going to give you anything.
____________________________________________________________________

Yes, we see your advice working sooo well for the p - lots.

The pilots are dealing with a seniority integration that is a mess. As of right now the junior 330 captain would have 37 west guys senior to him.....that junior 330 capt was hired at Usair 3 years before america west even existed. That is the starting point of the mess and gets worse from there. I have flown with our f/a's for many many years and if you were dealing with the same situation the pilots are i am 100% confident that you would be in the same mess we are. Apples to oranges, the two cannot be compared in that fashion.

 

[johnny kat]

Kerosenuser, I totally get what you are saying about the pilots situation. But we are talking about the F/A group here. The majority voted to turn down the contract. Now we had better have a 100 % strike vote and then be willing to walk off the job and strike.

But, you see, it will not come to that. We are just going to be working under the same sorry contract and pay we have been for the last 7 years. My point is all about the "Time Value of Money" concept. We are not talking about Ben Franklin and the serious loss of life that occurred because of tyranny. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A PAY RAISE! A $6500.00 average raise per year. Of course it would be better if it were a 10,000 or 20,000 or 100,000 dollars per year. But that aint gonna happen.

So, let's be clear, all patriotic grandstanding aside...every expense I have is going up. The only thing that isn't is my salary. How do I fix that at this point? I had a choice to either: vote in a democratic way to achieve that or walk the pickett line (which will not be allowed). So maybe a little rational thinking is required. Let's get our butts back to the table (when the NMB lets us) and vote for our financial best interests. I ain't workin for my health.

 

[700UW]

Pilots arent united, they are infighting, the company is taking advantage of the situation.

 

[jimntx]

Is anyone surprised that mgmt. would not be in a hurry to settle anything (just look at the pilots thread)?
If a merger is announced APFA will bargain with the goal of Single Carrier Status in mind (whenever that occurs). Until then the average US F/A will have lost $6500.00 per year. The company will have begun to reap the savings from the failed T/A. By the time a contract is signed the company will have more than wrung the savings from our smart well educated F/A group out in such a way as to have turned it from cost neutral to nice bonuses for others.

Don't put your eggs in the APFA basket. The LBFO (Last Best Final Offer) that we just approved with the union's blessing is a joke. The vaunted Date of Signing raise (3%) is more than eaten up by increases in insurance premiums and deductibles. Work rules that have been sacrosanct for a long time at AA are eliminated. There is now nothing in the contract to prevent the company from scheduling a flight attendant 3on-1off-3on-1off all month long until the maximum of 100 hours scheduled is reached. And there is no longer an 8:59 maximum for duty aloft on those days on. The sky's the limit (so to speak). I think the day is coming that a lot of AA flight attendants are going to regret not taking the early out when they had the chance (I'm not eligible or I can assure you I would be on the way out).

 

[johnny kat]

jimntx, I feel your pain. I too am hoping for the day when I can go gracefully with a little dignity. But right now I am in the trenches and need to be moving forward based upon what the Eagle will sh#t out. The F/A profession will never be what it once was, we all agree. But everytime I look at the aging gray faces of my coworkers I am reminded that the only say we have left in any of this, will have to be smart/well thought out and pragmatic approaches at the bargaining table with the den of wolves that are airline management.

 

[Keroseneuser]

Kerosenuser, I totally get what you are saying about the pilots situation. But we are talking about the F/A group here. The majority voted to turn down the contract. Now we had better have a 100 % strike vote and then be willing to walk off the job and strike.

But, you see, it will not come to that. We are just going to be working under the same sorry contract and pay we have been for the last 7 years. My point is all about the "Time Value of Money" concept. We are not talking about Ben Franklin and the serious loss of life that occurred because of tyranny. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A PAY RAISE! A $6500.00 average raise per year. Of course it would be better if it were a 10,000 or 20,000 or 100,000 dollars per year. But that aint gonna happen.

So, let's be clear, all patriotic grandstanding aside...every expense I have is going up. The only thing that isn't is my salary. How do I fix that at this point? I had a choice to either: vote in a democratic way to achieve that or walk the pickett line (which will not be allowed). So maybe a little rational thinking is required. Let's get our butts back to the table (when the NMB lets us) and vote for our financial best interests. I ain't workin for my health.

I don't know if you are east or west. But judging from past experience I would expect to see the F/A's vote for a strike and carry through with it. In 2000 they took it right to the wire before the company relented. I actually held off on signing a contract for a new house based on the f/a actions for a week until it was resolved. I was 100% sure they would strike unless the company came up with something.

 

[FWAAA]

The TA was rejected by just 50 votes but almost 1,000 FAs didn't even bother to vote despite being underpaid for more than seven years since the merger.

 

[johnny kat]

Also jmntx, I have looked at the comparison charts between AA and US and our duty rigs are the gold standard of the F/As in the industry (even after 2 BKs). Our beef is all about the hourly rate, the beginning of PBS at US, and ceasing of co-pairing with the pilots. PBS is already in use at every carrier I can think of. I doubt you have ever copaired with your pilots. So APFA could probably care less about a couple of US F/A issues in a merger.

Make no mistake, if there is a merge, APFA will indeed covet the duty rigs that US F/As have long had. Right now the only bargaining tool to a higher hourly rate the US F/As have are those duty rigs. It would probably send chills through management's spine if we go into merger and APFA insists on our superior duty rigs.

So, what's going on here is folly. If the US folks don't accept what is offered and are demanding higher hourly wage then those duty rigs are going to have to go on the chopping block. Which brings us into a merger with less to offer.

The voice of reason is easily drowned out by those with an axe to grind.