Flight Attendant Referandum /AFA-CWA?

[2clippedwings]

Is there a website we can all read this on? This is the first time alot of us has heard about it. We can't understand what the heck is going on! Aren't we a part of this union? Sound like some behind closed door dirty little secret club. Can someone direct us where we can read about what is going on with our Union. How did you find out about the money amounts?

Subscribe to elines, read the info posted in the crew rooms. It's all been out there.
The board of directors meet in November. All locals have their own meetings in October, prior to the board of directors so the local flight attendants can attend and voice their opinions.

 

[safety stud]

If I am not mistaken, this is how the process works. At the board of directors meeting the agenda item for dues increasement would be discussed and voted on. This also means that the other unions at other carriers involved with AFA/CWA have had the same agenda item at their BOD meetings. The vote for or against a dues increase is made by each bases LEC Presidents representing each base. If I am not also mistaken, we (the members) wont be voting on the item through a ballot. As for what percentage goes to each base you would have to look at the financial pages for AFA and USAirways. A harsh example of things is that the majority of your union dues goes to the natiional office in DC. Only a percentage of the money actually goes to the local bases. Some of the dues goes to individual committees: EAP, Safety, Hotel, Reserve etc.

As a dues paying member you have your right to contact your local president and let him know how you feel. Hope this helps...

 

[dexter]

I guess we have no say in this matter anyhow! Even if we all attended the "hard to make" AFA meetings what difference would it make? They are going to vote politically anyways regardless of whether we attended or not. It really irks me that this has been such a cover up for so many years. I don't know about you guys but I would really like to know how it would be cheaper to stay CWA, do you really think that is the case? Just another political ploy with the company and the bod. What exactly has having this tie done for us.....

 

[700UW]

Union dues are tax deductable.

 

[dexter]

What does CWA know about the airline industry? Customer service isn't happy with CWA any longer and have an association with the teamsters. Wouldn't it be better to go IBT rather than CWA? I'm sure we could get more for our dollar. They definately have alot stronger presence in the airline industry from what I read up on. Just an option, how does everyone else feel. I think we need a change in the right direction.

 

[Bear96]

I guess we have no say in this matter anyhow! Even if we all attended the "hard to make" AFA meetings what difference would it make? They are going to vote politically anyways regardless of whether we attended or not. It really irks me that this has been such a cover up for so many years.

"Cover up"? What are you talking about? As others have pointed out, this information has been out there foryears (since the AFA/CWA merge) for people who exert even a teeny bit of effort to find out.

I'm not even an AFA member anymore and have managed to stay more informed than you.

 

[kobe1]

While our union dues have not gone up in years, neither has our salary. Huge pay and benefit cuts and no progress on a new contract. I don't want to dump the union by any means, but they need to cut ALL the extras and just focus on the contract period.
Dump the EAP and Legislative affairs to save money. Cut officer pay to reserve pay guarentee and let them fly ETB trips.

 

[N109UW]

The dues will go up more if we do not stay with the CWA. Either that or the AFA will do away with most of its services. If we stay with the CWA the dues will only increase by around 4 Dollars a month or so.

4 dollars a month. Well there goes my step increase. Great.

 

[IMisstheAladdinTrays]

What does CWA know about the airline industry? Customer service isn't happy with CWA any longer and have an association with the teamsters. Wouldn't it be better to go IBT rather than CWA? I'm sure we could get more for our dollar. They definately have alot stronger presence in the airline industry from what I read up on. Just an option, how does everyone else feel. I think we need a change in the right direction.

The AFA is autonomous from the CWA - other than sharing the name and a building in DC, they are separate entities. The AFA is run by flight attendants for flight attendants. If we pull out of the CWA, our dues will increase exponentially, and there will be a marked reduction in services offered, i.e, buh-bye EAP and Legislative Affairs right off the bat. With the airlines spending millions using their "union" (The Air Transport Association) to lobby congress for legislation that benefits them, aren't you glad to know that the AFA has its own Legislative Affairs to benefit the flight attendant profession? Think OSHA protection, FMLA benefits, extended recall rights for TWA FAs, to name a few. Anything we legislate (minimum rests, duty days, etc) is one thing we do not have negotiate in a contract. The AFA's new motto is "What we legislate, we don't have to negotiate." No other union is going to accurately represent the flight attendant profession better than the AFA-CWA. Period. I recently spoke with a Northwest flight attendant who told me that when they attended IBT meetings, they, all NWA flight attendants, were referred to as "the fags and hags" by their fellow IBT members. Is this really the group with whom you wish to align yourself?