Flight Attendants' Voices Heard: Hell No!

[Freighterguynow]

It will be interesting to see the next steps, the loss of the time value of money, and how NMB Mediator and former US Airways pilot Gerry McGuckin will react.

Loser in residence chimes in

 

[PTR]

AFA JNC Update: March 30, 2012

US Airways Tentative Agreement Not Ratified

Flight Attendants at the combined US Airways have voted to reject ratification of the Tentative Agreement. The vote was 1457 in favor and 4375 against, with 90% of Flight Attendants participating. After reviewing the Tentative Agreement, numerous informational e-lines, and attending Roadshows a majority of Flight Attendants determined to fight for a better offer. Now that the decision has been made, we call on all US Airways Flight Attendants to join together to push for an improved offer from the company.

The Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) and the Master Executives Councils (MECs) both East and West will meet shortly to map out a strategy moving forward. A survey will be prepared and disseminated to Flight Attendants to guide the MEC in formulating future proposals. Based on the results of the survey, we will determine what changes to the Tentative Agreement to propose to the company.

AFA will push to get back to the table as soon as possible and demand the company present an improved financial offer which respects the contributions of all US Airways Flight Attendants to the success of this company.

Contract negotiations will remain in mediation and under the control of the National Mediation Board. Any future meeting schedules will be controlled by the NMB mediator. Existing collecting bargaining agreements (East and West) remain in place until a new tentative agreement is negotiated by the JNC and ratified by the membership. Under the Railway Labor Act, Flight Attendants are not legally free to strike until released to strike by the National Mediation Board following a thirty day cooling off period.

We encourage all Flight Attendants, whether you voted for or against the Tentative Agreement, to pull together and focus on pressuring the Company to agree to a revised agreement. We may retain two separate contracts, but we must speak as one.

The Joint Negotiating Committee

 

[PTR]

The flt attendants union should stop I repeat stop interfering with topics that they have no idea what whey are talking about and if they don't know what that is let me explain any thing technical to do with the aircraft

 

[cltrat]

The flt attendants union should stop I repeat stop interfering with topics that they have no idea what whey are talking about and if they don't know what that is let me explain any thing technical to do with the aircraft

ok genius start your own aircraft technical thread and leave the flt attendant one ...lol

 

[Bertha]

With the difference in "yes" and "no" votes I would not be surprised to see the NMB park the AFA's negotiations like they did for USAPA, APA, and APFA. Then what?

Let them park negotiations if they want to. We flight attendants have waited over seven years to be rewarded for our sacrifices ,so we can wait a little longer. Meanwhile, the company is in a box because they cannot separate us from the pilots.Also,any merger plans may not be able to go forward,at least not as smoothly and as quickly as management would like.This TA was an in-your-face insult therefore I could care less about parking negotiations.The audacity to present this garbage at the same time as we received our pidally little profit sharing checks is beyond the pale.And then we find out that the company did not factor in all of the profit figures before calculating our portion.CAN WE TALK! I'm just done with these people.

 

[Bertha]

I am sorry if my questions led you to believe I am part of, or reporting to, US Management. It's simply not the case, but with the internet being what it is, I certainly understand the concern. There's plenty of distrust between US and the F/A's without my involvement, which is really unfortunate. I would hope that we could have a discussion without insulting each other, and I apologize if I've upset you with my questions.

Still snooping around 4 days later. You said that you actually read the contract and it seems like a good one.READ THE CONTRACT? Hello? Anyone on this forum who still believes that you are just a disinterested party must be drinking the same thing as Parker.

 

[MyrnaMinkoff]

I wish the squabbling pilots would just go ahead and tongue kiss and get it over with; the tension is killing me. That tired old story needs a deus ex machina, or at least its own topic thread--I suggest its title be telenovela-inspired, Los Pilotos Calientes Locos? It's annoying to have to muddle through pages of playground retorts just to get to the good stuff, like when CallawayGolf bemoans the threat that organized labor poses to his buffet choices when the communist government-backed public referendum has determined that he must spend his vacation in Detroit.

 

[BungeeJumper]

Still snooping around 4 days later.

I'm still following this thread, yes. An unfriendly response doesn't deter me from my interest. Peace.

 

[jimntx]

Meanwhile, the company is in a box because they cannot separate us from the pilots.Also,any merger plans may not be able to go forward,at least not as smoothly and as quickly as management would like.

You may very well be right. Here at AA we (f/as) have never been co-paired with the pilots (at least, not in my vast career of 10 years ). Can you imagine the culture shock of adding 16,000 f/as and 9,000 pilots to the co-pairing? The planners from AA would never survive. They are too used to "after 12.5 hrs on duty, pilots get 17 hr layover at LAX, f/as get 9.5 hr layover." :blink:

 

[CallawayGolf]

I wish the squabbling pilots would just go ahead and tongue kiss and get it over with; the tension is killing me. That tired old story needs a deus ex machina, or at least its own topic thread--I suggest its title be telenovela-inspired, Los Pilotos Calientes Locos? It's annoying to have to muddle through pages of playground retorts just to get to the good stuff, like when CallawayGolf bemoans the threat that organized labor poses to his buffet choices when the communist government-backed public referendum has determined that he must spend his vacation in Detroit.

Have you not been paying attention to the news? Activists are out there trying to determine what people can and cannot eat instead of letting people freely choose. They want to increase taxes on products they don't like or outright ban food choices that many of us grew up eating in this country. Here's just one story where a school determined that a lunch packed by a parent wasn't up to their standards.
Food Police
And what was in her lunch box? Well it was very harmful things like a turkey sandwich, a banana, potato chips and apple juice. Oh the horror of sending a kid to school with a lunch like that!

BTW, I was born in Detroit and my favorite aunt lives there so thanks for sending me on vacation. Gee, I guess letting other people decide how I should live my life isn't so bad after all.

 

[luvn737s]

. I have said it before and will say it again Parker is just another Frank Lorenzo with a slightly different rap.

You're still wrong. Comparing Parker to Lorenzo just proves how little you know about either of them. The gutting of EAL, CAL and Texas Int'l is not even in the same universe as Parker's management style.

Parker is an opportunist and will try any opportunity he can to get what others overlook (or have tried and dismissed). Nothing more, nothing less. What he lacks is the vision to know how to use those opportunities that actually come his way.

There are good and bad reasons to vote down a contract. A few of them, in my opinion are:

1. Because you have the leverage to do so - GOOD It provides momentum and direction when negotiations resume
2. To send management a message - BAD Makes you look emotional and if you are you can be fractured
3. Because you have unused leverage held in reserve - BAD You should have utilized it at the bargaining table
4. You think negotiations were wrapped up prematurely GOOD Except that you'll probably end up replacing negotiators
5. Voter apathy and a small group hijacking the vote BAD Do I really need to explain why?
6. A change in the negotiating environment GOOD and BAD It depends on how reliable the info regarding the change is
7. Unmet expectations on the part of the voters BAD and BAD If negotiators are out of touch when they start negotiating, nothing will get them back in touch

I don't think the FA's lost anything by voting it down, but merely going in for more of the same will only lead to slicing the same pie differently. Figure out where your side fell short in meeting reasnable expectations and then go back firmly ready to address those issues. Don't expect manegement to come along with a big lollypop to shove in your mouth to shut you up. They never have.

 

[MyrnaMinkoff]

Have you not been paying attention to the news? Activists are out there trying to determine what people can and cannot eat instead of letting people freely choose. They want to increase taxes on products they don't like or outright ban food choices that many of us grew up eating in this country. Here's just one story where a school determined that a lunch packed by a parent wasn't up to their standards.
Food Police
And what was in her lunch box? Well it was very harmful things like a turkey sandwich, a banana, potato chips and apple juice. Oh the horror of send a kid to school with a lunch like that!

BTW, I was born in Detroit and my favorite aunt lives there so thanks for sending me on vacation. Gee, I guess letting other people decide how I should live my life isn't so bad after all.

I do pay attention to the news, just not the obscure, isolated tidbits like your "food police" story, incidents always seized upon by the uber-paranoid right wing conspiracy theorists in an attempt to garner support for the idea that personal freedom is under assault, to distract from real truths, like the fact that regular working people are losing their tenuous grasp on a middle-class life. Death panels, Sharia law, communism and drive-thru abortion clinics will soon be the law of the land unless you and other like-minded patriots don't do something. Might I suggest relocating to Montana to start a militia group, I think it suits you. This is not about a turkey sandwich or a banana or apple juice (which, by the way, is laden with an inordinately high sugar content, and is a leading cause of bottle-rotted baby teeth in Appalachia. No worries, though, the forthcoming Ministry of Food Planning cabinet will tax the Mott's Corp. out of business!), and I think you really kind of understand that in your deep down heart-of-hearts. Hark! The plaintive hopefuls strains of a morning aubade rising from Whoville (or Charlotte, as the case may be.) Fah who foraze! Dah who doraze! Welcome Christmas, Come this way! Isn't it melting your Grinch-y heart a little?

 

[MyrnaMinkoff]

Have you not been paying attention to the news? Activists are out there trying to determine what people can and cannot eat instead of letting people freely choose. They want to increase taxes on products they don't like or outright ban food choices that many of us grew up eating in this country. Here's just one story where a school determined that a lunch packed by a parent wasn't up to their standards.
Food Police
And what was in her lunch box? Well it was very harmful things like a turkey sandwich, a banana, potato chips and apple juice. Oh the horror of send a kid to school with a lunch like that!

BTW, I was born in Detroit and my favorite aunt lives there so thanks for sending me on vacation. Gee, I guess letting other people decide how I should live my life isn't so bad after all.

I do pay attention to the news, just not the obscure, isolated tidbits like your "food police" story, incidents always seized upon by the uber-paranoid right wing conspiracy theorists in an attempt to garner support for the idea that personal freedom is under assault, to distract from real truths, like the fact that regular working people are losing their tenuous grasp on a middle-class life. Death panels, Sharia law, communism and drive-thru abortion clinics will soon be the law of the land unless you and other like-minded patriots do something. Might I suggest relocating to Montana to start a militia group, I think it suits you. This is not about a turkey sandwich or a banana or apple juice (which, by the way, is laden with an inordinately high sugar content, and is a leading cause of bottle-rotted baby teeth in Appalachia. No worries, though, the forthcoming Ministry of Food Planning cabinet will tax the Mott's Corp. out of business!), and I think you really kind of understand that in your deep down heart-of-hearts. Hark! The plaintive, hopeful strains of a morning aubade rising from Whoville (or Charlotte, as the case may be.) Fah who foraze! Dah who doraze! Welcome Christmas, Come this way! Isn't it melting your Grinch-y heart a little?

 

[PITbull]

Someone posed a real question - what about the contract did the FA's not like and what are the realistic changes that they would like to see for a future offer - and the whole damn thread gets highjacked into a pissing match.

It is no wonder I don't come to this site anymore - useless, pointless, mis-information. You people couldn't carryon an intelegent exchange of ideas if you tried. See ya in another couple years.

Well, if you learn how to spell "intelligent", maybe some would ponder YOUR comment

The f/as should NOT separate from the pilots. Keep the "me too" no matter what. The company wants this piece more than anything else. Don't let them have it. It protects you. You'll soon see how much they want this when they start throwing in the kitchen sink for it. If the company is looking for an AA partnership, it just can't happen with the "me too".

SparrowHawk is right. The PBS is something the company can control. Go back to the drawing Board or don't accept it.

 

[luvn737s]

SparrowHawk is right. The PBS is something the company can control. Go back to the drawing Board or don't accept it.

How much first-hand experience do you or SH have with PBS?

PBS only creates schedules within the boundaries of the contract. Even within that, it can only build schedules that can reliably be worked or 1)the system crashes when it's trying to build them and/or 2) scheduling runs out of reserves covering for too-tight schedules.

Don't fear PBS, fear a lousy contract.

Better yet, don't act out of fear.