It's Official- Dol Says Install Thb!

RogerRoger

Member
Mar 16, 2004
17
0
US Department of Labor
Employment Standards Administration
Office of Labor-Management Standards
Washington, DC 20210

August 17, 2004

John Ward, President
Association of Professional Flight Attendants
1004 W. Euless Blvd.
Euless, TX 76040

Dear Mr. Ward:

Pursuant to the authority of Section 601 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA), and receipt of election complaints, the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) conducted an investigation of the March 12, 2004, runoff election for officers of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA).

On July 13, 2004, OLMS District Director Kermit Perkins notified you of the OLMS investigative findings into the complaints filed by Sherry Cooper and Tommie Hutto-Blake. Specifically, OLMS concluded that 16 eligible members were denied the right to vote in violation of Section 401(e) of the LMRDA when their ballots were not counted in the March 12, 2004 runoff election.

Since the margin of victory for President was 5 votes, OLMS concluded that the union's failure to count the 16 ballots may have affected the outcome of the March 12, 2004 runoff election for president. On August 12, 2004, OLMS opened and counted the 16 challenged ballots in the presence of candidate observers. When OLMS added the 16 votes to the March 12, 2004 tally, the revised election results showed that candidate Tommie Hutto-Blake received 7 more votes than candidate John Ward.

With regard to the election complaints filed by Ted Bedwell, Juan Johnson, and Linda Lanning, the OLMS investigation found no violations that may have affected the runoff election outcome. In the near future, OLMS will issue its statement of reasons for dismissing these complaints, and provide a copy to APFA.

Based on these additional findings, it is the OLMS position that APFA should immediately install candidate Tommie Hutto-Blake to the position of APFA president. APFA's voluntary installation of Ms. Hutto-Blake to president for the remainder of the term will remedy the violations of Section 401(e) that occurred during the runoff election.

OLMS understands that the APFA Board of Directors is convening on August 25. We, therefore, request that any information concerning action contemplated by APFA to recognize the results of the August 12 ballot count, or otherwise address these findings, be provided to this office on or before August 26. OLMS will defer a final decision on enforcement until that time so that we may consider APFA's response. If OLMS does not receive a response from APFA by August 26, the Department will refer this matter for enforcement proceedings.

We appreciate the union's continued cooperation in this matter. Thank you.


Sincerely,

John H. Heaney
Chief, Division of Enforcement

cc: Steven Moldorf, APFA Counsel
Greg Hildreth, APFA Secretary
 
And please note that the charges filed by Ward Johnson and Lanning had NO MERIT and have been thrown out!
 
And if APFA does nothing, DOL will start enforcement proceedings. It seems apparant DOL is tired of certain members of APFA stalling. May this be good news for all.
 
L1011Ret said:
And if APFA does nothing, DOL will start enforcement proceedings. It seems apparant DOL is tired of certain members of APFA stalling. May this be good news for all.
[post="170129"][/post]​


So does Tommy take office immediately or the 25th?
 
Someone, PLEASE, post a photo of John Ward on his first day back at work flying as a flight attendent.
 
RogerRoger said:
And please note that the charges filed by Ward Johnson and Lanning had NO MERIT and have been thrown out!
[post="170114"][/post]​
Excellent news. Now we can move forward with out the baggage we have been carring. Best of all jw now has to work under te same pay and work rules a the rest of us.
 
jsn25911 said:
So does Tommy take office immediately or the 25th?
[post="170134"][/post]​
The way I read it the DOL is giving APFA the chance to set things right at the meeting on the 25th. If they do not, enforcement proceedings will start.

I seriously doubt Ward will find a way out of this other than graciously stepping down. Or ungraciously stepping down.

Now let's get on with it.

MK
 
FA Mikey said:
Excellent news. Now we can move forward with out the baggage we have been carring. Best of all jw now has to work under te same pay and work rules a the rest of us.
[post="170136"][/post]​


Not only that - he loses a minimum of 50 thousand a year. I do believe in Karma - If John acted like a union leader - it may have saved him a LOT OF MONEY! Plus you don't Pi** off the people that can have you removed from office.
 
FA Mikey said:
Excellent news. Now we can move forward with out the baggage we have been carring. Best of all jw now has to work under te same pay and work rules a the rest of us.
[post="170136"][/post]​

Do you really think that JW will go back to DFW and try to pay for that house (reported to cost $300,000) on the maybe $45,000/yr he can make by flying his butt off in AA domestic? If there is not a job waiting for him at Centerport, then I think he will seek employment in the wider job market.

Hey, think positive thoughts. Maybe he could replace Loraine Mase-Hecker as the company's negotiator. I mean, he's so good at it and all. :p
 
jimntx said:
Do you really think that JW will go back to DFW and try to pay for that house (reported to cost $300,000) on the maybe $45,000/yr he can make by flying his butt off in AA domestic? If there is not a job waiting for him at Centerport, then I think he will seek employment in the wider job market.

Hey, think positive thoughts. Maybe he could replace Loraine Mase-Hecker as the company's negotiator. I mean, he's so good at it and all. :p
[post="170145"][/post]​
Would that not the greatest thing! We would in 24 hours of negotiations we would be the best paid flight attendants in the world. Too bad for us AA doesnt hire that many chumps. Although Mary francis Fagan comes to mind. Some of the things that come from her mouth astound me. How she maintains employment is amazing.
 
John Ward - Maybe you can qualify for some type of retraining money - cause you suck at union work!
 
Wow this is great, but does anyone know, the coordinators like, helath hotels, contract, do they get replaced by THB or do they maintain their positions?
The reason I ask is I received an e-mail from one of them recently that said Ward was the best thing to ever happen to this union. Can't see how she will work well with THB.
 
AAStew said:
Wow this is great, but does anyone know, the coordinators like, helath hotels, contract, do they get replaced by THB or do they maintain their positions?
The reason I ask is I received an e-mail from one of them recently that said Ward was the best thing to ever happen to this union. Can't see how she will work well with THB.
[post="170155"][/post]​
Please refer this person to the EAP. This one might even give Betty Ford a run for her money. Liz, no problem Liza, easy as pie. A delusional ward supporter? I just don't know that there is help for that.
 
Hey, everybody!!!! Go to the APFA website. They have posted the DOL. Funny thing is, from the look of the reproduction, it looks like someone wadded it up and then tried to straighten it back out again. :shock:

I wonder how that happened???? :lol:
 
With JW gone, this just leaves Leslie Mayo as the top earner at APFA. If you want to make money, don't be an officer, be a division rep. She has cleaned up from it.