Mike's Fired Up-US AFA LABOR THREAD

[N965VJ]

<SNIP> Also if you try to get out the folks for the crew session, DON'T do it here, do it on the down low so they don't cancel if they get wind of a large fired up crowd.

Good advice. Remember the thread last year when Sheri Shamblin was going to come to PHL?

Hey guuurl! “Something came upâ€￾ and she had to cancel.

 

[signals]

Lucky for me I don't have a clue about the airline industry 🙄 I also apologize that I don't have any business adding my two-cents to these union discussions.

From what I understand your paychecks were incorrect and were shorted of what was due you. Now a union blow-hard is flapping his mouth. Great! I wish you the best of luck.

Now this might not have anything to do with your screwed-up checks, but...

Sometimes in my industry the company shortens paychecks. Sometimes by error and sometimes on purpose. Why? Because that money stays in the bank and earns the company some major bucks which makes it worth screwing the little guy. Even if just for a week. You might not see it on an individual point of view, but think if it happens to every employee in the business?

I have gotten to the point that I accept , expect, and prepare for errors...although I hate the fact that when they do pay you you might fall in a different tax bracket, and pay higher in fed and state tax, especially with overtime.

to each their own :blink:

 

[FlightChic]

Has the company done anything with reserves and the contract- you know the one the majority of flight attendants voted for that is legally binding until Dec. 31, 2011? I love how this is all MF's fault, when we the membership voted in this contract. If memory serves right MF has approached the company many times asking for relief for reserves and the company will NOT budge on it. Why is all the hatred and anger piled onto him? If you want to say its the unions fault, your right because the union which is all of us dues paying members agreed to this and instead of standing together to support these negotiations to make improvements; everyone has drawn their line in the sand. Keep playing into the companies hand we will surely lose.

FYI-not a MF fan myself but blaming him for the company not willing to change anything for the reserves in our current contract is not placing blame where it belongs and is counter productive.

LadyEpaulette did not vote yes on the contract that the majority of flight attendants voted for. Do you want to know why reserves don't like MF? Because he doesn't care about us and does not listen to what we have to say. Instead he is very rude and condescending to us. Did you not read LadyEpaulette's post where he actually called her bitter to her face? That is very mean and childish! Furthermore, his idea of a much improved reserve system is not very good at all! You aren't a reserve so you wouldn't understand! Also, no one said that this contract is MF's fault!

 

[theFLYonthewall]

LadyEpaulette did not vote yes on the contract that the majority of flight attendants voted for. Do you want to know why reserves don't like MF? Because he doesn't care about us and does not listen to what we have to say. Instead he is very rude and condescending to us. Did you not read LadyEpaulette's post where he actually called her bitter to her face? That is very mean and childish! Furthermore, his idea of a much improved reserve system is not very good at all! You aren't a reserve so you wouldn't understand! Also, no one said that this contract is MF's fault!

I may not be a reserve currently in CLT, although I am only hanging onto a Secondary Line by a slim margin. However, Miss FlightChic I have spent more time on reserve with this company then you have been employed here. I was based in PIT up until June of 2005, where I spent almost 12 years as a reserve. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't speak to me as though I have never walked in your shoes. I worked as a reserve under the old seniority system. I worked as a reserve under the LTO system before there was ETB and after ETB. I didn't hold a line until my displacement to CLT, in fact I lost it shortly after going to CLT and then made the decision to move. I am fully aware and understand. I also will defend a reserve flight attendant to the death when speaking to other lineholders. Until you have been there, you have no idea what the reserves in this company are dealing with. When I post anything about being on reserve or the reserve system its from experience I am not shooting from the hip.

With that said, I cannot comment on how MF speaks to anyone. I do not know him well. The few times I have dealt with him I found him to be very professional. I am not a huge fan, however I do not necessarily buy into the fact that he has no concern for the reserves in this company. The fact that his hands are tired because of our contract doesn't mean he doesn't care. Why don't you call your local LECP and scream at them, they are the MEC council after all MF actually works for them. They are the ones that make decisions, when this contract is negotiated and finished they will be the ones to decide whether or not it is sent out for a vote, not MF. Get yourselves to a union meeting, educate yourselves on how this all works. If you turn your anger and frustration to the company where it belongs we as a collective group might have some leverage.

I apologize if this post sounds nasty, I do not like to come across this way. However I do not appreciate the being spoken to as though I have no idea what I am talking about.

 

[galley princess]

I routinely try to bring senior blockholders down to earth about why reserves are so unhappy. I usually make it pretty simple:

"How would you like it if as of today you no longer had a seniority number and I was now able to have preference over you? Well that's what happened to reserves. They lost their seniority."

At the same time, I really wish that reserves would face the facts. There is possible and impossible.

Possible: nothing right now. Not until 2011.

Impossible: changing the reserve system prior to a broader agreement. Not gonna happen.

Holding MF responsible for a contract that was shoved through using bankruptcy and liquidation as a weapon is ridiculous. Screaming at him because reserve is inhuman falls under the same heading.

How many reserves have quit since 2001? That might be an interesting number.

How many are at this moment pursuing economic independence while working at US? Also would be an interesting number.

There are things that are under your control and things that aren't. The only thing you truly can control is yourself.

Once again, I suggest that every F/A get their house in order and be ready for 2011. That you can control.

 

[BajaBabe]

😉 Be there or do not complain. Union Meeting on March 4,2009 .AFA Officers are calling every dues paying member. Come on guys lets try to show up we can not be too busy .Wonder why things never get done just look in the mirror .Do something that takes some sacrifice .I personally gave up an 8 hour trip Yes I am in a great situation as far as seniority but I did this when you never got paid.38 years and I never regret the participation.

 

[Travelpro72]

Speaking of reserves being abused. Those with catcrew access and a TRUE working knowledge of the reserve system and how scheduling covers trips should go and check it out. Do it for your fellow friend who may not know the ins and outs of the contract. I am almost POSITIVE through a friend that they called f/a's out of order. That damn bird didn't take off until almost 4am. Yes 4am. Your to be up all freakin' day hitting the enter button on option 18 if your relatively close to being called. So now at 1am your to get your rear to the airport and be all fresh and fancy faced? P!ss off. It's not right. Now as I said earlier, I'm not trying to draw a line between reserves and blockholders but if a blockholders contract was violated on a DAILY basis the way reserves are jagged around there would be HELL to pay. There is NO disputing THAT.

 

[Edward]

Bump for any AFA issues.

 

[Furloughd4now]

I haven't received a phone call 😛h34r: And don't pm me asking for a number, because I won't provide it. the union must have it

 

[cactusflyer]

Could someone post a brief synopsis of how east reserve works and why it is so horrible? Although I work on the west, I'm trying become knowledgeable on the east scheduling system and procedures. I know our reserves out here get abused quite a bit and I'm wondering if the abuse is along the same lines.

Thanks.

 

[Zarah]

Could someone post a brief synopsis of how east reserve works and why it is so horrible? Although I work on the west, I'm trying become knowledgeable on the east scheduling system and procedures. I know our reserves out here get abused quite a bit and I'm wondering if the abuse is along the same lines.

Thanks.

You can view the contract on the union website.

With Spring fast approaching my number one pet peeve is being on reserve for 24 hours and getting quick called to go overseas at 2 a.m. Not fun.

 

[galley princess]

I'm going to be REALLY brief, but here goes.

US' reserve system is based on LTO-Least Time Order. If you have 10 hours and I have 12, you get called first with whatever trips there are.

To understand its context it's important to understand that this was a complete 360' from what it used to be, which was first in, first out, or Seniority rules. Scheduling would call and you would pick, based on seniority. Now scheduling calls and you pick based on how many hours you don't have. Seniority used to mean something to reserves, now it basically allows you to choose from "what's the most inoffensive block" of days off and that's it.

The Duty day goes from midnight to midnight, which is also a change from 1500-1500. This becomes important because if you went off at 1500, theoretically you could commute home, now scheduling keeps you on a leash until midnight, shooting any hope of going home until morning. Future assignments (meaning tomorrow) still start at 1500 for reserves. If you don't get called, you're still on the hook for daily or if another future trip opens up at your LTO. Meaning if you have 5 hours and I have 6, you go and I wait. (BTW, I'm senior to you.) You stay on call for up to 6 days without any kind of release, unless you get a trip, come home and have rest. Then you go on a block of 2-4 days off and then the whole thing starts over again.

US East gets 11 days off per month. The rest of the month is unrelieved ON CALL, unless you actually get a trip. Keep in mind that the average hours during the winter for a reserve hovers around 30, so basically you live on tenterhooks for little pay and monotony. This becomes especially painful if you don't live in base, however, it is a punishing system even if you do.

EDITORIAL: NOT BRIEF.

EAST's system is a cobbled together network of left-overs from previous contracts. Valuable, but inefficient. LTO was the result of a huge concessionary contract post 9/11 and was ill-understood when it was voted in. IMHO, if US f/as had understood what they were voting for, they would never have done it, but there was a gun to our heads and frankly, no one realized what an awful system LTO was. To add insult to injury, the contract did not require the implementation of Preferential Bid, which was supposed to be used in conjunction with LTO, to mitigate its impact. US wanted the cost savings of LTO immediately, and implemented it unilaterally. At the same time, they refused to purchase the Preferential Bid system necessary to implement Pref Bid.

LTO is such a drastically inferior system to what used to exist that it is twice as painful as it would have been if you'd never experienced anything else. To make matters worse, US F/A s commute at a rate of 70%. LTO + commuting is a recipe for disaster.

There is much history involved in EAST's contract, undoubtedly it's all very confusing to WEST. The bottom line is EAST wants seniority back for reserves and LESS reserves. Reserves are about 20% of EAST f/a s and that is much higher than any other airline. Throw in the reduced winter flying, and more flight attendants end up on reserve. CA, a union scheduler (meaning she helps write the blocks) tries to chew up as much open time as possible making secondary blocks but she can only do so much.

Reserve was never fun, but you used to have flight attendants come into their base, fly their kiesters off the first 15 days and go home. It was left to the junior to finish out the month. The company didn't like this, because the top 10% of reserves got their time in, i.e. 85 hours and the bottom got about 20 hours. Now no one gets 85 hours, and everybody gets about 40 so it's cheaper for the company.

Try going back about 50 pages of this site and you'll start seeing a lot of posts about EAST reserve. There was quite a lot of discussion for a while and you would see some of the reality of the system. The discussion was more interesting before it was clustered under "AFA thread", but that was just being fair to the other groups.

 

[Travelpro72]

How about that latest crew news session huh? I believe we have some ticked off union folk. The delivery from both union heads was a bit heated to say the least. I think management is sensing the end result of playing hardball. I think the union should slide the business card across the table to the company negotiators and say, "Give us a call when you decide you want to get serious". If they don't wanna negotiate fair let the contract run to 2011 and get the ball in motion. I'd rather work under this agreement then blow time and money on trying to negotiate a contract with a negotiating team that is going OUT OF THEIR WAY to be difficult. No thanks. Blow it out your diddy bag and up yours.

 

[john john]

If they don't wanna negotiate fair let the contract run to 2011 and get the ball in motion. I'd rather work under this agreement then blow time and money on trying to negotiate a contract with a negotiating team that is going OUT OF THEIR WAY to be difficult. No thanks. Blow it out your diddy bag and up yours.

The longer harder you negotiate the better chances of the RLA running its course

 

[NoMoreKoolAid]

Ok just watched the Crew News. Is Doug Parker a goober without a clue or what? You didn't know the scheduling section was going back and forth? By far one of the most important sections to the Flight Attendant contract! 😱 That in itself shows how committed you are Doug. Blow off! You had your balls handed to you in the meeting by Lisa and Mike and you came off looking like a looser fool without a clue with a bout of the giggles. The applause in the crowd shows that! Which, sums you up.
You need to go like yesterday. Slob.