Its not over till the fat lady sings...
AFA 66 --->
PLEASE WATCH FOR A SPECIAL EMAIL UPDATE FROM AFA ON WEDNESDAY REGARDING USAIRWAYS MANAGEMENT'S VIOLATATION OF THE AFA CONTRACT BY DIMINISHING OUR PASS-TRAVEL LANGUAGE AND BENEFITS.
AFA IS CALLING ON YOUR SUPPORT NOW!
Pass Travel Change Announced
"The current Company policy as it relates to flight attendants and their eligible dependants shall not be reduced or discontinued during the life of the agreement" -Section 27-Q-2 of the AWA/AFA Collective Bargaining Agreement
During Section 6 negotiations, management proposed to rewrite Section 27-Q-2 of the agreement, in order to eliminate their legal obligation of maintaining a benchmark level of pass benefits and change it to one that gave them the unilateral ability to alter the pass travel policy at the company’s discretion. AFA negotiators stood firm and would not accept any proposals that reduced or diminished the benefits associated with pass travel.
Yesterday, management altered the company's pass policy and change the policy to a mish-mashed, ill-conceived, and reduced policy that is a violation of our collective bargaining agreement.
It does not matter how you stand on the issue of First Come-First Serve or Date-of-Hire for non revenue pass travel, the issue is simply this; the company has chosen to ignore the status quo and violate a section of our contract. And to rub salt in the wound, they didn't even have the common decency of informing the unions, prior to yesterday's announcement, of their decision.
In a conference call yesterday afternoon with AFA International President Pat Friend and Associate General Councel Ed Gilmartin; MEC President Gary Richardson discussed management's actions and belief that by taking a unilateral approach - outside negotiations -, the Company has altered the status quo working conditions of the flight attendants and is in violation of Section 2, First and Seventh and Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act ("RLA").
AFA will continue to evaluate and pursue any and all course of action necessary to compel management to comply with the terms and conditions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
US AIRWAYS AFA
NON REV BOARDING METHOD
During yesterday's State of the Airline presentation Doug Parker revealed the Company had made the decision regarding Date of Hire vs. First Come First Serve for non revenue boarding. Although the new policy is weighted toward seniority, the policy is, in effect, a hybrid version of both of the former policies.
The new policy is based on YEAR of hire rather than true date of hire.
The Company will be switching from SABRE to the former America West SHARES reservation system on March 3, 2007. The new policy will take effect on that date as well.
The SHARES system will sort non revenue boarding in the following manner:
First - Priority Code (SA1, SA2, SA3, etc)
Then - Within each Priority Code by the YEAR of Hire
Then - By time of check-in if there was more than one employee with the same year of hire on the list
In other words, time of check-in breaks the tie if more than one employee with the same year of hire is listed for a flight.
The policy allows for check-in twelve 12 hours prior to departure on the hub or four (4) prior to departure at an airport.
The Company states the reason the decision was made to use the year of hire instead of the exact hire date is because the SHARES system does not have the ability to recognize more than two digits. The Company states it would cost $300,000 to program the system to recognize more than two digits. I am assuming it can recognize the one digit I am currently displaying.
THIS METHOD PLACES FLIGHT ATTENDANTS WORKING A TRIP ON AN UNEVEN PLAYING FIELD.
Flight Attendants who are on trips may not have the ability to check-in via either method until the completion of their trip.
The new policy places the Flight Attendants at a competitive disadvantage to other workgroups if check-in time determines boarding order.
The Union will be reviewing the policy with AFA attorneys.
Thank you,
Mike Flores, President
US Airways Master Executive Council
AFA-CWA
AFA 66 --->
PLEASE WATCH FOR A SPECIAL EMAIL UPDATE FROM AFA ON WEDNESDAY REGARDING USAIRWAYS MANAGEMENT'S VIOLATATION OF THE AFA CONTRACT BY DIMINISHING OUR PASS-TRAVEL LANGUAGE AND BENEFITS.
AFA IS CALLING ON YOUR SUPPORT NOW!
Pass Travel Change Announced
"The current Company policy as it relates to flight attendants and their eligible dependants shall not be reduced or discontinued during the life of the agreement" -Section 27-Q-2 of the AWA/AFA Collective Bargaining Agreement
During Section 6 negotiations, management proposed to rewrite Section 27-Q-2 of the agreement, in order to eliminate their legal obligation of maintaining a benchmark level of pass benefits and change it to one that gave them the unilateral ability to alter the pass travel policy at the company’s discretion. AFA negotiators stood firm and would not accept any proposals that reduced or diminished the benefits associated with pass travel.
Yesterday, management altered the company's pass policy and change the policy to a mish-mashed, ill-conceived, and reduced policy that is a violation of our collective bargaining agreement.
It does not matter how you stand on the issue of First Come-First Serve or Date-of-Hire for non revenue pass travel, the issue is simply this; the company has chosen to ignore the status quo and violate a section of our contract. And to rub salt in the wound, they didn't even have the common decency of informing the unions, prior to yesterday's announcement, of their decision.
In a conference call yesterday afternoon with AFA International President Pat Friend and Associate General Councel Ed Gilmartin; MEC President Gary Richardson discussed management's actions and belief that by taking a unilateral approach - outside negotiations -, the Company has altered the status quo working conditions of the flight attendants and is in violation of Section 2, First and Seventh and Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act ("RLA").
AFA will continue to evaluate and pursue any and all course of action necessary to compel management to comply with the terms and conditions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
US AIRWAYS AFA
NON REV BOARDING METHOD
During yesterday's State of the Airline presentation Doug Parker revealed the Company had made the decision regarding Date of Hire vs. First Come First Serve for non revenue boarding. Although the new policy is weighted toward seniority, the policy is, in effect, a hybrid version of both of the former policies.
The new policy is based on YEAR of hire rather than true date of hire.
The Company will be switching from SABRE to the former America West SHARES reservation system on March 3, 2007. The new policy will take effect on that date as well.
The SHARES system will sort non revenue boarding in the following manner:
First - Priority Code (SA1, SA2, SA3, etc)
Then - Within each Priority Code by the YEAR of Hire
Then - By time of check-in if there was more than one employee with the same year of hire on the list
In other words, time of check-in breaks the tie if more than one employee with the same year of hire is listed for a flight.
The policy allows for check-in twelve 12 hours prior to departure on the hub or four (4) prior to departure at an airport.
The Company states the reason the decision was made to use the year of hire instead of the exact hire date is because the SHARES system does not have the ability to recognize more than two digits. The Company states it would cost $300,000 to program the system to recognize more than two digits. I am assuming it can recognize the one digit I am currently displaying.
THIS METHOD PLACES FLIGHT ATTENDANTS WORKING A TRIP ON AN UNEVEN PLAYING FIELD.
Flight Attendants who are on trips may not have the ability to check-in via either method until the completion of their trip.
The new policy places the Flight Attendants at a competitive disadvantage to other workgroups if check-in time determines boarding order.
The Union will be reviewing the policy with AFA attorneys.
Thank you,
Mike Flores, President
US Airways Master Executive Council
AFA-CWA
