NWA Flight Attendants Vote in AFA as New Representation

[PITbull]

America West MEC Council 66 PHX just posted that NWA flight attendants just voted in AFA as their new union representation.

I wonder what this could mean if there is another merger with USAirways? Seniority issues again?

How many f/as are there at NWA?

 

[flyguy121]

America West MEC Council 66 PHX just posted that NWA flight attendants just voted in AFA as their new union representation.

I wonder what this could mean if there is another merger with USAirways? Seniority issues again?

How many f/as are there at NWA?

That's the point of this thread I started earlier:

Seniority Integration

 

[USCREW]

America West MEC Council 66 PHX just posted that NWA flight attendants just voted in AFA as their new union representation.

I wonder what this could mean if there is another merger with USAirways? Seniority issues again?

How many f/as are there at NWA?

I don't think there will be seniority issues again, thankfully due to the recent issue with HP. DOH will be upheld with AFA, but I can't imagine all the other problems...NW has had horrible labor relations for so long! Our world is Utopia compared to theirs.

 

[roadtrip]

Attention IAM members and former TWU's

Wow I guess that blows the idea that if theres a union vote you lose your union! Way to go AFA!


No guts no glory!

They had alot of guts. Something the IAM fleet will never know!

Oh yeah by the way "Don't let the facts get in the way"!

 

[Dilligas]

Suppose the AFA came back to NWA and said, "We'll accept the current HP/US contract if NWA agrees to a merger with US, otherwise we walk". If AFA did that the Cohenistas would have little choice but to bargain in good faith and cut a fair deal OR likely be out of work when US merges and boots the Management team at NWA. So for AFA it's heads I win tails you lose.

Wouldn't work in BK, all power is with the BK judge and the company holds the trump card. They just take a page out of US's book, have the contract abrogated by the judge, throw out a POS for the frightened masses to "consider" and laugh all the way to the bank to cash their bonus checks for breaking organized labor.

Most likely, the voting in of AFA has to do with preserving their seniority when the company merges, in case it's with another AFA carrier. DOH rules with AFA mergers.

NW will be merged or not when the money men choose to, the AFA, like all airline unions, is quite impotent during the BK process to influence the timing or outcome. Judging by what happened with the amfa strike, I doubt another union at NW will walk the plank.

 

[roadtrip]

CHAOS is and has been a very effective stike tactic used by AFA so I believe if the FA's play hard ball this is the card they will use. It will drive NWA mgt nuts!

Go get them AFA

Create
Havoc
Around
our
System

 

[openview]

Chaos does nothing but inconvenience the paying passenger and the other employees in the company.

If the issues are worthy and tangible stand by it and have the "stones" to strike outright or live with it.

 

[hp_fa]

Chaos does nothing but inconvenience the paying passenger and the other employees in the company.

If the issues are worthy and tangible stand by it and have the "stones" to strike outright or live with it.

A regular strike would also inconvenience the paying passenger.

Think about the times that airline unions have come close to striking. A PR war breaks out between the management and labor in the media. The company has professional PR folks doing it's chatting. The union has some of it's members who have been trained to deal with the media but, let's face it, they are merely members of the union doing a task that is not their day-to-day job and don't have as many media members names and addresses on their Rolodex.

Whenever a pilots' or FA's union is about to strike, the same old half-truths come out of the company. They point out that pilots only work a maximum of 80 hours a month and average 50-65 hours. Why do they say this? Because the average reader (or listener) compares that amount of time to their job where they work 160 hours a month and then conclude that crew members have a very easy schedule and don't deserve the raise, benefit or whatever else is being negotiated. The company fails to point out that the hours worked are block hours and don't include the time away from base that are in a hotel, or at an airport waiting for the next flight, etc.

CHAOS(tm) (a legal trademark of the Association of Flight Attendants) is a way to level the playing field. It does not, on it's own, close the airline. It forces the company to settle (or negotiate in good faith), live with the disruption caused by CHAOS(tm), or shut down the airline. It tries to take away the PR claim that the employees shut down the airline. If implimented it also does not cause the whole FA force to be payless for the entire duration of the action.

It's unfortunate that the passengers are a pawn in the process, but the same bad things happen to consumers at any other business where workers feel compelled to choose not to work rather then agree to whatever proposals they deem unacceptable to continue working.

 

[openview]

A regular strike would also inconvenience the paying passenger.

But then at least the paying passenger has an option to support the strike and a somewhat better probability of knowing whether the airline may be operating or not.

 

[roadtrip]

Chaos does nothing but inconvenience the paying passenger and the other employees in the company.

If the issues are worthy and tangible stand by it and have the "stones" to strike outright or live with it.

Excuse me but CHAOS is an effective tool for AFA and the stones you talk about are for idoits of other unions who all walk out same time.
This makes it easy for the company to use replacement workers. With AFAs CHAOS its the use of selective stikes which puts extreme pressure on Managment to come to the table with a contract offering thats not a rail road pyle of sh*t!

If its an incovenience to the passengers then management is getting the message and should get there ass to the table and work out a deal!

 

[desertgal]

PineyBob, two points to your post:
A CHAOS action should not actually 'doom' the airline unless they should already be dead anyway.
That is one of the beauties of the strategy.

and

There is no current US/HP contract for them to accept, and prob won't be for quite awhile.
You may seem some CHAOS here before that is done.

 

[PITbull]

NW will be merged or not when the money men choose to, the AFA, like all airline unions, is quite impotent during the BK process to influence the timing or outcome. Judging by what happened with the amfa strike, I doubt another union at NW will walk the plank.

Dilligas,

I have to agree 100%, been there, done that; seen that.