PHL Flight Attendant Meeting

[FlightChic]

Did anybody here attend the Flight Attendant AFA meeting in PHL yesterday? If so, what happened?

 

[US1YFARE]

Apparently not. But people will still complain even though they don't participate.

 

[N965VJ]

Didn’t ‘cha hear?

All the PITheads had to make their commute home and couldn’t attend.

 

[US1YFARE]

Don't get me started. If they hadn't murdered the PIT hub, things may be a little brighter today and perhaps UA woudn't have walked away from the merger discussions. Now, with the cuts at PIT and the lack of service between PHL and PIT, commuters can sit around all day trying to get home after working those grueling hours on the transatlantic slaveships. Putting the exhaustion that has set in aside, with gas over $4/gallon, unless you are in a large carpool and driving one of those hybrids, you can't afford to drive back and forth. Tempe should be ashamed of how they've treated those gals who built this airline.

 

[aredeeyou22]

Don't get me started. If they hadn't murdered the PIT hub, things may be a little brighter today and perhaps UA woudn't have walked away from the merger discussions. Now, with the cuts at PIT and the lack of service between PHL and PIT, commuters can sit around all day trying to get home after working those grueling hours on the transatlantic slaveships. Putting the exhaustion that has set in aside, with gas over $4/gallon, unless you are in a large carpool and driving one of those hybrids, you can't afford to drive back and forth. Tempe should be ashamed of how they've treated those gals who built this airline.

Oh, please. Like PIT is the first base to "murdered", guuurl. And those "grueling transatlantic slaveships?" How doooo they do it?

Such drama..... I do not remember all of the heartfelt sympathy when LAX/SFO/BWI closed, and they didn't even have WN to sail into PHL on for free!
🙄

 

[lildutchgrl]

I didn't hear of anyone attending the meeting. Most of my friends were working, seeing as though they had the meeting following a holiday weekend when all the reserves had to fly. As for PIT, I am so tired of hearing about the complaining. No one was doing me any special favors when I was booted out of BWI with nothing to commute on. Everyone just assumed I would have no problems with the 2 hour drive without traffic. On reserve, that sucks. Anyway, I doubt there was much of a turnout for the meeting, bad timing I guess.

 

[songbirdstew]

Hmmm...back to the meeting....I couldn't attend but I do have a question that bothers me.
The recent Council 70 newsletter published the PHL officers FPL for the past few months ...

AFA Pay:
At our April meeting, a motion was made that it be reported what your local council officers earn in flight pay hours each month.

Here's the breakdown:
-- John McCorkle, LEC President: April 68 hours; May 104 hours; June 79 hours
-- Grace Jones, LEC VP: April 80 hours; May 80 hours; June 90 hours
-- Dan Sampey, LEC Sec: April 55 hours; May 50 hours; June 75 hours

There are a few things you should know: first, our hours are reduced during the months we have vacation. Also, when I attend a CWA convention or AFA board of directors meeting, or an MEC meeting, those hours do not come from the local budget. Also, all local councils receive company-paid flight pay loss to offset the local budget. And most importantly, these hours you see above represent less than half of the actual time we all spend conducting AFA business each day. (end of quote from JM's newsletter)


However, does anyone know what other expenses they are claiming?? What about mileage to/from their commuter places?? What about per diem? When I did union work back in the late 80's, one of the reasons I resigned was because they wanted me to claim the maximum per diem for each meal for the day I was doing grievances. I was told I had to claim the max in order to keep the budget high so we got our share of money from AFA National. At that time, breakfast was a claim of $7, lunch was $12 and dinner was somewhere around $21. I'm sure 20 years later those numbers have increased. Should we be asking our union officials what they are claiming. We had a previous sec/treas. (sorry can't remember the name) who claimed babysitting when she worked in the office and had to leave her kid at home.
I was working on the 7th when the PHL meeting was but perhaps this is a question that we should have answered. Just how much TOTAL are they getting and what is the justification....and before someone posts on here that I should stop attacking the PHL office, I think this is information that this should apply to EVERY base. I'm glad someone at the April meeting said they wanted this made available for the membership but I think we should know it ALL.

 

[PHLfa88]

Hmmm...back to the meeting....I couldn't attend but I do have a question that bothers me.
The recent Council 70 newsletter published the PHL officers FPL for the past few months ...

AFA Pay:
At our April meeting, a motion was made that it be reported what your local council officers earn in flight pay hours each month.

Here's the breakdown:
-- John McCorkle, LEC President: April 68 hours; May 104 hours; June 79 hours
-- Grace Jones, LEC VP: April 80 hours; May 80 hours; June 90 hours
-- Dan Sampey, LEC Sec: April 55 hours; May 50 hours; June 75 hours

There are a few things you should know: first, our hours are reduced during the months we have vacation. Also, when I attend a CWA convention or AFA board of directors meeting, or an MEC meeting, those hours do not come from the local budget. Also, all local councils receive company-paid flight pay loss to offset the local budget. And most importantly, these hours you see above represent less than half of the actual time we all spend conducting AFA business each day. (end of quote from JM's newsletter)


However, does anyone know what other expenses they are claiming?? What about mileage to/from their commuter places?? What about per diem? When I did union work back in the late 80's, one of the reasons I resigned was because they wanted me to claim the maximum per diem for each meal for the day I was doing grievances. I was told I had to claim the max in order to keep the budget high so we got our share of money from AFA National. At that time, breakfast was a claim of $7, lunch was $12 and dinner was somewhere around $21. I'm sure 20 years later those numbers have increased. Should we be asking our union officials what they are claiming. We had a previous sec/treas. (sorry can't remember the name) who claimed babysitting when she worked in the office and had to leave her kid at home.
I was working on the 7th when the PHL meeting was but perhaps this is a question that we should have answered. Just how much TOTAL are they getting and what is the justification....and before someone posts on here that I should stop attacking the PHL office, I think this is information that this should apply to EVERY base. I'm glad someone at the April meeting said they wanted this made available for the membership but I think we should know it ALL.

Come On Already! This was already beat so hard with a stick a few months ago..LET GO!! :mf_boff:

 

[N965VJ]

You don’t care about how your dues are spent?

 

[songbirdstew]

Come On Already! This was already beat so hard with a stick a few months ago..LET GO!! :mf_boff:

No, actually the fact that JM flies ETB time while collecting as if he was grandfathered in on the 105 clause was beaten a few months back...THAT is what led to the fact that the LEC officers are now disclosing how many hours of flight pay loss they are claiming. His including that in his newsletter is a direct result of that fiasco.

Not a lot of people are actually aware of the amount of per diem that a union official can claim...and from what I have seen, claim it they do and it amounts to a nice chunk of change. If they are claiming the maximum amount of---let's just say $40 bucks a day multiplied by their 20 days in the office, that's $800 per month in per diem that most of the membership has no idea about. When you multiply that times 12 months, you come up with almost 10K that members are not aware their leaders are making. I don't know about you PHLfa88, but gas is probably just as expensive in ATL as it is where I live and it's getting harder and harder to swallow paying my union dues when there may be abuse taking place.

 

[HPearlyretiree]

Don't get me started. If they hadn't murdered the PIT hub, things may be a little brighter today and perhaps UA woudn't have walked away from the merger discussions. Now, with the cuts at PIT and the lack of service between PHL and PIT, commuters can sit around all day trying to get home after working those grueling hours on the transatlantic slaveships. Putting the exhaustion that has set in aside, with gas over $4/gallon, unless you are in a large carpool and driving one of those hybrids, you can't afford to drive back and forth. Tempe should be ashamed of how they've treated those gals who built this airline.

Oh, yes, PIT is utopia, its Shangri-La. Its heaven on earth. Its the place where any airline can make money in any market (though none have tried).

PIT is gone, get over it.

 

[BajaBabe]

I was at the meeting and it was attended by about 12 or more people.
Discussion--John read about the latest VF and the reason that he wanted it to be Base specific and I truly felt that although there would have been the danger of rewriting the Seniority at all cost it could have been a little poke in the Dam.Doing business the old way safe or taking a chance at Base specific and getting all the perks . $15,000 for 10 months for a Family Plan in Insurance refer to the back of your contract for current Medical Cobra costs. Doing business the old way you just go with System seniority l so there will be Bump and Flush if they do not get flight attendants out of the Bases of Philadelphia and Charlotte.This will result in the newly recalled employees to be bumped or furloughed again. John did not have the ability to Roll Call because there was not any other Base to support him. He really was saying in a
nut shell you all need to reach out and know who you are putting in office. The MEC takes orders from the LEC so make your vote count CALL and let the other LEC'S know whether you agree or disagree. John was very open and candid I really enjoyed that the meeting was about our work nothing was about Political
Posturing. The rest of the meeting was taken up with the Agenda items that were submitted to the BOD.
Mike Flores then discussed the venture of selling the beverages that was an interesting discussion I can only imagine the Grief that our passengers will be facing along with the Flight Attendants. Mike talked as did John about the changing of the Leadership in the West. There is one agenda item that I will discuss it regards the approval of our Contract the West has submitted an agenda item that would state that if the West disapproved of a negotiated contract and the entire East approved of it ,they singlehandedly could Turn it DOWN. Mike stated that all along the Contract is clipping along and although there are still plenty of Open Issues they have truly made a lot of headway. Look at the AFA board to see the headway that has been made.
Flight Pay Loss --big discussion when you consider that a smaller Base with anywhere from 95-to 125 members get 85 ish hours and the Philadelphia and Charlotte get 105 ish. The problem here is that the work load is not distributed evenly and well not to bore all of you this somehow needs to be straightened out . Let get off that subject.!!!!!!!
Paul Friskorn then discussed the Health Plan that was sent to all the Employees. I will give you my spin on it you can sign up for futher information and you will waive the prequalifier so it can not hurt. It does not do what we all need we need an Aflac type Plan to bridge the medical issues that happen to flight attendants and literally leave them bankrupt financially and mentally.We also encorage all of you to contact your representatives to promote FMLA. The Union will also be meeting with the Company to futher knowledge on the Overpayments of OJI this is the last thing an employee needs to come back to work and owe the company thousands of dollars. It is really a hardship. This information is just that if I have misrepresented anythhing it was never to cause harm to the elected Officers. Go get them Tigers........................PSS Omar did review legalitys and she mentioned that the Local office is intent and will help Flight Attendant get Claims processed

 

[flybynite]

What is with the west coming up with that agenda item? Are they not familiar with majority rule??

That sounds like a snarky idea from their pilots.

 

[songbirdstew]

You don’t care about how your dues are spent?

For anyone that cares how their dues are spent, you might find this latest BOS E-Line from Lynn Carmello very interesting........


In this Issue of the Boston News-Line July 7, 2008


Board of Directors Meeting date/reminder - Proposed budget figures fiscal 2008/2009 - USA East Councils

Dear Members,


Board of Directors Meeting date/reminder - Proposed budget figures fiscal 2008/2009 - USA East Councils

Just a reminder - The AFA Board of Directors meeting will be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 8th / 9th/ 10th followed by the U S Airways MEC meetings same location on the 11th /12th and 13th .

This summer date chosen will be a one time date for the Board of Directors meeting as it is due to aligning with the CWA fiscal year. The Board of Directors' meetings have always been held in the fall. In 2009, the B O D meetings will begin to be held sometime in the spring and will remain as such as it allows budget review/approval prior to the close of the fiscal year which is May 31st.

The AFA proposed budget for the USA East Local councils for 2008/2009 fiscal year is the following:

USA 41/DCA - 408 members - $39,474.00
USA 69/BOS - 208 members - $20,124.00
USA 70/PHL - 2154 members - $208,400.00
USA 82/LGA - 179 members - $17,318.00
USA 89/CLT - 1615 members - $156,251.00

These totals will fluctuate due to membership movement as these funds are generated from a percentage of a members' dues or approximately $8.06 per member - just as an example PHL generally is staffed higher for the seasonal flying in the summer - therefore the $208,400.00 could be reduced by a few thousand dollars in the fall. These funds are used to operate each prospective council.

These proposed totals in the 2008/2009 fiscal year budget, again are generated from membership dues and are in addition to the negotiated union flight pay loss pursuant to Section 26 J. of the USA Flight Attendant Agreement.

USA East Union flight pay loss is divided by the now five councils and these allocations are determined by a majority vote of the voting members of the MEC or each LEC President

Council Allocated F P L +PROPOSED 08/09 BUDGET
USA 41/DCA 94 HOURS + $39,474.00
USA 69/BOS 73 HOURS + $20,124.00
USA 70/PHL 120 HOURS + $208,400.00
USA 82/LGA 72 HOURS + $17,318.00
USA 89/CLT 116 HOURS + $156,251.00

Additional background:

Negotiated flight pay loss is common place with other carriers as well. As an example United Airlines - each council at United is allocated an equal amount of flight pay loss regardless of base size. As an example: UAL 8/ORD has 3,418 members with a 08/09 proposed budget of $330,692.00 and is allocated approximately 85 hours of negotiated flight pay loss. UAL/14 HNL has 193 members with a 08/09 proposed budget of $18,673.00 and is allocated approximately 85 hours of negotiated flight pay loss.

The history behind an AFA union negotiating for flight pay loss was to assist a smaller council/base as the percentage of dues provided back to the council is determined on membership size and because of this it was difficult for a smaller base to offer some of the same union services. FPL is a separate entity and is not part of a proposed AFA-CWA budget.

Some of the history of FPL allocation decisions at USA had been based on no council receiving anything higher than the highest credited flight time flown by any flight attendant flying a 'line of time' allowable - which today is 105 credited time for those grandfathered into the high flying option as of May 2006 pursuant to Section 10 and Letter 35 of the USA Flight Attendant Agreement. All AFA FPL is considered credited time unlike time flown via the Electronic Trade Board.

No current elected officer at Council 69 is grandfathered into 105 pursuant to Section 10/Letter 35 of the USA Flight Attendant Agreement.

Should you need assistance during these upcoming meeting dates, please leave a detailed message on the Local council mobile line/ local office number and your call will be returned as soon as possible. Please remain cognizant of the slight time difference.

Lynne Caramello
LECP/BOS

 

[sharonstoneseat]

What is with the west coming up with that agenda item? Are they not familiar with majority rule??

That sounds like a snarky idea from their pilots.

No sadly enough they keep coming up with this on their own. This will be the third time that they have gone to the BOD with this, they have been turned down twice already but seem to think that they can resurrect AWA with this.

It is not supported by the membership in general, most of us like them to spend their time getting us to a contract and pay parity but they spend all of their time on this and the the non- rev, buddy pass issues.

They seem to think that the East will come up with a contract that will be worse than what they have. Not possible and they don't understand that even as we speak the East contract improves each year (even vacation) because of how it was written and their's stays miserably the same.

This does not give most of us here much confidence that the union leadership sees the company and the industry as it is today or has any desire to serve more that the top echelon here that benefitted from a contract that is skewed and stagnant.

The majority of the F/A's here want unity with the East and the opportunities that will come with it.