Dear Colleagues:
The NEWAPFA Slate is committed to to getting our money back—that is why this group was formed in 2003, and that is why it still exists today. As a named plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the validity of the 2003 Restructuring Participation Agreement (RPA), I have been fighting for the APFA membership for the last four years in an effort to restore our pay, benefits and work rules. Though this is a big step toward recovering our losses, a "lawsuit" is not a "plan." We can't have a future built on a lawsuit.
The NEWAPFA Slate is not a "one trick pony." There's more to us than a lawsuit. The fact that you have taken time to read this only attests to our ability to market ourselves. It is this type of marketing that we believe will help us move forward. What we need is a complete overhaul at APFA. We need to rethink the way our union works with our membership and the way it presents itself to the membership. We desperately need to market the union to the membership and get the membership excited about being involved once again. If we don't, our careers as we remember them are truly gone.
As a Plaintiff, I know this can be done. The smiles I see on flight attendants faces when I tell them there's a group of flight attendants out there fighting for them reassures me that the problem with APFA is one that centers on leadership and not the organization itself. People WILL wear their union pins once again if leadership gives them a reason to do so. As a Plaintiff, I have given you hope. As your next President, I will give you action.
The first thing we plan to do is relieve from service the attorneys who represented us during the Company's Restructuring. Why they're still on the payroll is beyond me. One law firm that represents us was sued by the Teamsters for "cash-swapping" money from the union's treasury into a shell organization, which in turn donated money back into a reelection campaign fund. This same firm also returned more than $4 million in "success fees" to United Airlines employees because the fees were not disclosed to the employees beforehand. Personally, I've never heard of a law firm returning money that they legitimately earned. Have you?
Another attorney who currently represents us and needs to go is the one who APFA refers to as "the strategist." This attorney represented us through the Restructuring and I believe outlined the "Walking Through the Rhetoric" Campaign that Tommie Hutto-Blake incorporated with informational picketing. This so-called "strategist" was the strategist behind the demise of the Northwest flight attendants' union, the Professional Flight Attendants Association (PFAA). This attorney's strategic maneuvers led to that union being raided by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA). This attorney strategized PFAA right out of existence, and these strategies have placed APFA on the brink of collapse.
There's another attorney, who needs no introduction, that also needs to go. This attorney was instrumental in helping to create the problems our union and membership face today, yet this attorney is still on the APFA payroll. This attorney had the audacity to offer us a 15.6% discount on legal services after the Restructuring in an effort to help flight attendants file for personal bankruptcy. And contrary to APFA's opinion on members suing the union, this attorney, when employed as a flight attendant, sued APFA under the case Stu Adams-Lundy v. APFA. This attorney continues to work under Brett Durkin (VP on the Glading Slate).
After replacing counsel, the NEWAPFA Slate plans to aggressively address the 2003 Restructuring Participation Agreement from inside the walls of APFA. The flight attendants at American should not be forced to watch AMR executives lavish themselves with money taken from employees. Long days with no food and little rest so that a handful of executives can pocket hundreds of millions of dollars is absurd!!!
Once we set these actions into motion, the NEWAPFA Slate plans to aggressively revamp the image of APFA in preparation for the next round of negotiations. How can we possibly think that we're going to successfully challenge this company when our union looks so pitifully weak? Who are we kidding? Just look at the website, the pictures are from 30 years ago. This is not our workgroup at all. The NEWAPFA Slate wants a union that looks like a union and acts like a union.
In closure, a vote for the NEWAPFA Slate is a vote for action! Linda Luebs, Anna Johnson, Tim Todd and myself are confident that we can put OUR union back in the hands of the membership. It’s YOUR union. It should be fighting for YOU.
In solidarity,
Rock Salomon BOS
http://voterock.org
The NEWAPFA Slate is committed to to getting our money back—that is why this group was formed in 2003, and that is why it still exists today. As a named plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the validity of the 2003 Restructuring Participation Agreement (RPA), I have been fighting for the APFA membership for the last four years in an effort to restore our pay, benefits and work rules. Though this is a big step toward recovering our losses, a "lawsuit" is not a "plan." We can't have a future built on a lawsuit.
The NEWAPFA Slate is not a "one trick pony." There's more to us than a lawsuit. The fact that you have taken time to read this only attests to our ability to market ourselves. It is this type of marketing that we believe will help us move forward. What we need is a complete overhaul at APFA. We need to rethink the way our union works with our membership and the way it presents itself to the membership. We desperately need to market the union to the membership and get the membership excited about being involved once again. If we don't, our careers as we remember them are truly gone.
As a Plaintiff, I know this can be done. The smiles I see on flight attendants faces when I tell them there's a group of flight attendants out there fighting for them reassures me that the problem with APFA is one that centers on leadership and not the organization itself. People WILL wear their union pins once again if leadership gives them a reason to do so. As a Plaintiff, I have given you hope. As your next President, I will give you action.
The first thing we plan to do is relieve from service the attorneys who represented us during the Company's Restructuring. Why they're still on the payroll is beyond me. One law firm that represents us was sued by the Teamsters for "cash-swapping" money from the union's treasury into a shell organization, which in turn donated money back into a reelection campaign fund. This same firm also returned more than $4 million in "success fees" to United Airlines employees because the fees were not disclosed to the employees beforehand. Personally, I've never heard of a law firm returning money that they legitimately earned. Have you?
Another attorney who currently represents us and needs to go is the one who APFA refers to as "the strategist." This attorney represented us through the Restructuring and I believe outlined the "Walking Through the Rhetoric" Campaign that Tommie Hutto-Blake incorporated with informational picketing. This so-called "strategist" was the strategist behind the demise of the Northwest flight attendants' union, the Professional Flight Attendants Association (PFAA). This attorney's strategic maneuvers led to that union being raided by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA). This attorney strategized PFAA right out of existence, and these strategies have placed APFA on the brink of collapse.
There's another attorney, who needs no introduction, that also needs to go. This attorney was instrumental in helping to create the problems our union and membership face today, yet this attorney is still on the APFA payroll. This attorney had the audacity to offer us a 15.6% discount on legal services after the Restructuring in an effort to help flight attendants file for personal bankruptcy. And contrary to APFA's opinion on members suing the union, this attorney, when employed as a flight attendant, sued APFA under the case Stu Adams-Lundy v. APFA. This attorney continues to work under Brett Durkin (VP on the Glading Slate).
After replacing counsel, the NEWAPFA Slate plans to aggressively address the 2003 Restructuring Participation Agreement from inside the walls of APFA. The flight attendants at American should not be forced to watch AMR executives lavish themselves with money taken from employees. Long days with no food and little rest so that a handful of executives can pocket hundreds of millions of dollars is absurd!!!
Once we set these actions into motion, the NEWAPFA Slate plans to aggressively revamp the image of APFA in preparation for the next round of negotiations. How can we possibly think that we're going to successfully challenge this company when our union looks so pitifully weak? Who are we kidding? Just look at the website, the pictures are from 30 years ago. This is not our workgroup at all. The NEWAPFA Slate wants a union that looks like a union and acts like a union.
In closure, a vote for the NEWAPFA Slate is a vote for action! Linda Luebs, Anna Johnson, Tim Todd and myself are confident that we can put OUR union back in the hands of the membership. It’s YOUR union. It should be fighting for YOU.
In solidarity,
Rock Salomon BOS
http://voterock.org
