Letter from APA President: Replacement Flight Attendants: not "Family Friendly" - 06.21.10
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This is APFA National Communications Coordinator, Jeff Pharr, with the Weekly Hotline Update for Friday, August 27, 2010.
NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE
A meeting has been scheduled the week of September 20 with our Federal Mediator, Pat Sims. Ms. Sims has requested only APFA’s Negotiating Table Team attend this meeting. Your Team is looking very forward to moving the process along.
As reported earlier this week, TWU announced the Tentative Agreement (TA) vote results by three of their workgroups. The Technical Specialists voted in favor of their TA while the Mechanics and related employees and the Stores Clerks both rejected their TA. According to the ballot instructions, the Mechanics and Stores Clerks’ ‘no’ vote was in turn a ‘yes’ vote to authorize their negotiating team to call a strike if necessary.
APFA President Laura Glading commented in part, “On behalf of the nearly 18,000 Flight Attendants at American, we congratulate TWU’s Technical Specialists on their contract. Their members have spoken.
We applaud TWU’s Mechanics and Store Clerks for standing in solidarity and voting for strike authorization by rejecting their tentative agreements. They have recognized nothing can be accomplished with American Airlines other than through a struggle. Three work groups on the property are now bound together through this struggle.” The full statement can be read here.
EC Meeting
The second quarter APFA Executive Committee meeting will be held September 14-15, 2010 at APFA Headquarters. The meeting will begin at 09:30 on Tuesday, September 14, 2010. All members in good standing are welcome and encouraged to attend.
APFA Headquarters
1004 West Euless Blvd
Euless, Texas 76040
“I’M JUST A BILL - YES I’M ONLY A BILL”
“And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill.” I may be dating myself, but I remember as a kid first learning about the bill-into-law process by watching the Schoolhouse Rock! cartoon on Saturday mornings.
Now that we’re adults and realize all too well how laws truly affect us, and knowing we can make a difference and have some influence in the process, we should have an entirely new perspective. Especially when it relates to our profession.
The FAA Reauthorization Bill has a direct impact on our work lives as Flight Attendants. And anything gained through legislature is one less item we have to address at the bargaining table. Here are some highlights of the bill as it relates to our quality of work life:
- Extends funding for the Flight Attendant fatigue study
- OSHA protection
- Air quality sampling
- Aircraft cabin temperature standards
APFA Government Affairs Representative, Julie Frederick, has written a Skyword Online article with more details about the FAA Reauthorization Bill that will be published next week.
The bill is currently stalled in committee on Capitol Hill and will quite possibly be delayed or extended once again - for the fifteenth time. Congress returns from their August recess next month. In the coming weeks we will ask all APFA members to mobilize in several ways by asking your Senators to ‘Pass The FAA Bill Now!’
“I hope and pray that they will, but today I am still just a bill.” I found a three minute Schoolhouse Rock! clip on YouTube. For a trip down memory lane click here. Why should I be the only one with that song stuck in my head?
FAA in DFW
The FAA will conduct a conference in the DFW area from August 30 through September 2, 2010. The attendees of this event will include over 700 FAA Inspectors, many of whom will be conducting inspections while traveling to and from the conference. Among the areas they are likely to be monitoring are compliance with our carry-on baggage policy and exit seat procedures. And as always, please ensure your manuals are up to date.
Should you encounter an FAA Inspector onboard, whether or not they check your manual, please complete an AMR Online Event Report. This will also generate a report to the APFA Safety and Security Department where a log is kept.
9/11 Memorial Events
We have begun to receive notices of events scheduled around the system to commemorate the tragic events of September 11. If you are aware of an event in your city and would like us to post it on the APFA.org website, please send the information to communications@apfa.org. As the events are posted, you can view them here.
86 the 800#
We announced on the August, 6 2010 Hotline, the 800 call-in number to APFA Headquarters was to be deactivated this month. The cut off date has been pushed back until sometime in September. During the March ’10 APFA Board of Directors Convention, as a cost savings measure, Resolution #6 was passed that authorized APFA to discontinue 800-395-APFA. The resolution can be read here (log-in required).
Make note of the local number for APFA Headquarters and please remember to update the APFA contact stored in your cell-phone - (817) 540-0108.
The 800 number to access the weekly hotline will remain - (800) 399-2732
UNITED HEALTHCARE LAWSUIT
We continue to receive calls regarding the United Healthcare Lawsuit. While APFA is not party to the lawsuit, if you were covered by United Healthcare from March 15, 1994 through November 18, 2009 and did not receive a Summary Notice in the mail, or have questions pertaining to the lawsuit, please contact the Claims Administrator, Berdon Claims:
Website - www.berdonclaims.com
E-mail - unitedhealthcare@berdonclaimsllc.com
Phone - 800-443-1073
U PICK IT! - LAST CALL
Only a few days remain to submit your picket sign ideas. Deadline for submissions is August 31, 2010.
What would YOU want to see on a potential Strike Picket Sign? Be creative and be spontaneous (but let’s keep it clean, please). The top slogans selected by members of your Negotiating Team will be voted on by the APFA membership to see who has the best Picket Sign idea(s). The top three winners will receive a framed copy of her/his Picket Sign.
To enter, send your idea(s) to upickit@apfa.org with the subject line 'U PickIt! Submission.’ Please include your name, base and employee number. In the event of duplicate entries, the earliest submission will count.
APFA.org HIGHLIGHT
Base Pages. Each base and division has a dedicated section on the APFA.org website. The pages contain information pertinent to your base including contact information for your Base Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Division Representative, as well as Base Council Members. Each Base Council consists of elected and appointed Operational Council Representatives, an InfoRep Captain and local representatives specializing in the following areas: Contract, EAP, Health, Professional Standards, Safety, Scheduling, IOD, and Notices of Dispute. Current and past Base Briefs are also stored on these pages.
To access your Base Page, log-in to the APFA.org website, then click ‘Base Pages’ in the left menu.
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Remember there are 1,343 members on furlough and awaiting recall.
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The Wings Foundation is much more than can recycling, though that is an important source of the funds they distribute to members in need. If you are an active American Airlines Flight Attendant and you primary home has been destroyed, please contact WINGS Disaster Relief. Visit their website for fund raising activities, to find base representatives, forms for donation ($$$, PVDs, etc.), or applications for assistance. See how you can help at your base. Wings was created by and is managed exclusively by AA Flight Attendants. Wings provide services only to AA Flight Attendants. Check out Wings and all our APFA supported organizations through these links:
Wings // Airline Ambassadors // UNICEF/Change for Good
This is National Communications Coordinator, Jeff Pharr, with a second Special Hotline Update for Wednesday, August 25, 2010.
Copied below is a statement released to the press this morning from APFA President Laura Glading regarding the TWU members' vote results.
American Airlines Flight Attendants on
TWU Members’ Contract Vote Results
Euless, Texas — Laura Glading, President of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), issued the following statement regarding the Transport Workers’ Union members’ vote results on Tentative Agreements for Mechanics, Maintenance Technicians and Stock Clerks.
“On behalf of the nearly 18,000 Flight Attendants at American, we congratulate TWU’s Technical Specialists on their contract. Their members have spoken.
“We applaud TWU’s Mechanics and Stock Clerks for standing in solidarity and voting for strike authorization by rejecting their tentative agreements. They have recognized nothing can be accomplished with American Airlines other than through a struggle. Three work groups on the property are now bound together through this struggle.
“We share their frustration and anger with American management. Flight Attendants sent a clear message with our overwhelming 96.8 percent strike authorization vote and now the Mechanics and Stock Clerks have spoken. It’s time to let this process move forward.
“Flight Attendants do not want to strike. We fully understand the ramifications a strike would have. But we will do what is necessary to get the contract we have worked so hard for.
“American’s future looks bright. Second quarter earnings last month showed a substantial improvement compared with the same quarter last year, and industry analysts are predicting American will report a significant profit next quarter. It’s time for management to recognize the sacrifices all employees have made -- including the $2 billion by Flight Attendants since 2003 -- when they bailed out American from the brink of bankruptcy.
“This battle is about more than Flight Attendants and other AMR employees, it’s about standing up to corporate America and saving the shrinking middle class by fighting for fair-paying jobs for hardworking people.”
APFA is the nation's largest independent Flight Attendant union representing nearly 18,000 American Airlines Flight Attendants. www.apfa.org
This is APFA National Communications Coordinator, Jeff Pharr, with a special Hotline update for Wednesday, August 25, 2010.
Late last night, TWU announced the results of their Tentative Agreement vote counts. Below is the text from their press release. As more information becomes available, we will update you via this Hotline, APFA.org and Facebook.
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release August 24, 2010
Attention aviation, business, labor and Dallas-based reporters and editors
TWU Mechanics and Stock Clerks at American Airlines Vote to Reject a New Labor Agreement and Authorize Union to Take Action—Including a Strike Technical Specialists Vote to Ratify
DALLAS – Today, members of the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) at two American Airlines bargaining units have voted to reject tentative contract agreements with the airline reached in May, while a third unit has voted to ratify the agreement. In a large turnout, 10,251 eligible TWU members cast ballots out of a possible 12,800.
TWU mechanics voted down the agreement by a vote of 6,074 to 3,371. With 64 percent opposed; stock clerks voted to reject the agreement by a vote of 384 to 332, with 54 percent against; while technical specialists voted to approve the agreement 60 to 18, a 77 percent “yes” vote.
“Our members have spoken loud and clear,” said TWU International Vice President Garry Drummond, who heads the union’s Air Transport Division. “After four years of negotiations, a majority of TWU members in our Mechanic and Related, and Stock Clerk groups were not convinced that this agreement represented an adequate return for the hundreds of millions of dollars of sacrifices we agreed to in 2003, to keep American planes in the air and prevent our employer from filing for bankruptcy. However, for workers in our Technical Specialist group, salary increases and improvement in benefits were enough for passage.”
For the two units that voted “no”, this was not only a vote to reject, but also a vote to authorize a strike, if necessary. TWU has requested a release from the National Mediation Board (NMB) in order to pursue self-help remedies,
“We will continue our efforts, on all fronts, to make sure that the full value of our members’ contribution to the success of this airline is recognized by our employer, said Drummond.”
The Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) represents 200,000 workers and retirees, primarily in commercial aviation, public transportation and passenger railroads, including 28,000 workers at AMR. TWU represents more workers at AMR than any other labor organization. The union is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. |
