3.07.08 – (LAA) – Tommie Hutto-Blake Turns Over Chairperson of the Negotiating Team to Laura Glading, AA and APFA Exchange Section 6 Notices

This is Leslie Mayo, National Communications Coordinator, with the APFA Hotline for Friday, March 7, 2008.

Yesterday, APFA President Tommie Hutto-Blake turned over the position of Chairperson of the APFA Negotiating Team to President-elect Laura Glading. Laura’s term as APFA President begins April 1, 2008, however, during her transition into the office of President she will immediately take over as the Team’s Chair.

Late last week, AA and APFA exchanged Section 6 notices indicating our intent to begin the bargaining process in 60-days as outlined in the Railway Labor Act, Section 6. Please review both of these letters written by APFA President Tommie Hutto-Blake to AA management, and AA Vice President Employee Relations Mark Burdette to APFA, available on APFA’s Web site under the Negotiations ’08 link of www.apfa.org.

The following message is from APFA President Elect Laura Glading:

Friday, March 7, 2008
Fellow APFA Members:
As the President-elect of APFA and newly-designated Chairperson of the APFA Negotiating Team, I, along with each and every one of you look forward to these negotiations as the time to fix all that was broken as a result of the restructuring agreement. We will no longer accept pay or benefits that ignore the impact of inflation and leaves us far worse off than we were a decade ago.

The Section 6 letters exchanged between APFA and AA senior management amply demonstrate the huge gap that exists between our expectations and those of the Company. If we are to convince, if not compel, management to accept our view, we will need the support and involvement of every single flight attendant.

Like any negotiations, the success of the upcoming bargaining rests at least in part on the good faith of the parties. Over the past several years, however, the executive officers of American have seriously weakened their relationship with labor by repeatedly accepting multi-million dollar executive bonuses. If management intends to conduct these negotiations in good faith, it must forego any further bonuses until all three unions have ratified new collective bargaining agreements.î

Laura Glading
APFA President-Elect

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