9.06.13 – (LAA) – 9/11, Contact Congress, DC Fly-In, APFA Meets with Att’y Gen, Thresholds, Same Sex Couples, Initial Training Info

 

APFA Weekly Hotline – 9/11, Contact Congress, DC Fly-In, APFA Meets with Att’y Gen, Thresholds, Same Sex Couples, Initial Training Info – September 6, 2013

 

9/11
Earlier this week, APFA published an online memorial card honoring the crew members we lost on 9/11. Hundreds of employees have added their thoughts to the page that will eventually end up at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York opening next Spring. Please take a moment to sign the card.

Wednesday marks the twelfth anniversary of 9/11. There are many events around the nation, several of which are listed below. Please feel free to forward any events in your area to [email protected].

Shanksville, PA
Flight 93 National Memorial
9:45 a.m. 6424 Lincoln Highway
Stoystown, PA

San Diego, California
USS Midway
2:30 p.m. (free admission beginning at 1:00 pm)
Navy Pier
910 North Harbor Drive
San Diego, CA

Grapevine, Texas
9/11 Flight Crew Memorial
7:35 a.m.
100 Texan Trail
Grapevine, TX

New York, NY Events
Washington, D.C. Events
Boston, MA Events

Action Alert
Write to your Senators and Representative and tell them they got it wrong regarding the lawsuit filed by the DOJ, 7 state attorneys general and D.C. against the merger. Ask for their support using our easy online CapWiz tool.

For up-to-date information on the merger, visit www.apfa.org and click on AA/US Merger. Below are the relevant hearing documents and several news items issued this week:

DOJ Antitrust Documents
Final Scheduling Order for DOJ Hearing – 9.06.13
Laura Glading Letter to Attorney General Nathan – 9.05.13
DOJ Amended Complaint – 9.05.13

DOJ Antitrust Related News Articles
Why States Are Lining Up To Oppose The American-US Airways Merger (Forbes) 9.06.13
American Airlines makes it easy to write government and oppose lawsuit (Dallas Morning News) – 9.05.13
Flaws Found US DOJ Lawsuit Against American/US Airways Merger (Aspire Aviation) – 9.05.13
Airline workers looking to strike back, gently (Dallas Morning News) – 9.03.13
How Budget Cuts are Helping the AMR Corporation – US Airways Merger (Motley Fool) – 9.03.13
American Airlines stock soars on settlement push, trial date (Charlotte Business Journal) – 9.03.13
JetBlue not interested in merger, acquisition (Reuters) – 9.03.13
Robert Crandall on the Merger (Dallas Morning News) – 9.01.13
Laura Glading, Neil Roghair on Bloomberg Live (Video) – 8.30.13

AA/US Airways DC Fly-In – Sign Up!
AA and US Airways are looking for volunteers to lobby Congress in support of our pending merger. AA is offering positive space business travel, one night’s accommodation, ground transportation and meals for participants who are selected out of the volunteer pool. AA and US Airways will select volunteers at random based on the districts they still need represented. If you are interested in participating, please sign up via Jetnet. This Jetnet page contains the schedule of events. Uniforms are required while lobbying.

APFA Meets with Tennessee Attorney General (One of the 7 state AGs against the merger)
APFA Legislative Rep. Julie Fredrick (IDF) and APFA Contract Coordinator Brent Peterson (JFK) headed up a team of Flight Attendants from AA and US Airways to meet with the Attorney General of Tennessee today.

TN Attorney General Robert Cooper stated he had joined the lawsuit because of repeated failed promises from Delta leading up to their merger. He said that Delta had simply abandoned the Northwest hub at Memphis and that he was obligated to speak on behalf of the consumers of his state. Among other things, we reminded AG Cooper that unlike Delta and Northwest, the American/US Airways combo had no overlapping hubs. He was grateful for the time the reps took to meet with him. He acknowledged that a negotiated resolution was the best way and that he would actually press the DOJ on that issue.

APFA Meets With Texas Congressman Michael Burgess
APFA Legislative Affairs Rep Julie Frederick (IDF) and Jennifer Brissette (IDF) met with Congressman Michael Burgess (TX-R) on Thursday to discuss the pending antitrust case and to thank the Congressman for his support. Rep. Burgess’ North Texas district is adjacent to DFW and represents approximately 650 APFA members.

If you would like to read Rep. Burgess’ letter to the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, click here.
 
THRESHOLDS: Employment, Sick, Vacation and Benefits
APFA continues to receive questions regarding thresholds for employment, sick and vacation accrual and benefits due to the delay in our emergence from bankruptcy as a result of the DOJ lawsuit.  Due to the high likelihood that we will not merge prior to December 31, 2013, all FAs should be focused on meeting the current thresholds.
 
For the Employment Threshold this means:  You must have 420 paid hours (or an average of 35 paid hours per active month) during the 2013 calendar year.
For Sick and Vacation accrual eligibility this means:  You must have 600 paid hours (or an average of 50 paid hours per active month) during the 2013 calendar year.

Due to the delay of the merger the decision has been made not to apply the July 31, 2013, look back for 2014 Health Benefits. Rather the threshold for benefits will remain the current 420 paid hours (or an average of 35 hours per active month) on a rolling 12-month look-back basis.

Same-Sex Married Couples Recognized!
Last week, The U.S. Treasury Department issued the long-awaited regulations that legally married same-sex couples will be recognized as married for federal tax purposes, regardless of their state of residence. This means that AA will now start moving forward with the administrative changes required to register and recognize legally married same sex spouses.  While all marriages are covered, the ruling doesn’t cover registered domestic partnerships, civil unions, or similar formal relationships recognized under various state laws. In the next few weeks, HR will provide more information on how this will impact benefits, taxes, retirement and other programs.Refer to the following link for more information: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Answers-to-Frequently-Asked-Questions-for-Same-Sex-Married-Couples

Last Chance: Initial Training Information Form
Were you in AA new hire training from 1978 through 1985?  Or were you in one of the following new hire classes: 86-22, 23 & 30; 87-08, 09, 10, 21 & 41; 88-20, 29, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37 & 39; 89-07 & 37 or 91-49.  If so, you have until September 9th to assist APFA in confirming our initial new hire class information. 

APFA currently has class information and rosters for more than 700 new hire classes over the last 50 years. Several of the new hire training rosters for the years and classes mentioned do not have employee numbers. Some rosters have been damaged or are not entirely legible. This, combined with name changes that have taken place since training due to marriage, divorce, etc. has made it extremely time consuming to make a positive match for the initial new hire class for all FAs. If you were hired during these years please access the Flight Attendant Initial Training Information Form via this link and provide the information requested. The most important information we are seeking is your class number and last name during initial training.  It is not necessary to provide training dates unless you just happen to recall this information. APFA will use this information to help us verify our records and prepare for the eventual integration of our seniority list with the US Airways’ seniority list. Please complete this form by September 9, 2013.

APFA has not yet determined how Occupational Seniority dates should be adjusted. Please note: Any adjustment will not result in a change to the relative order of APFA’s current list.
  *If you are unable to log into the APFA website to gain access to this request, send an email from the address you have on file with APFA to [email protected] requesting a reset password. If you have not logged in before, please send an email to [email protected] with the following information:

First Name
Last Name
Employee Number
Last 4 digits of your SSN
 
AmericanAirlines + US Airways 
“MERGE!”

Leslie Mayo
APFA National Communications Coordinator