12.28.18 – Philadelphia Base Brief

ANOTHER YEAR IN THE HISTORY BOOKS

It certainly has been a long road, but we finally made it to FOI, and have come together as one workgroup.  We said ‘so long’ to old friends who are finally able to transfer to a base at home or closer to home.  We continue to welcome new faces into our base of which are transferring home or closer to home.

The road to get here has not only been long, but very bumpy. It is not over by a long shot.  We continue to deal with the company’s IT issues that are affecting our quality of life.  We have been slapped in the face with a disrespectful, punitive and restrictive attendance policy that clearly does not reflect how we are scheduled to work, or the fact that we are exposed to hundreds of different germs every flight we work.

As I sit here and reflect on the last year, your Philadelphia base reps to date have filed eighty Notices of Disputes that includes, Base, Individual and Group NODs.   We represented Flight Attendants in nearly 300 meetings with their FSMs.   Base NODs have been filed on recent changes that we have seen since Oct 1st without notification or even language to support their positions, including calling in well and two hour reserve callout issues.

Clearly this company is trying to wear us down, and we are not going to let them do this.  We are going to be better than this company.  We are going to show them more respect than they have shown us, because that is who we are as a workgroup. We were hired because we are professionals, and we will maintain our professionalism as Flight Attendants through this merger.  We will hold our heads high, and continue to be the bigger people. We are heading into negotiations for Section 6 bargaining – this will be a marathon, not a sprint. Are you up for the challenge?

Many of us have seen the rise and fall of this industry, many of us have seen management come and go – yet we are still standing – we are still here.  We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder for what we believe in and deserve – we will not be ignored.

On behalf of myself, Rick, Dan, Tracey, Brian and Sara, and all the Flight Attendants who volunteer their time to serve our membership in PHL, here is to a Happy and Healthy 2019 at the New American.

In Unity and Solidarity,
Kim Kaswinkel
[email protected]