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Greetings,
AFA 66 eCommunication - Monday, June 15,
2009
Seven Years...And Counting
On Monday, June 8, 2009 your AFA Section 6 Negotiating Team
(NT) met
with National Mediation Board (NMB) members
Zachery M. Jones, Senior
Mediator and James D.
Mackenzie, Mediator. Mediator Jones worked with
the NT in December 2005, and was instrumental in the
decision to
recess America West Section 6
negotiations.
The NMB is the federal agency which has oversight on
negotiations
under the Railway Labor Act (RLA).
The RLA is the federal law that
governs the airline
industry in union negotiations and organizing
elections. Section 6 negotiations refer to section 6 of the
Railway
Labor Act. Section 6 negotiations were
ongoing at America West in
2004 and 2005 to amend our
1999 contract. When the merger with US
Airways
was announced, the mediator placed our Section 6 talks on
hold
in an effort to focus on a single or merged
contract.
The NT provided a presentation to the NMB mediators, which
outlined
AFA’s basis for returning to mediate
the West Flight Attendant 1999
Agreement. The NT
primarily focused on the fact that West flight
attendants have not had an across-the-board raise in seven
years. The
NT presentation also focused on the
significant wage gap between West
and East flight
attendants of US Airways, particularly those flight
attendants between years 1-10.
The West flight attendant group is the only West employee
group who
has not received wage increases since 2002.
All other West employee
groups, including Management
and non-union personnel have received
wage increases
either from Section 6 negotiated contracts since 2002
or from merging contracts with their East counterparts.
The NT presentation also focused on how inflation has eroded
our wages
further. For example, in a comparison of the
value of the dollar from
2002 to 2009, ten-year flight
attendants making $28.23 per credit
hour would
need to earn $33.46 per credit hour just to keep up with
inflation.
Additionally, the disparity in pay between East and West
flight
attendants continues to grow as the East flight
attendant contract pay
raises are implemented year
after year. East flight attendants have
received
additional 5% pay increases since the merger. While we
wear
the same uniforms and do the same work, the
Company pays west flight
attendants from 5-40% less.
AFA believes that the Company should pay
West flight
attendants the same wage as East flight attendants.
The latest AFA-CWA International survey of industry-wide
flight
attendant wages places America West flight
attendants towards the
bottom of a list that included
19 major and regional carriers, only
slightly higher
than Mesa Airlines. America West flight attendants
ranked 18th in first year salary, 19th in six-year salary,
and 14th in
top out rates. The industry average for
first year salaries is
$16,909.04.
Even airlines such as American, whose flight attendants took
wage
concessions after 2001, and airlines such as
United, Northwest and US
Airways (East) who went
through bankruptcies, are receiving post
concession
wage increases of between 6-10 percent, creating a larger
gap between West flight attendants and our industry
peers.
Section 6 negotiations were placed in recess with the
expectation that
the Company and AFA would reach a
single, merged contract. Three and a
half years later,
there is no indication that a single contract will
be
reached soon.
The company must address the fact that we have not had a
wage
increase, across-the-board, since 2002 and no
raises since the merger.
The NT met with the federal mediator on Monday June 8 and
Wednesday
June 10 in the AFA office. The NT,
company negotiators and both
mediators met in joint
session on Tuesday, June 9. At these
meetings, the NT expressed that West flight attendants need
immediate
economic relief and can not afford to wait
any longer.
The next steps are for the mediator to notify the NT and the
company
of future negotiating dates. We will
keep you informed of any updates.
awacontract@afa66.org
www.afa66.org
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