Greetings,

AFA 66 eCommunication - Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Council 66 Endorses Dana Marie Kennedy for Phoenix City Council - District 6
September Monthly Bid
Reserve Roundtable with the Joint Negotiations Committee
Section 6 Update Meetings
Act Now to Pass Flight Attendant FMLA Fairness Legislation
AFA Remains Vigilant on Cabotage
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Council 66 Endorses Dana Marie Kennedy for Phoenix City Council - District 6

Members attending the Council 66 local council meeting in July voted unanimously to endorse Dana for Councilwoman for District 6. Dana has been an advocate for AFA and our Council for many years now, assisting in the publication of press releases, attending pickets, doing outreach to other Unions and advertising special events, like the Golf Tournament to benefit the Pantry of Love. She has been a leading advocate for families, retirees, and women for over 20 years, proudly and professionally acting as their voice at the local, state, and national level.

We hope that you will consider supporting Dana for District 6 City Council when you vote on September 1st. For more information on Dana visit: http://kennedyforphoenix.com

September Monthly Bid

At this time, the September monthly bid is out on FLICA.  Following are some major points with the September bid.
 
First, there is a scheduled reduction that will occur on September 9th signaling the end of the summer travel season. Additionally, on this date we will see a reduction in Hawaii flying which will remain in effect until the month of December.

Next, the September bid will see the loss of the Cancun (CUN) and Guadalajara (GDL) one day turns along with the Costa Rica (SJO) two-day trip.  However, the seasonal college football charters are back and utilizing the A321 aircraft. US Airways has contracts with the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Oregon State and the University of Southern California.

As a reminder, all charter flights designated with the numbers 9200 are deadhead (DH) segments.  Flights designated with the number 9100 are live flights.

Finally, in the September bid there are some Labor Day weekend cancellations due to the Monday, September 7th holiday.  When bidding, be aware that these cancellations could result in longer layovers or lower credit pairings for this weekend. 
 

Reserve Roundtable with the Joint Negotiations Committee

On Monday, July 27, 2009, AFA Council 70 in Charlotte hosted a Reserve Roundtable with the members of the Joint Negotiating Committee to discuss the direction of Reserve issues in single contract negotiations. 

The Joint Negotiating Committee is comprised of the West AFA MEC President Lisa LeCarre and  MEC Secretary-Treasurer Jeff Albers and East AFA MEC President Mike Flores and MEC Scheduling Chair Carol Austin. Additional panel members included the MEC Reserve Chairs Deb Breazeale (West) and Sherri Baker (East). The roundtable concept allowed the JNC and panel members to be asked questions by a moderator based upon questions sent in from Reserves in the past few weeks.  In addition, the JNC took the opportunity to discuss scheduling issues with Flight Attendants from across the East system.

“It was a unique opportunity to hear the contract differences from East-based Reserves and to validate that the changes and improvements that they want in a merged contract are the same improvements that West-based Reserves wish to see.” said West MEC President Lisa LeCarre. “What we heard is that no matter where you are based, all Reserves need major improvements in quality of life and the ability to earn a decent income while on Reserve.”

AFA will be planning another Reserve Roundtable in Phoenix in the near future. 

Section 6 Update Meetings

 
Act Now to Pass Flight Attendant FMLA Fairness Legislation
 
AFA has been fighting for the last couple of years in Washington, DC to get Congress to pass legislation that would fix the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).  Flight attendants and pilots have been denied FMLA coverage because of the unique way our hours are calculated.  To fix this problem and to ensure that 100% of a reserve flight attendant’s time counts toward meeting FMLA qualification, AFA worked with our friends in Congress to introduce legislation that fixes the problem.  This legislation recently passed the House of Representatives on a unanimous, bi-partisan voice vote.
 
Last month, a group of six bipartisan Senators - 3 Democrats and 3 Republicans - introduced a similar bill in the Senate - S. 1422. To ensure that S 1422 will pass, we need the help of all AFA members across the country.

Contact your two state Senators - who are not yet supporters of the legislation - and ask that they cosponsor the Flight Attendant FMLA Fairness legislation.  Following is a script below for you to use when calling and your Arizona Senators’ phone numbers.
 
When you call your Senators office you may get a recording that asks you to leave a message. Feel free to do so.  Or, follow the prompts and ask to speak to a live person who will take your message directly.  Either way, please make sure that you take just a couple minutes to make these phone calls.
 
In addition, you can print out, sign and mail the attached letter to both of your Senators.  Addresses are provided below.
 
Ensuring the support of Senators Kyl and McCain are important and they need to hear from the people they serve as elected legislators.  Please have your friends and family make calls as well.
 
Arizona Senators:

Senator John Kyl 202-224-4521
U.S. Senate
Washington DC 20510
 
Senator John McCain 202-224-2235
US Senate
Washington, DC 20510
 
Here is a sample script you can use when calling.
 
Hello.  My name is __________________ and I am a registered voter in the state.  I live in (CITY).  I am calling to ask the Senator to cosponsor S. 1422. This is bipartisan, common sense legislation that has already passed the House of Representatives on a unanimous voice vote.  It would fix a long-standing problem and finally provide FMLA fairness for flight attendants.  Please make sure that the Senator stands with the nations flight attendants by cosponsoring S. 1422.  Thank you for your time.

Flight attendants who live in other states may receive the names and addresses of their Senators by contacting the AFA Government Affairs Chair Joe Weislander at joeweislander@cs.com

AFA Remains Vigilant on Cabotage
 
Protecting jobs and our work has always been the top priority of AFA-CWA.  In this challenging environment, we have been especially vigilant on the issue of cabotage and the attempts by the former administration to allow foreign carriers to carry passengers on domestic U.S. routes. 
 
Early this year, AFA enlisted the assistance of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) to engage the new Obama Administration team on a troubling discovery that Air Canada was providing charter service for a U.S.-based hockey team and just last week learned that Air Canada had secured a contract to transport a U.S.-based professional basketball team.
 
In meetings with Department of Transportation Secretary LaHood, aviation union leaders voiced strong opposition to allowing Air Canada to continue in what AFA considers a clear violation of our cabotage laws. We could not allow Air Canada to essentially establish their charters as practice and set a course for potentially more instances of cabotage.
 
Thanks to these efforts and the perseverance of TTD we have produced positive results today. The Assistant General Counsel for International Law at the Department of Transportation sent a letter to the law firm for Air Canada advising the carrier that they should not engage in attempting to secure any future contracts and they should take steps to cancel their current contracts.
 
AFA must and will continue vigilance when our cabotage laws, and most importantly our jobs, are at stake. 
 


mec@afa66.org