Greetings,

AFA 66 eCommunication - Thursday, September 3, 2009

Association of Flight Attendants Executive Board
Reserve Roundtable
__________________________

Association of Flight Attendants Executive Board 

AFA Leaders met in Washington, DC for the Thirty-fourth Annual Executive Board Meeting August 31, 2009 – September 1, 2009. The AFA Executive Board is comprised of the Presidents of each AFA represented Master Executive Council (MEC) and is tasked primarily with establishing policy as necessary in furthering the objectives and policy announced by the Board of Directors.  The Executive Board meets once yearly with teleconferencing on a quarterly basis.

Executive Board Resolutions

The AFA Executive Board approved two resolutions at this year’s meeting.

1.  USA3000 Resolution: The AFA-CWA Executive Board congratulated the USA3000 AFA-CWA organizing committee members on their outstanding mobilization campaign and affirmed our support for the pending election for AFA-CWA at USA3000 and that the AFA-CWA Executive Board looks forward to the USA3000 flight attendants joining our union.

2.  Delta/Northwest Resolution: The AFA-CWA Executive Board affirmed their commitment through resolve to protect the 60 years of collective bargaining rights and protections that our AFA-CWA members at Northwest Airlines have fought valiantly to preserve and that the twelve (12) year struggle to secure a legally binding and industry-leading contract for all Delta Air Lines flight attendants is finally obtained.

Status of FMLA Legislation

One of the most important issues for Phoenix-based AFA members was the status of FMLA legislation.  The next three weeks will be crucial in trying to push this legislation through in order for Congress to correct FMLA legislation for all Flight Attendants and Pilots across the industry. 

The problem with FMLA is that flight attendants are not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, that calculates the number of hours worked, to qualify for coverage.  The concept used to determine the 1250 hours does not include time spent between trips, whether during the day or on overnights, based on company scheduling requirements.

Some airlines have willingly provided for a lower threshold than the 1250 hours for flight attendant qualification of FMLA coverage. The AWA contract has negotiated language of a threshold of 650 hours per month.  Each carrier has a different calculation and no two carriers are similar. The East contract language carries the normal 1250-hour threshold. There is currently no benchmark for hours of qualification in the industry. It is difficult for most flight attendants (East included) to satisfy the 1250 hours threshold eligibility requirement based on a full-time flight attendant schedule.  It would require all of us to work 104.16 hours each month.

The current defined requirements for FMLA coverage also do not allow for most flight attendant reserves to qualify. Up to 1/3 of all flight attendants may be on reserve at any one time.  A reserve has no control over the number of hours they are allowed to work; it could be a full schedule or few hours at all depending on the carrier’s needs.  Because the airlines realize that someone on reserve may not be called upon, must be available to the company at a moment’s notice and must be ready to report to duty while on reserve, they have guaranteed that a flight attendant on reserve will be paid for a minimum number of hours per month.

One must also recognize that flight attendants spend many hours away from home, not of their own choice, but because of the needs of their employer.  These hours spent away from home and family, because technically “off-duty”, are also not used to calculate FMLA coverage.  The airlines themselves have recognized that reaching the 1,250 hours of service threshold established by the courts through the FLSA is nearly impossible considering a flight attendant’s schedule.   This basic legal right should not be left to the whims of an employer and depend on the strength of a union at the bargaining table.  Flight attendants, who meet the intended threshold of 60% of a full time flight attendant schedule, should automatically qualify for coverage under the FMLA.

We would like to encourage all Phoenix-based flight attendants to contact your two Senators and tell them to support FMLA correction legislation for flight crews. The most effective way for an AFA member to communicate with your legislatures is through a personal phone call directly to the legislature’s office.

In the next three weeks, please place a call to one or both of your Arizona Senators to let them know the importance of changing FMLA legislation:

Status of the FAA Fatigue Study

AFA presented an update on the FAA Fatigue Study currently ongoing. One part of the six sections of this study was a scientifically based, random survey, which assesses the frequency with which fatigue is experienced, the situations in which it appears and the consequences that follow. So far, there have been 10,550 surveys returned both online and paper and the results are currently under review.

A second part of the study in research that explores the physiological and psychological effects of fatigue, sleepiness, circadian factors and rest schedules on flight attendants ability to perform their duties. Approximately 61 flight attendants have completed the study that included wearing a wrist monitor that assesses sleep patterns.

Board members heard from a flight attendant who recently completed the study.  She was required to note all of her flying hours and to differentiate between time on the ground and time in the air, to note the type of sleep that she received and how she felt after receiving that sleep.

Other sections of the study include analysis of aviation incident reports by CAMI personnel; validation of fatigue models which assess how fatigued a flight attendant will become; study of International policies and practices by analyzing 38 regulations and 13 collective bargaining units from around the world; and the review of 49 training programs to identify the critical components of a fatigue countermeasures training program.

This study got started later than expected and was originally expected to be completed by December 2009, but will be extended to sometime in summer 2010. If you notice a flight attendant wearing a wrist monitor who is involved in the FAA Fatigue Study, please thank them for the time and efforts they are taking to improve our careers. 

AFA Organizing

On July 27, 2009, AFA-CWA requested that the National Mediation Board declare that the Delta/Northwest merger has created a single transportation system and once the NMB has declared that the merged airlines are operating as a single carrier, election dates will be set to determine if AFA-CWA will be the flight attendants’ exclusive bargaining agent. The current NMB rules require a 50% plus one yes vote of the entire workforce for representation.  There are currently 7,325 Northwest flight attendants and 13,288 Delta flight attendants (total 20,613). Once the NMB has concluded their investigation of the single carrier status, they will announce an election. Delta management does not dispute the single carrier status. When Delta/Northwest are represented by AFA, legacy carriers will be at 100% unionization in the United States. For updates on the Delta organizing campaign visit www.deltaafa.org

Compass Airlines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines with over 300 flight attendants.  The airline was created with the concurrence of the Northwest Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) to sidestep their scope clause and gave ALPA recognition to Compass pilots. Information about their organizing is available at  www.afacompass.org

USA 3000 has just over 100 flight attendants at four bases. A request was filed for an AFA representation election with the NMB.  The voting begins on September 16, and concludes on October 6, 2009. For further information go to www.afausa3000.org

Frontier Airlines.  Republic Airways made a bid for Frontier while simultaneously purchasing Midwest. AFA is continuing work with Frontier organizers to assist with a possible representation election. For more information visit their website at www.afafrontier.org


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