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Greetings, Thank you for checking the "help" box on your
authorization card or otherwise volunteering to help organize
AFA at Frontier! As
always, we need you to talk about AFA while at work. Below is the text from today's newsletter. Underneath each question, in blue, are talking points about each issue. The purpose of this eline is to help you discuss the issues with other flight attendants. One Choice,
One Voice It's More than
a Slogan, It's a
Commitment One
Choice In 1994 the
Chautauqua flight attendants voted for Teamsters
representation. The
Frontier flight attendants deserve to have the same opportunity
to vote for a union.
It is not fair for us to be forced into being represented
by the Teamsters because of a decision the Chautauqua flight
attendants made fifteen years ago. We all
understand this now.
Union representation for the Frontier flight attendants
is just around the corner.
Only one question remains - which union? If we all do not
sign an AFA Authorization Card and file for an election
immediately there will no choice.
The decision as to which union represents the flight
attendants at Frontier will have been made by the Chautauqua
flight attendants in 1994.
At the risk of
repeating ourselves - we deserve a choice. We want all of us to
have that choice.
Sign a card and get a choice. We deserve as
much. I
know, we do sound like a broken record - but it is worth
repeating. It's
just not fair that we might be forced into the Teamsters because
of decision made fifteen years ago by flight attendants at an
entirely different airline. Why don't they want us to vote?
One
Voice Lost in the
shuffle of the airline?s purchase by RJET and the talk of the
seniority integration is our need for a contract. Normally this would be
one of the main focuses of the organizing campaign. But this is not a
normal campaign.
Many of us were
alarmed when we read the first newsletter this week from the
other union. It
said that we were going to be covered by their contract at
Republic.
Come
again? Their newsletter
says that "we will be protected by the same Teamster
contract." So, we
don't get to vote (or even a say) on that either? That flies in the
face of democracy and eliminates what we?re asking for: a choice and a say in
our future as Frontier flight attendants. The AFA
Constitution requires that a contract be voted on and approved
by the members at that airline before it goes into effect. Our contract will be
negotiated by Frontier flight attendants, with the assistance of
AFA. Prior to
beginning negotiations the Frontier flight attendants will be
surveyed and will have the opportunity to attend meetings with
the committee to discuss negotiations in person. The Frontier
flight attendants deserve to negotiate and vote on our own
contract. Frontier
is a mainline airline, not a regional airline. We should have a
contract that reflects the status of the
airline. Please take a
look at their contract on our website, www.AFAFrontier.org. We
knew the Teamster's plan was to force us to take their
contract. But the
fact that they put it in writing in their first e-line was
shocking. Again, it
is simply not fair.
We did not negotiate it, nor did we vote for it. It is not even a
mainline, legacy carrier contract. The pay cut we would take when that contract
is forced on us is completely unacceptable, not to mention the
rest of it. It
is true, that contract is amendable now and they will be (or
already are) in negotiations for a new contract. Hopefully they will be
successful in obtaining substantial improvements. They would be better off
with our pay and work rules or the AFA-Midwest contract.
But the fact that they the contract is amendable is no
reason for us to be forced to work under it. It often takes a while
to negotiate a contract and we would have to work under their
current contract until a new one is agreed upon. And honestly, the
chances of that contract being improved enough so that the pay
and the work rules are even close to our current pay and work
rules is probably not even a reasonable expectation. It's ludicrous to even
suggest the RJET flight attendants would agree, in their
contract, that we would make more than them or have better work
rules. The Frontier flight attendants would be better off
negotiating our own contract. For that we need AFA.
One Choice,
One Voice The Frontier
flight attendants deserve a say in our union and in our
contract. It's not
right to have union representation and someone else's contract
forced upon us. Our
flying is unique and our contract should reflect what is
important to us- not what flight attendants at some other
airline defined as their priorities. We are worthy of
our own representation and our own contract. AFA is just about flight
attendants and that is what we are, flight attendants. Attached to this
newsletter is an AFA Authorization Card. Sign one now and mail it
in. Print out
extras to bring on your next trip. Forward this email to your fellow flight
attendants.
Other Important Talking
Points The Teamsters have a few reasons why they feel they are
the better union to represent the Frontier flight
attendants. It is
important for you to understand them and be able to refute them
when talking about the organizing drive with your
co-workers. Power in numbers - They do
represent other work groups at RJET and F9. But joining them does
not necessarily mean they will support our flight attendant-only
issues. It also
means that they would have complete control over us. Imagine one union
representing the pilots, mechanics, ramp, flight attendants and
others. Where do
you suppose the flight attendants would fall in the pecking
order? Why would
you want to turn over control of what is going to be in our
flight attendant contract to the mechanics or ramp agents? Unions at an airline
typically support one another. AFA supports the Teamsters at other airlines
where AFA represents the flight attendants and the Teamsters
represent another work group and vice versa. We do not need to join
them in order for them to support us and our efforts to get a
contract. We just
need to be in a union.
To put it another way - their support is not worth
our giving up control of our own destiny.
The Frontier flight attendants will have
their own board - Board of what? Really? Then we would be the
ONLY flight attendants in the Teamsters that have their own
board. Teamster
represented pilots have their own pilot-only local, Local
747. The Teamsters
currently represent flight attendants at seven airlines: Comair, NetJets
Domestic, Trans-States, Sun Country, World, North American and
RJET. They are in locals
with other professions. The DEN local, Local 961,
represented the Great Lakes flight attendants until April of
this year when they decerted to join the UTU (a railroad union
that does not represent any other flight
attendants). Take a look at the website for the local that represents
the RJET flight attendants, http://www.local135.com/ There are 14,000 members of that local, about 10% of them
are flight attendants, the rest of members are UPS employees,
freight drivers and people who work in manufacturing,
construction and route sales. No flight attendant is an elected officer of
the local. In fact,
no flight attendant is elected to any position. The stewards are
handpicked by the staff of the local. The Trans-States flight attendants are members of
Local 618, look at their website, http://www.teamsterslocal618.org/ According to the website, they represent
Freight Carriers, Auto Dealerships, Tank Haulers,
Flight Attendants, Airline Pilots, Airline Fuelers, Rent-a-Car
Services, Part Houses, Dial Corporation, Parking Garages, Towing
Companies, Service Stations, Chemical Companies, Tire &
Rubber Industries and many others. There are eight officers listed and not one
of them is a flight attendant. Look at the websites of two different AFA MEC's (Master
Executive Council, the governing body of each airline in AFA) to
contrast with those Teamster locals which have flight
attendants. US
Airways, http://www.afausairways.org/ and Alaska Airlines,
http://www.alaskamec.org/ The AFA International
website is www.afanet.org. Notice the difference? With AFA, there is absolutely no chance that we would be
in a local with truck drivers or parking garage attendants. We would have our own
MEC and be in complete control of our local
union. It's important to remember and say that we support all of
the Frontier employees and want them all to have union
representation. In
fact, we want all workers to have a union. We are not poking fun at
truck drivers or parking garage attendants. They deserve union
representation. But
we don't need to be in their union when we can have our
own. There is a difference between an industrial union and a
class and craft union.
AFA is a class and craft union. They only represent flight attendants. Would you wanted to
be treated for glaucoma by a primary care doctor or an
ophthalmologist? AFA
specializes in the flight attendant profession. You will give up your seniority with
AFA - This is an out and out
lie. The
McCaskill-Bond Amendment says the integration must be "fair and
equitable" and that a union's internal policy only applies
if all the groups are represented by the same union. The RJET flight
attendants are not represented by AFA, so even if the F9,
Midwest and Lynx flight attendants were all represented by AFA,
the AFA merger policy would not apply because the RJET flight
attendants are not members of AFA. Have you looked at Sideletter #10 of the Teamster-RJET
contract? It is
about the Shuttle America integration into the RJET list. The seniority list was
integrated by date-of-hire. Isn't that an interesting fact?
Why Have You Chosen
AFA? In
the next few weeks we are going to send out letters by flight
attendants about why they support AFA. Would you please help the campaign by
writing one? Beth,
the person from AFA who is assisting us, will help you if you
would like. You can
contact her by replying to this email (or BDeProspero@afanet.org) or giving
her a call at 704-431-4988. Have any ideas for an upcoming newsletter? Have questions you want
answered? Care to
comment on the campaign?
Reply to this email. We'd love to hear from you.
Thank you for your continued support.
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