Tell Congress We Must Be Released From the NMB!

Our union has pressed the NMB to declare an impasse in our negotiations with management and to release the parties into a 30-day cooling-off period. We are confident that, with the pressure of a strike deadline, the parties will reach a new agreement on terms that our members will ratify.  However, the Board continues to refuse to recognize the impasse and fulfill its statutory duty of releasing us. Tell me more

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Re: Association of Flight Attendants-CWA/Northwest Airlines Flight Attendant Negotiations

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am a constituent, Northwest Airlines flight attendant, and proud member of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, and am writing you today to ask for your assistance in our protracted contract negotiations with Northwest management.

Prior to and after Northwest's September 2005 bankruptcy filing, the National Mediation Board (NMB) has overseen our contract negotiations. Under the Board's supervision, we have reached and rejected two tentative agreements. Following the second agreement's rejection, Northwest management, pursuant to a previous bankruptcy court ruling, imposed drastic cuts to our pay, benefits and working conditions totaling almost $200 million per year. We continue to operate under those onerous terms and conditions today.

As recently as February 2, 2007, our AFA-CWA negotiating committee has continued to offer creative and innovative proposals to reach a new, consensual agreement; however, Northwest management has rejected all of our additional ideas, insisting that any new agreement would have to add up to the same total cuts in flight attendant labor costs. Please keep in mind that just such an agreement was twice voted down by our members. Our situation is a textbook example of an impasse in labor negotiations.

Our union has pressed the Board to declare an impasse in our negotiations with management and to release the parties into a 30-day cooling-off period. We are confident that, with the pressure of a strike deadline, the parties will reach a new agreement on terms that our members will ratify. However, the Board continues to refuse to recognize the impasse and fulfill its statutory duty of releasing us.

We hope you will help us bring our negotiations to a positive conclusion by urging the NMB to move the process along by releasing us from mediation.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
February 09, 2007


Background Information

Your MEC Government Affairs Committee, along with the AFA Government Affairs staff have been visiting with key Congressional offices and Members to discuss our current impasse with management over a contract.  We have asked them to contact the National Mediation Board and urge the NMB to release us into our 30-day cooling off period.  We need to apply political pressure from our elected Representatives and Senators on the NMB to get us into our 30-day cooling off period which would lead up to potential actions.
 
It's important and urgent that our elected representatives hear from you directly.  They need to hear from us that it is important that they take action to help us reach an agreement with management on a livable contract.  Please take a few minutes to send the attached letter, or edited in your own words, to your elected representatives to let them know that you are demanding that they take action on our part.  Use this simple process to make sure that they hear from you, the people that they are elected to represent. Take Action Now!