26 December 2008
WISHING
YOU A JOYFUL HOLIDAY
SEASON
Your Master Executive Council
wishes you a healthy, happy, and joyful holiday season and a
prosperous 2009. We
hope our combined group will seize the opportunity to negotiate
a new joint contract and join the vast majority of all flight
attendants worldwide who have chosen to keep a legal voice at
work. Let’s
work together in 2009 to achieve the world’s best flight
attendant legal contract for the world’s largest
airline!
WORKERS MEMORIAL –
IN HONOR OF OUR FALLEN COLLEAGUES
AFA-CWA will honor our flying
partners who have died in the line of duty by bringing to light
their ultimate sacrifice in a national Workers’ Memorial
being constructed at the National Labor College. The memorial will serve
as a tribute to working people who have lost their lives on the
job. It will also
serve as a reminder that much work still needs to be done to
improve safety, health and security conditions for working
people across many industries in the United
States. The AFA-CWA Executive
Board and AFA International are pleased to inform you that we
have authorized the purchase of a granite block that will form
part of a bench that will encircle the memorial.
Engraved in the block will be the words
written by United Airlines Flight Attendant Kelley Dando
Gold. Kelley has
since left United, but her thoughtful words express the way we
feel about each and every flight attendant who lost their lives
in the line of duty since the beginning of our profession. With her permission I
have selected a stanza from her poem from among a collection of
poems and expressions written by many flight attendants
following 9/11: “You will live on and remember... those
fallen now shine from above in heaven’s
light.”
Within the circle will be a plaza of
bricks and pavers that provide all unions the ability to engrave
the names of specific union members lost in the line of
duty. The memorial
will be located directly in front of the chapel in the center of
the National Labor College campus in Silver Spring,
Maryland—a site where union leaders and members from
around the world attend trainings, meetings and pursue higher
education.
With the memory of the cherished lives
of our lost flying partners at heart, let us all look toward the
New Year with gratitude and resolve to continue working to
improve our profession in their names. With best wishes for a joyful holiday
season.- AFA-CWA International President Patricia
Friend
SENIORITY
INTEGRATION - WHAT'S THE RUSH?
Both DL and NW management have
communicated frequently that our crews will not fly
together until at least 2010. There are a great many steps
that must be accomplished before seniority
integration, or the merger, can be completed. For example: Delta does
not have a single transportation system determination from the
NMB, does not have a joint training program approved by the
FAA, nor is Delta close to achieving a Single Operating
Certificate from the FAA. Since management has
often expressed their intent to handle our integration fairly
and expeditiously, we sent a new request for Delta's
flight attendant seniority list this week. NW
gave our own seniority list to Delta several months ago and it
has been provided to their seniority integration team. In her 12/24/08 response
to our request, Delta's Joanne Smith wrote: "Delta flight
attendants have always been able to see where they fell on the
list upon request of their manager but the list has never been
printed and distributed out of respect of our flight attendants
privacy....I have consulted with our legal department and they
will advise what we can do." Whether "privacy" is the reason their list is
so tightly controlled or not, we hope Delta's large
legal department can find some time
to approve our latest request for this
most basic, preliminary information for Northwest flight
attendants.
The law provides us with the protection
of AFA's 'date-of-hire' union policy for seniority
integration in a merger. Therefore, a union
representation election for the combined
DL/NW group must occur before seniority
integration can proceed.
The timing of our election depends upon a number of
variables, but will likely occur in the first half of 2009. After the combined
vote FOR representation, pursuant to AFA-CWA Merger Policy , DL
and NW Merger Representatives will work together to
combine our seniority list by
syncing our bidding seniority dates. If our combined group
votes AGAINST representation, Delta management
has stated they will create and fund the NW seniority
integration team to negotiate with Delta's team, and to
represent us for a "fair and equitable" arbitration
process. While some
NW unions have already met with DL workers to
negotiate their seniority integration, they are in an entirely
different position because they do not have the
numbers to trigger a union representation election in this
merger. The AFA and IAM represent a large percentage
of NW employees and we have taken a similar legal
position. We flight attendants have a good chance to
keep our union contract at the new Delta – and
our 'date-of-hire' policy of seniority
integration.
Under a fair, simple and honest
'date-of-hire' integration, all new Delta flight attendants will
be able to concentrate on what matters most to our futures
– negotiating a legally binding contract for our joint
group that provides long term job security, seniority
protection, and better wage and working conditions for the
world's premier airline.
We look forward to working together with our Delta flying
partners and Delta management, to create the strongest and
fairest airline in the world.
WINTER
SCHEDULING ISSUES
It’s a good time to reacquaint
yourself with contractual legalities in case you encounter
weather delays, cancellations and/or rescheduling. While NWA flight
attendants have these enhanced contractual protections, our
Delta colleagues can be required to work to FAA duty maximums
and suffer minimal FAA rest requirements when in the same
circumstances.
Remember: don’t leave home without your contract
– especially Sections 5, 6, and 7 (if on Reserve.)
REGULAR LINEHOLDERS should pay particular attention to Letter of
Agreement 17, which is the contractual provision where a Flight
Attendant who loses hours from his/her schedule may be required
to accept Time Available, in certain limited situations,
following the declaration of a "Critical Period" by the
Company. Your
rights under Letter of Agreement
17 are as follows:
1. You must be
compensated at one and one-half times your hourly incentive rate
for all additional hours flown as a result of assignment by Crew
Scheduling.
2. If you
request it, the company must provide you Y1/F6 travel to and
from your base for the assignment.
3. You must have
the option of selecting any open pattern that departs during the
Critical Period.
4. If you do not
select a specific pattern from open flying, you must be assigned
the lowest value open pattern.
5. You may only
be assigned a pattern that operates outside your Time Available
obligation with your consent.
6. With approval
from Crew Scheduling, you must be released from the remainder of
the assigned pattern if you transit a base station and the
Critical Period has ended.
7. You must be
permitted to accept or decline any Time Availability remaining,
following the assignment of a pattern under this agreement.
RESERVES should pay particular attention to Section 7, H.
Off-Duty Provisions, including the parameters for selecting
Guaranteed Days Off (GDO) and replacement of GDO and PDO. Guaranteed Day(s) Off
are defined as "off-duty days on a Reserve Flight Attendant's
line during which he/she can refuse an assignment, provided such
assignment originates or operates over the Guaranteed Day
Off."
Reserves Flight Attendants may select up to eight (8) GDO
per bid month via CENTRY prior to 0000 of the first day of the
bid month. You may
choose your GDO during any off-duty periods, but they must be
consecutive and during the last days of a series of off-duty
periods.
ALWAYS ASK FOR A REVIEW OF CREW
ORDERS from Crew Scheduling (p.
6.26) when you question the legality of flight time limitations,
rest periods or rescheduling. If a contractual violation is found, the
company must pay you penalty pay for the entire duty period
flown in error.
Contact a local AFA rep if you need to file a grievance
for scheduling violations.
RESCHEDULING
PREFERENCE: Make sure you make your
rescheduling preference election in CENTRY – it stays in
from month-to-month. – Submitted by DTW LCR Daniel
Grey
LETTER TO THE
EDITOR:
LAX NWA FA Charlie Ciali’s
Comment: I have just read the letter from Julie Showers
about changes to flying, some effective next month: “I
apologize for the late notice relative to some of the
cancellations. We have just received the notification
ourselves, and wanted to pass it on as quickly as
possible. Some of these announcements have not yet been
made public. We know for some of you this means
rescheduling; the schedule adjustments will be made in the next
week. The provisions of your Flight Attendant Agreement
will apply. We will do our best to keep you informed as
additional marketing decisions are made.” I think
the union should make sure that the line "provisions of your
Flight Attendant Agreement will apply" is understood by our FAs,
and compare that to what Delta would offer under the same
circumstances.
NWA AFA Response: Reduction in flying could invoke several sections of
our contractual protections at NWA. However at Delta there are no legal
protections and several inferior policies in place. Please review Section 1-
Recognition, Scope, & Job Security, Section 6 -
Scheduling, Section 12
– Filling of Vacancies, Section 13 -
Transfer Expenses, Section 14 -
Reduction in Force & Recall, Letter 16 –
Language of Destination. Here are just a few comparisons, among
many:
1.
If there is
system overage that results in involuntary layoffs at NWA, we
have the option to exercise our system seniority to displace
into another base.
At Delta their FAs can only go to a base that is
open. If there are
no open bases Delta FAs are laid off, regardless of their system
seniority.
2.
At Delta LOD
flight attendants can be retained and hired, while senior flight
attendants are laid off.
This could involve a lot of flight attendants at the
combined airline, since there are over 20 active LOD languages
at Delta involving thousands of DL FAs. Our contract stipulates
the maximum number of positions on each aircraft and parameters
for the program. A
DL 757 flying to Europe would
have 2 LOD FAs, 1 Purser, and 1 designated MC Lead, and 1
regular FA position. On NW the same 757 would have 1 Purser, 1
LOD, and 3 regular FA positions.
3.
We must
remember that the crown jewel of our contract is Section
1 – our Recognition, Scope, and
Job Security. Our
flying is outlined in our contract and management is legally
required to honor this commitment. Management cannot arbitrarily outsource our
flying. At Delta,
flight attendants have absolutely nothing to protect them from
outsourcing of their work.
If we don’t have job protection to actually keep
our jobs, we must remember that no real or promised Delta
policies will matter.
PRIDE AT
WORK
Pride at Work is the LGBT
constituency group of the AFL-CIO. It's mission is really twofold - to reach out
to fellow union members to educate them on the concerns and
issues of the LGBT community, making the labor movement a strong
part of the fight for LGBT equality in the U.S, and to educate
the LGBT community about the benefits of belonging to a union.
Like other unions, Pride at Work believes that many of the legal
protections they are seeking through laws can be obtained
through a legally binding union contract. In 2007, Pride at Work
passed a resolution in support of the AFA-CWA's FMLA Technical
Corrections Act. In addition, Pride at Work helped us during the
DL representational election by providing volunteers for the
phone banks and running ads in LGBT newspapers in Delta hub
cities about the protections that a union provides for LGBT
Americans. Pride sought support from their members on behalf of
flight attendants at Aloha and ATA, after their carriers filed
for bankruptcy through their Show Some Pride in the Sky
Campaign. Pride at
Work has always supported us and continues to support us on our
issues. Now they need our help in order to continue their
efforts for equality on behalf of all working Americans. You do
not have to be a member of the LGBT community to become a member
of Pride at Work. For more information on what Pride at Work is
all about, and to join or contribute to their efforts, go to
www.prideatwork.org. –
Submitted by MEC Government Affairs Chair Albert
Garcia
CONTRACTUAL PAY BUILD-BACKS COMING YOUR
WAY
An annual hourly pay raise for all
flight attendants, covered under Section
3 – Compensation of our NWA AFA
contract, will become effective January 1, 2009. On December 31, 2008,
International Flying Pay also returns at the rate of $1.25 per
hour, per Section 3.H of our contract. Already in effect as of December
1st, 2008, is the return of per-diem for single duty
period trips such as one day patterns, high value or high
density turns. The
above rate build-backs may not be as large as we would like
after our painful bankruptcy cuts, however they do represent
legally guaranteed increases that happen over the life of our
contract. Our
guaranteed contractual pay, work rules, and benefit minimums,
along with our ability to negotiate a new combined legal
contract, could be lost in 2009 if we vote to give up our
collective bargaining rights. Let’s work together for a better joint
contract in 2009, by voting for a legal voice at work for 60
more years!
DELTA
EXECUTIVES CASH IN MORE
STOCK
According to the Atlanta Business
Chronicle, top executives at Delta cashed in more shares of
their stock. On
December 18, Ed Bastian led the way with his third round of
sales worth $276,000, raising his total sales of Delta stock
since the merger to close to $1.7 million. Mike Campbell and Glen
Hauenstein also sold Delta stock on December 18, and 19,
respectively. To
read the full article, please go to http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/12/22/daily23.html
