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February 18,
2009
Dear Fellow Flight
Attendants,
Many of you have recently asked why
our Northwest AFA Seniority Committee did not participate in the
seniority research and recommendations announced by Delta's
Seniority Integration Committee. I hope this letter not
only explains our position, but more importantly, I hope it
illustrates how the NEW Delta executives (mostly comprised of
our former NWA executives) are trying to usurp our collective
bargaining power and deny us the ability to achieve an industry
leading contract for flight attendants at the world's largest
airline.
Delta executives are attempting to
move the issue of seniority integration to the front burner in
direct conflict with the process typically used in our
industry. The process used in our industry calls for
specific steps which (historically) look like this:
- Resolve representation issue between
the combined group (if one exists).
- Negotiate a combined contract
(typically a 'fence agreement' remains in place during the
negotiations process; keeping the workers separate until a
combined contract is reached).
- After a contract is
reached, the employees' union then hands management a
combined seniority list, which the members resolved without
interference by management.
The reason this process of steps is
important is because it gives us, as employees, leverage to get
the best possible contract before we turn our combined seniority
list over to management for them to integrate operations.
For example, we only need to look at the recent contract reached
by the ALPA represented pilots at the NEW Delta to see how well
it worked for them. Keep in mind that the DAL/NWA pilots
did not have to contend with the first step above ("Resolve
representation issue...") as both groups already were
represented by the same union. The fact that it only took
a few months for the pilots to reach a contract should tell you
how important this leverage actually was to their negotiations;
their seniority issues were resolved after their deal
was reached. I believe we deserve the same opportunity and
I hope you agree.
Having explained this, I want to
assure every Northwest and Delta flight attendant that we do not
dismiss the work that the Delta Seniority Integration Committee
has done and we are pleased that it appears their position is
consistent with the 'date-of-hire' policy that we maintain in
our AFA Constitution. We view this as a positive step and
I relayed that in a message to Mark Clarke, Chair of the Delta
SIC. On the other hand, I was disappointed in the
anti-union statements put out by Joanne Smith (Senior Vice
President IFS) in which she perpetuates the myth that we are
somehow not interested in working with our counterparts at
Delta. Nothing could be further from the truth.
As a veteran of our industry, Smith
surely knows how this process usually takes place and she is
aware that Delta is using the issue of seniority integration
out of turn and as part of an overall employer campaign
against representation. That is an unfortunate reality that we
must all recognize and we expect a much more aggressive campaign
as we move toward having an election.
I also take issue
with Smith's statement that "Seniority integration is perhaps
the biggest issue for flight attendants in a merger."
While our seniority is vitally important, I would counter with
this: Seniority means little without an enforceable
contract. In our NWA contract, the word seniority
appears 351 times and each time that word appears, the language
surrounding it is legal and enforceable. I would also
counter that industry-leading pay, benefits, pension, and job
protections are just as important to each of us as our
seniority. A seniority number does not help us in the
unemployment line, when we pay our mortgage, when we require
medical treatment, or when we are planning our retirement.
It is important for us to remember this when our executives try
to take our attention away from our goal of obtaining the best
possible flight attendant contract.
Once again, we
applaud our flying partners at Delta who have worked on their
recommendation for a 'date of hire' seniority, and look forward
to working with them as one great global airline. Most
importantly, we look forward to working with them to raise the
bar to industry-leading levels of pay, benefits, and job
security.
In
Unity and for a Better
Future,
Kevin Griffin,
President
Northwest Master Executive
Council
Association of Flight
Attendants-CWA
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