We are definitely living in interesting times.  We are seeing history in the making as corruption, greed and lack of ethics from business leaders have brought down the American and Global Economies.  We see Economists and Financial Experts striving every day to develop a solution to fix the world’s economic problems that we are now encountering.

The good news is that after many years of unregulated corruption in the financial and business world, everyone in Washington finally agrees there is a problem.  The elections are over and denial is no longer an issue.  If this were a twelve step program, the first step is now complete - “Admission of a problem.”

We see the stress the world economy has placed on all of our peers.  Faith by the people in our government to help bring stability to the crisis is growing as a new administration has come to Washington with a mandate to do whatever it takes to get our economy growing again.

As taxpayers, we know that we will pay trillions of dollars for this fix and the debt will be passed on for generations.  The trillion dollar question then is - who should benefit from the record debt?  Should it be corporate executives who have corrupted the system to take exorbitant corporate compensation packages for themselves while lowering worker wages, outsourcing jobs overseas, eliminating health care and other benefits the middle class once had OR should the beneficiaries be the workers who are the backbone of this economy and have been victimized by the redistribution of wealth to the rich we’ve seen in this country since 1981?

Obviously, the beneficiaries of any fix should be the American working men and women of this great nation.  The creation and restoration of a strong middle class that has good jobs with livable wages and benefits will return America to a standard of living envied throughout the world.  When America stops earning a livable wage they stop spending, and we have seen how this affects the entire world economy.

In the November 2008 elections a record number of Americans voted locally and nationally for CHANGE.  The voice of America was clear - We will be heard.  The rest of the world heard us as well.

Now that the elections are over we must continue to be heard loud and clear.  Every individual needs to get involved and collectively use the voice of the American workforce.

As John F. Kennedy stated in 1961 in his inaugural address “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.”

As President Obama stated throughout his campaign in 2008 “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.  We are the ones we've been waiting for.  We are the change that we seek.”

I am asking all of you to be a part of the change that we need here at Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines and throughout America.  We can no longer be silent and allow others to create the change we need.  We can no longer be silenced by those who would wish to take away our voices for the future!  We are the backbone of America - the working men and women that have made this the truly great country it is.  It is time to rise up and unite.

This past month we saw the beginning of change for all laborers in the United States.  The anti-labor/pro-corporate Department of Labor changed leadership.  We saw confirmation of a new Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis.  The former Secretary of Labor (and also former Northwest Airlines Board of Director) Elaine Chao has left the building!  Perhaps now the Department of Labor will function for Labor (the working individuals that comprise this great nation).  The number of pensions lost or frozen under the eight long years of Secretary Chao’s watch is astronomical.  She and her husband, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, are set for life while our future retirement and economic security is uncertain.

In Mid-March, Linda Puchala was nominated to the National Mediation Board.  She has over 30 years of experience in labor relations which includes serving as the President of the Association of Flight Attendants from 1979 to 1986.  This appointment still needs Senate confirmation, but when she is confirmed, Ms. Puchala will replace Read Van de Water, a holdover appointment made by the Bush administration.

I have met many Northwest and Delta flight attendants recently in meetings around the country - the last two were in Honolulu and Cincinnati.  I have always believed that all flight attendants regardless of the name on the aircraft want the same things: livable wages, safe working conditions, work rules that are healthy on the body and a secure future with the ability to retire at a reasonable age.

Most of us applied for the flight attendant position to travel, meet people, and see the world while enjoying flexible work schedules.  We have much in common.  This is one reason I believe it is important to communicate with our fellow flight attendants here at Northwest, Delta and every other airline.  We have all been through the worst of times these past few years so now it is time to speak out and restore our profession to where it once was while getting the respect we deserve from corporate executives whom have rewarded themselves with stock options and bonuses.  You can be assured that corporate executives have communicated amongst themselves to create the place we are today with lower wages, loss of benefits, lost or frozen pensions and work rule changes.

The time for APATHY is long gone.  The time to join the fight for better wages and job security is NOW!  If we want America to get rolling again for ourselves and for future generations we need to have job security here in America.  I encourage you to join your local community labor councils around the United States.  Go to the AFL-CIO web site and find out how you can help the American Labor Movement.  At the same time encourage your friends and family to do so as well.  We have a global problem and we are going to need a global movement for a global solution.

I want to reassure you that your union leadership is in constant communication with the Company.  The anxiety of not knowing the future means we have to work together for a solution for a better future to create the world’s premier global airline.  Currently we are working to complete the language for LOA 20 Satellite Bases and LOA 21 Split Lines.  Our goal as a union is to utilize as many tools for job security that we have available.  Once the Split Line flying is in effect we will have one more tool to utilize along with SLIP Leaves (Special Leave Incentive Program) and CCLs (Company Convenience Leaves) to offset involuntary furloughs should the need arise.  Having this voice and communicating with the corporate executives I believe will result in a beneficial work environment that will get America rolling again.

I know many of you are as excited to fly the routes of a combined system for a truly global airline as I am.  We need the necessary FAA approved training to make that happen.  There is only one type of aircraft that we have in common and that is the 757.  I have recently inquired about the status of the FAA approval to train on the large number of types of aircraft now in our combined fleet.  At the last meeting I was told it had not yet been approved.  Once that approval is granted we will see the necessary training.  This will be one more step in the integration process that will have us flying together, but it will take an enormous challenge to put 21,000 plus flight attendants through the training.  I know many of us would like to see this happen tomorrow, but as we were originally informed, the integration process would take about 12- 18 months.  We are currently in month 5.

I have recently received many emails and calls regarding the integration of seniority.  As I have stated and written to many of you as well as to the Delta Chair of the Seniority Integration Committee - Mark Clarke - I was pleased to see that the recommendation of the committee appeared be in line what we have said all along at AFA - that seniority integration should be based on date of hire.  As I told Mark, we look forward to working together when the time comes to sit down and expeditiously go through the lists and work on a combined seniority list.  I have asked Mark and had previously requested on several occasions from the Delta executives for a list of the Delta flight attendants.  I explained to Mark that per our contract, twice a year, we must review the new system seniority list and ensure that the list is correct.  Our committee has just completed that process.  I have yet to receive the Delta System Seniority List but believe, as I told Mark, this would move things along faster once we were in the room together as the committees met.  The Delta Executives were given our list a year ago and the Delta Seniority Integration Committee was given our list months ago. 

We look forward to meeting meet with the Delta Seniority Committee at the appropriate time.  As I stated in my last messages to you and to the press, I would like to mirror the process that was afforded the ALPA group with the blessing of the Company.  The company felt it was necessary to gain a combined work agreement with job protections and improvements for all pilots prior to the integration of seniority.  I agree with the ALPA/Company process that took place.  Job security and improved work rules along with an integrated list are imperative for everyone.  Just as the executives did not want to repeat the mistakes of the past with ALPA at US Air, I do not want to repeat the mistake the executives made with the flight attendants at US Air/America West by not giving them a combined work agreement for the past five years.

Lastly, speaking of job security, I did inquire at a meeting recently for the Delta flight attendants who emailed me to see if the furlough policy had changed at Delta.  The answer I was given was no it had not changed and they could still be furloughed as they had been in the past by base, etc.  I believe we ALL need the protections our current contract provides.