COMPANY ANNOUNCES SUSPENSION OF SLC-NRT, CLOSES S-SLC

This week the Company announced that the new Salt Lake City to Tokyo service will be suspended on 1 October 2009.  As a result of this route suspension, the SLC satellite base will also be closed effective October 1st.  Members participating in the s-SLC base will be returned to their home base beginning with the October flying month.   

While AFA representatives do not dictate the flight schedules, operations, or aircraft utilization at Northwest Airlines or Delta, we are disappointed at the impact the announcement of cancellations, route suspensions and cross fleeting is having on flight attendants.  The depressed global economy continues to take its toll on the aviation industry, and airlines have made adjustments to their flying schedules in an attempt to mitigate the low demand on air travel.   With that being said, over the years we've not often observed this much volatility in the Company's business plan – decisions at Northwest before the merger were typically made further in advance and more conservatively.  Delta changes its flight schedule on a dime and they don't mind moving into a market for a few months and then pulling out.  On the one hand this flexibility could end up ensuring the viability of our airline, but with the recent cross-fleet changes in ATL and now the closing of s-SLC, we see how the Company's ambitious "global footprint" route structure can also wreak havoc on our lives. We will continue to bring your perspectives to the table, and whenever possible to propose more worker friendly alternatives. – Submitted by MEC Vice-President Daniel Grey 

FRONTLINE STAFFING LEVELS APPEAR OK FOR NOW, BUT FURTHER CUTS IN ADMIN AND SALARIED POSITIONS ANNOUNCED

On August 6^th an announcement from Richard Anderson and Ed Bastian was posted on Deltanet, regarding the need for additional cuts in administrative costs and the elimination of more salaried positions.  Richard Anderson and Ed Bastian did write that; “Thus far, we have been able to successfully reduce the number of frontline jobs to match our operation through the use of voluntary programs.”  They also stated that the global recession and the H1N1 virus has resulted in lost revenue to the tune of $3 billion for the first 6 months of this year – equating to more than $40,000 in lost revenue per employee.  At least for now, no furloughs are expected following the 500+ SLIP leave awards.  The company feels that for now any additional flight attendant overage at NW can be handled by a lower line average, monthly leaves, and pattern and Reserve releases moving through fall.  AFA will continue to work with the Company to explore all means possible to avoid involuntary furloughs – including continued negotiations to attempt to reach an agreement over a Split Line Program.    

LAST WEEKEND’S CRITICAL PERIOD

The critical staffing period last weekend caused some disruption in flight attendants’ lives, and many have asked why this is happening if we are overstaffed.  The shortage has mainly been attributed by the company to a sustained and significant high rate of sick calls and absences over the past several weeks.  Of course, many of us are tired and stressed out and that can lead to illness.  Years of dramatically increased flying to make ends meet, increased stress with the bankruptcy and now the merger, the extra training, constant changes, reams of papers, hundreds of emails, and too little time off has a way of catching up with all of us at times.   

While we are thankful for a job in this tough economy, for our own health we must ensure better pay and work rules.  We look forward to our chance for early negotiations after a vote for union representation, to follow our executives and pilots in negotiating our own post-bankruptcy contract – one that honors our commitment and sacrifices over the past few years.     

When in doubt of the legality of an assignment by Crew Scheduling, always ask for a “Review of Crew Orders” and report any suspected contractual violation to your local AFA reps.  Please take care of each other and yourself, and try to stay hydrated and get plenty of rest whenever possible.  For non-contractual matters and to address a wide variety of family and work-related matters, please don’t hesitate to contact your trained AFA EAP volunteers and/or the company EAP program.   

GUARANTEED DAYS OFF – RESERVE GDO

Reserve Guaranteed Days Off are a powerful tool to protect your days off from violation due to rescheduling, especially when staffing is tight.  Please review Section 7 – Reserves to read about the option to select 8 GDOs each month and to learn about PDO and GDO protections.  GDOs carry some of the strongest protection in our contract and could even require a regular lineholder to be rescheduled, to avoid violation of contractual Reserve GDO provisions. An added GDO benefit comes with the GDO Release at 3 pm on the day prior.  GDOs must be selected before the month begins.  For information on how to designate Reserve GDOs, please refer to the CENTRY Manual on ATLAS.  This topic and many others are covered in the Reserve Trip Quick Reference that was created by fellow Reserves who volunteer on our AFA Reserve Committee and can be found on the MEC Reserve Committee page.   

WILL WE HAVE OUR CURRENT FULL-TIME RESERVE SYSTEM OR DELTA’S "A-DAYS" SYSTEM IF WE VOTE FOR AFA IN THIS MERGER? 

Our Reserve system is entirely contractual and is subject to change in each agreement. In contract negotiations all NW & DL flight attendants would be surveyed and the negotiators from both groups will negotiate as directed by the membership. It is unknown what result a negotiations survey would yield at this time, but the members drive the direction in our negotiations. The main thing that each Reserve and all flight attendants should take away from this - WE are in charge of our negotiations priorities if we vote to retain union representation.  

POSTING OF AWARDS AT BASE  

Many members have reported that lists and awards that have always been posted for pre-merger NW flight attendants are now non-existent or very hard to find.  NW has long been transparent and open about base transfer waiting lists, awards, etc.  This is apparently an attempt to shift to Delta policy – Delta management does not reportedly post complete lists of those waiting to transfer to another base, or complete lists of the awards, etc.  While some Delta changes are positive, we don’t believe this is one of them.  Our contract requires the posting of some lists and awards at the base and otherwise - in the interests of transparency - it keeps everyone honest and allows all of us to verify whether the transfers were handled in the correct order, allows flight attendants more information for bidding purposes, etc.  We will continue to enforce our contractual rights whenever applicable and also press for continued posting of the information that is not specifically addressed in the contract.  While Delta management has expressed that they simply aim to protect the privacy of flight attendants, the same information can be found with a lot more effort by NW flight attendants by scanning the PBS awards each month.  In addition to the posting requirements for certain lists and awards at the base, there is an additional requirement to provide AFA representatives with this information in confidential monthly reports that come in the following month - Section 23 – Union Activities.  

CWA NEEDS OUR HELP 

CWA is in our 17th week of working without a contract at AT&T.    CWA Local 7250 has been holding weekly lunch hour informational pickets Thursdays from 11:30 AM- 1:00 PM in front of 901 Marquette.  We have about 325 members and 7200 has 125 members in the building.

We are also doing some outside actions.  Honestly we could use help on both.    The outside actions so far have included informational picketing, handing out flyers at public events (like the GLBT Pride Parade, Susan G Komen Race for a Cure, and 75th Anniversary of the 1934 Teamster Strikes) and visiting stores that sell AT&T products like Apple, Best Buy & AT&T Agent stores.   Most of the outside actions are being done on weekends so that we do not have to incur lost time wages for participation.   This process has been very expensive already.  We need some help with volunteers, ours are getting tired.

We are making plans to flyer the Game Fair in Anoka (Ramsey) this weekend Aug 8 & 9 and we are making plans for the AT&T sponsored Hazeltine Golf Tournament August 10-16, but are thinking Saturday August 15 since that will be the busiest day, and the AT&T Sponsored American Idol concert in September.     If you would like to help with any of these events, please email me cwainfo@gmail.com for more information, otherwise we appreciate your support on our weekly info picket line.-- Submitted by MSP Government Affairs Chair Camilla Wolkerstorfer 

AMS HOTEL – THE NH MUSICA

Please be advised that our temporary hotel in AMS, the NH Musica, is a non-smoking hotel. For those of you who are looking for a place to smoke, there is a small patio in the front of the hotel with tables and chairs where you can smoke and enjoy the balmy summer that Amsterdam is enjoying.  We are pleased that our efforts and the reports of our members have resulted in a total overhaul of the NH Central Station to ensure company compliance with our contractual hotel standards.   

The NH Central Station has started their renovation. The current owners of the hotel have not determined if they will continue to have smoking rooms. Please voice your thoughts on this issue by submitting a hotel report at www.afahotels.org.  Click on the Forms link on the right side of the web page. Then click on the Flight Attendant Hotel Report Online Form and let us know if you would prefer a smoking room be available upon request at the NH Central Station. Remember to go to the bottom of the page and type the 2 words in the space provided. Then press the Submit button. - Submitted by MEC Hotel Committee Chair Anne Odenwald 

ALL FLIGHT ATTENDANTS INVITED!

There will be a Council 94 DTW meeting on Wednesday, October 7^th. Our special guest will be Association of Flight Attendants International President Pat Friend. There will be morning and afternoon meetings and all bases are welcome to join the meeting. Please keep the date in mind when bidding and we will be giving you more specific information regarding locations and times as the date approaches. – Submitted by Detroit LEC President Diana Mitcham