Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Caps, Limits, Restrictions, No DOH at AirTran/SWA???

NEWS UPDATE

FAA Issues Pilot Duty and Rest Rule
On Wednesday, December 21, 2011 The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the long awaited Pilot Duty and Rest Requirements to address pilot fatigue. The Pilot Fatigue Rule will take effect in two years to allow passenger airline operators time to transition. Even though these recently passed restrictions apply only to pilots in FAR parts 121 and 135, and don't take effect for two years, it is CWA's stated intent to see these caps, limits, and restrictions imposed on flight attendants........"afa believes that now that the pilot rule is done, it is imperative that the FAA initiate rulemaking to address flight attendant fatigue."

CWA-afa guiding philosophy seems to be "if you can't negotiate, legislate". How will they sell their Caps, work rules and restrictions to CO flight attendants?? Fatigue?? Oh ya, more restrictions equals more members equals MORE DUES MONEY and your ability to earn a living wage be damned!

 

Southwest Airlines flight attendants reach deal on seniority following buyout of AirTran.

CWA-afa representated flight attendants at AirTran get "fair and equitable" seniority integration with SWA f/a's. Southwest flight attendants represented by TWU will receive 2.5 years of super seniority! "Fair and Equitable" for AirTran, super seniority for Southwest! How do AirTran flight attendants feel about that?? Let's see how they vote. 

And whatever happened to afa's "its in our constitution" strict use of Date of Hire, DOH, as their sole means of seniority integration?? What happened to all the anti IAM campaign rhetoric heaped on UA flight attendants about DOH?? You be the judge...  
 



 

 

Monday, December 26, 2011

Whats on the Horizon for 2012??

FLIGHT ATTENDANTS FOR A COMBINED CONTRACT
http://flightattendantcoalition.blogspot.com/
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CAL Flight Attendants Ready to Negotiate Their Next Contract!

You can't fix stupid but vote it outOn December 16, 2011, CAL MEC asked for proposals to be submitted by all Continental flight attendants for a new contract.  The deadline to submit is February 10, 2012.

The early opener clause in their current contract, (Dated Jan. 1, 2010 - Sept. 2, 2012), permits CAL f/a's to begin negotiations and work on their contract with the Company by March 5th, 2012.
CAL flight attendants are given almost two months to participate by providing feedback for what they want in their next negotiated contract. A new contract for them could be in place as early as September, 2012 when their current contract becomes amendable!!   

Take note:  The United afa MEC has never solicited written proposals from UA flight attendants!!!  Instead CWA-afa gave us "skewed" surveys and then never gave us the results of those surveys!
 

Got Pension?

The 5th and final "expedited" negotiation session was scheduled December 12-16th. Section 34.B discusses investment options for the 401(k).  UAL stewsstripped_calendarHowever, "CWA may at its discretion exercise veto power over the selection of any fund it deems inappropriate for flight attendant investment" (Section 34.B.11.a). 

The additional investment option afa wants included is a Roth IRA - an idiotic and utterly meaningless proposal.  Any flight attendant, right this moment, can go to any bank branch or brokerage firm in person or online and open a traditional or Roth IRA, they needn't wait for the CWA-afa's "negotiated" blessing!

Instead, a substantial pay raise, (parity with CAL), would allow ALL flight attendants, at their option, to put more money into a 401(k) plan.  It can increase personal savings and reduce the amount of taxable income.  A raise via the increased amount of a company matched 401k contribution does nothing for a flight attendant who can't afford to contribute to a 401(k) in the first place!!

Of course, many of the CWA-afa officers will retire with a secure CWA pension and dues funded retirement medical benefits.  CWA knows how to take care of their own, presumably none of them will have to worry about making and/or selling calendars to subsidize their pension.
 

Do You Feel Lucky?

clint_eastwood_dirty_harry 3Base Closures?
CAL performed with a smaller, more efficient work force and FOUR bases instead of FOURTEEN. 

The overlap that exists in UA's fourteen far flung bases can be flown more efficiently with less than half that number. It will more than justify the one-time cost of closing bases. Is your base on the chopping block??

CAL Opening Sub Bases??

Will there be a "sub base" at LAX for the CAL flight attendants? It would accommodate the new CAL flying, possibly as soon as Spring 2012? 


CAL Operations increased pilots from 12 to 119 in LAX since May , 3, 2011 with additional plans for expansion. Also, starting in April, 2012, there will be 17 new flights out of LAX for CAL.  This does not include any new flying that will take place once the delivery of the new B787 starts sometime in 2012. 

There are plans to inaugurate Houston-Auckland as soon as the Dreamliners are introduced. 
CAL IAH bid packages have LAX-HAV (Havana, Cuba) for December and January.

Jeff Smisek has already stated publicly that there will be base closures for UA flight attendants.  It looks like there is already a sub base for pilots and potentially for flight attendants later on the CAL side in LAX.  Add 2,100 furloughs on the UA side while CAL has 27 classes of new hires scheduled (over 2,000 flight attendants)! 

United will continue to "shrink UA" and "grow Continental" if productivity gains sought are not achieved by management and shareholders.


Houston, We Definitely Have a Problem!

CWA-afa "Gambling Our Future"

Gamble Vegas 2It has been almost TWO YEARS (January 7, 2010) since UA's contract became amendable!! 

In the October 28, 2011 issue of
Negotiatons and You, CWA-afa tells us that the "expedited mediation" will "establish the foundation for Single Contract Negotiations to begin within 180 days following ratification of a Tentative Agreement." 

So, the earliest combined contract will not BEGIN negotiations until 2013!?!  There will be TWO separate amendable contracts on the property and no real attempt to negotiate a joint agreement!!!

UA flight attendants, meanwhile, are going to struggle to make a living with low projections and A/B rotation reaching further into the seniority list with each passing month.  At worst, involuntary furloughs will be announced in another few weeks despite  CWA-afa's assertions to the contrary.
CAL will be negotiating their 4th contract in the same period we have had one 13 year contract!

Expedited Negotiation Ends on Jan. 6th!

Demand a Combined Contract Now!

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

CONGRATULATIONS EXPRESS JET/ATLANTIC SOUTHEAST F/A's!

                                                           NEWSFLASH

The votes were counted yesterday in the representation election at Express Jet/Atlantic Southeast Airlines between the CWA-afa and the IAM. Flight attendants at the combined airline voted to have the IAM as their Union! The official results:

Based on a total flight attendant population of 2160,
49.3% of the TOTAL population voted for IAM.........1065 votes.
30.8% voted for CWA-afa..........666 votes. (hmmm......the devil in the numbers?!)
0.01% voted no union (26)

In all 1731 votes (80%) were cast. Twenty per cent (429) didn't participate.

The Express Jet web site states that "the IAM has already begun preparations to negotiate a single agreement covering both Flight Attendant groups (and) a bargaining priority survey is already underway."

That is a far cry from the afa at UAL who insists on wasting valuable time on a contract for subsidiary United f/a's instead of a COMBINED CONTRACT NOW! 

Saturday, December 17, 2011

   
       BEAM ME OUTTA HERE!

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Why is the "Crossover" in the Tentative?

"Beam Me Up to Continental, Scotty"Beam me up star_trek

On Dec. 5th, UA MEC agreed unanimously that the "early out" and "voluntary crossover" option programs in combination will be included as part of the Tentative Agreement (TA) reached as a result of Expedited Mediation, subject to Membership ratification. 
CWA-afa also stated, "Our contract provides industry leading protections that provide for a Voluntary Furlough and the Partnership Program". 

Furlough and Partnership Negotiated by CWA-afa is NOT Industry Leading!

Under the CAL contract, there is a "NO" furlough clause.  None of the current CAL new hires can be furloughed under the CAL contract.  And the CAL partnership line awards are based on the seniority of the "most senior" flight attendant. 

VS.

Under the UA contract negotiated by the CWA-afa , there WILL BE furloughs for 2,100 flight attendantsThe UA partnership line awards are based on the seniority of the "junior" flight attendant.
NO, Thank you!

Or the "Early Out"?

Retiring Flight attendant"Early Out" Programs have been offered to United flight attendants before, but not as part of a tentative agreement.   So why would the CWA-afa attach both the "Early Out" and the "Crossover" Programs in the Expedited Negotiations NOW?

Perhaps to extort the membership into voting for a highly undesirable tentative?  Would you vote "NO" if the resulting failure of a contract ratification could create "involuntary furloughs"?  Or prevent our senior flight attendants from being given additional monies (buyout) by the Company to expedite their retirement, minimize staffing overage, and reduce furloughs?  Can someone say -
 "Smart as a Fox"?

CWA-afa did not allow the membership to VOTE on the Continental like contract offered by the Company back in November, 2010.   Adding insult to injury, we have been promised a "negotiations purgatory" for the next two years, if the TA fails. This will do little for the thousands of employees already suffering from financial distress.

 

Is CWA-afa Working for US??

Hypocrisy Meter 2
The CWA-afa forget T
HEY ARE OUR EMPLOYEES and are supposed to serve as WE DIRECT THEM.  Instead, a closed political mechanism is in place that rewards cronyism and prevents the general membership from participating at any level of governance except for token elections at the local level. This is the very definition of "biting the hand that feeds", because without our money, THEY DON'T EXIST.   Yet, they take the money, pay themselves salaries and expenses far and above anything the average flight attendants paying those salaries can hope to make. They then insist we don't question their actions because THEY KNOW BETTER.

Instead, we demand the CWA-afa provide real benefits to the flight attendants (i.e. frequent, short term contracts, and aggressive, accessible, DAILY representation with an office in the base to address issues as they occur in real time) and provide value for the dues we are paying! 
AND


  The Expedited Negotiation will Enter the Final Mediation Session on Dec.12th
Demand a Combined Contract Now!

JOIN THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT COALITION FOR CHANGE AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

GOT JOB SECURITY??

December 07, 2011
FLIGHT ATTENDANTS FOR A COMBINED CONTRACT
Visit our blog: http://flightattendantcoalition.blogspot.com/
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UA Announces 2100 Furloughs

Negotiation for DummiesOn December 5, Sam Risoli issued a letter informing United flight attendants of the need to furlough 2,100 United flight attendants for 12 months effective March 2, 2012.

Since the issuance of the single operating certificate on November 30, WE ARE A COMBINED AIRLINE, and manpower projections will be constantly evaluated and revised to maximize utilization, efficiency and profitability across both operations going forward.

CWA-afa Backtracks & Doublespeak

On December 5th, CWA-afa declared "we continue to explore additional opportunities such as an early out option in combination with a voluntary cross-over program in our Expedited Negotiations. If those negotiations result in a Tentative Agreement, subject to Membership ratification, it could provide opportunities to resolve management’s staffing overage."

Now that the issue of representation has been temporarily decided, the CWA -afa feels magnanimous enough to allow “talk” of a voluntary cross-over program. Of course, now a UA flight attendant who crosses over will be behind six or more classes of Continental new hires, but that is of no concern to the CWA-afa since their business interests has trumped flight attendants’ well-being every time.

Remember last summer? On July 10th, CWA-afa responded to the Company's cross utilization proposal by stating "Because their proposal has no meaningful benefit to the 15,000 United Airlines Flight Attendants" and therefore,Be it finally resolved, The United MEC directs the MEC President to advise United management of our unequivocal rejection of the company’s proposal.”

A sudden "Change of Heart" after a thoughtless and vitriolic response to the original Company offer? Extortion anyone?

Meanwhile "Back at the Ranch" in Houston
CAL welcomed 48 new flight attendants on Friday, December 2nd! IAH Inflight Base Director Diane Carr gave the keynote speech and the latest class of flight attendants will be based in IAH.

The graduation at the Training Center in Houston was the fourth of the year and two more are planned, on December 9th and December 16th!! It is anticipated that there will be an additional 1,000 flight attendants in EWR by mid 2012!!

The Half-Truth Behind "Expedited"

AFA pinocchio 2CAL fa's, are you sitting down for this? CWA-afa might have reached agreement with the Company for one of 12 expedited items - "jetway trades".

What is becoming more evident is that the three "appointed" MEC UA negotiators at CWA-afa lack serious credentials next to their CAL counterparts. If their "lite" biographies are an indicator, there are serious omissions of negotiations experience as well as lack of significant union related accomplishments.

It may explain the CWA-afa's decision to take "shortcuts" through expedited negotiations. A combined contract would be extraordinarily complicated requiring knowledge of two contracts instead of one. They will need "Negotiating for Dummies, 2nd Edition"!
CWA-afa has already stated that IF our expedited tentative does NOT PASS once presented to the membership on or nearing the deadline of January 6th, we can expect to enter "negotiations purgatory for at least another 2 years"? The CWA-afa leadership is determined to SCARE us into voting FOR a substantially inferior contract to the Continental-like contract that they openly ridiculed during the representation election!

Does Experience & Integrity Matter?

AFA CAL Comes OUT "TO PLAY" With AFA UAL!

Angry_Wolves_PlayingMarcus Valentino, the new CAL MEC President, was first elected President of the Cleveland domicile in 2006 and for a second term as President and Grievance Chairperson in 2009. Marcus is currently working on his Masters of Science in Organizational Leadership and was also
a member of the IAM Negotiations Committee. They negotiated the last two industry leading legacy contracts with Continental Airlines, and United Continental Holdings.

Joining Marcus at CAL are LEC EWR President Joey Guider, and LEC IAH President Manny Mireles. The new CAL MEC and LEC officers have already pushed back against CWA-afa's attempt to force CAL to appoint key committee positions with less than 5 business days notice after all the elections. Now, CAL will have until January 1st, 2012, to fill these important positions with qualified members! The newly elected officers at CAL MEC, representing over 9,500 CAL flight attendants, may be new players in town but already are a force to reckon with at CWA-afa!!
http://unitedexcon.com/

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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Welcome CAL New Hires

NEWS FLASH
UA Announces 2100 Furloughs
While CAL Hires New F/A's!


The truth........ in Houston CAL welcomed 48 new flight attendants on Friday, December 2nd! IAH Inflight Base Director Diane Carr gave the keynote speech and the latest class of flight attendants will be based in IAH. The graduation at the Training Center in Houston was the fourth of the year and two more are planned, on December 9th and December 16th!! It is anticipated that there will be an additional 1,000 flight attendants in EWR by mid 2012!!

Did you know that the Flight Attendants being hired right now at subsidiary Continental & graduating this week, CANNOT BE FURLOUGHED because of a no-furlough sideletter in place in their IAM negotiated contract?

Did you know that Flight Attendants at subsidiary United with 13 YEARS seniority ARE SUBJECT TO BEING FURLOUGHED in early 2012 because AFA rejected the Crossover option offered by the company last summer??

Way to negotiate CWA-afa!%&*!

Try reading this first next time!!!

Negotiating for DUMMIES

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Negotiations Purgatory?

FLIGHT ATTENDANTS FOR A COMBINED CONTRACT


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AFA Leadership Threatens "Negotiations Purgatory"

the-terminal-dvd 3In the Fall 2011 Issue of Negotiations & You, CWA-afa reminds us that "the power of the Union is only as strong as the number of Members who can be mobilized to action". CWA-afa's new soundbite succinctly and clearly sets the stage for blaming the members who may fail to act as directed, rather than the leadership at CWA-afa accepting responsibility for their repeated and failed leadership.

CWA-afa also provides us with a chart and threatens us with "two more years in Negotiations purgatory" if 5,000 flight attendants don't take collective action by wearing the gold ribbons or send a postcard to Jeff. The blame is shifted once again to the membership no longer willing to play childish games and/or engage with union "leadership" that is wasting time on a single contract negotiations. The Fall 2011 issue also warns flight attendants "If you need a pay raise, stand behind the Negotiating Committee fighting for your interests in negotiations. We will not see the pay raise we want in a new Contract just by asking".

The inference is that we must wear our pins and ribbons to get the pay raise we want. As opposed to the negotiated give-and-take with the Company in order to achieve anything approaching pay parity with Continental flight attendants. Who knew it could be so simple?

SOLIDARITY DOES MATTER. CWA-afa assures us that "our Negotiating Committee is fighting for our collective interest". "Our collective interests" should be understood to include the entire workforce of flight attendants at Continental, Continental Micronesia, and United. We must stand together and demand change - change embodied in a combined contract NOW!

IS "Big Brother" Watching?

CWA-afa "Disses" Social Media Sites!

SuperStock_Binocular SpyingAbject fear is sweeping through CWA-afa's MEC office as expression of membership discontent grows on Facebook and other Social Media sites (AFA E-Lines on November 23, 2011). CWA-afa states:

"Facebook and other social media can be great for entertainment and connecting with other people. They are not places for official information regarding negotiations or what is going on with the company. Why? Because anyone can post without having to be accurate or accountable for their statements or the consequences that can follow inaccurate information".
ONLY THE CWA-afa KNOWS THE TRUTH!
REALLY?!?

A union is only as strong as the leadership that sets the tone for progressive and responsive action - that welcomes and embraces dissent and debate with intelligent, constructive rebuttal and reasoning rather than name calling and hysterics. Defending a poor track record must be very difficult (i.e. 3 contracts in 26 years at Air Wisconsin, 2 in 25 years at United Airlines, 1 in 17 years at America West). Not to mention the three failed attempts to unionize the Delta FA's with our dues money in the last 16 years? Instead, the CWA-afa has chosen simply to shout down the opposition!

"Fool's Gold for Sale"

yellow-ribbon-christmas-tree-800x800 3What is the REAL reason the CWA-afa is aggressively stepping up their campaign for us to wear gold ribbons??
Psychologists have helped businesses use colors to influence customer behavior for decades. What exactly is CWA-afa trying to sell us? The usual "tired" CWA-afa concessionary contract?

Despite the urgency of our current situation, we are instructed to "tie a gold ribbon on the side handle of our crew bag". This is evidently modeled after the "highly successful" AFA green ink campaign of the late 1980's, which led to the "industry leading" 10 year contract of 1987-1996. That contract, you will recall, opened the door for, among other things, allowing the foreign nationals to begin intra-Asia flying and the opening of international domiciles. It also did not prevent the outsourcing of our flying to regional carriers like Skywest and ExpressJet.

The next time the LEC officers in your domicile enthusiastically tries to hand these ribbons to you for wear and display, you may want to ask yourself, "Fool's Gold" ANYONE?


Combined Contract Now!

We are not just 15,000 United flight attendants or 9,500 Continental flight attendants anymore; we are 24,500 strong members! Demand a.........

COMBINED CONTRACT NOW! JOIN THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT COALITION FOR CHANGE AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!