The CAL and
CMI MECs are coming to an important crossroads and they must NOT let this
moment pass. Both CAL and CMI contracts became amendable at the end of December
2014, and should consider that it is their RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY to pursue
Section 6 negotiations with company management to conclude another two year
agreement that will bring a merged CAL/CMI entity in line with s-UAL’s
attendants’ 2016 amendable date.
Read that again and ponder why in
the name of common sense s-UAL “leadership” would have opted for yet another
overlong contract period (SIX YEARS from the 2010 amendable date of the last
contract). S-CAL and CMI leadership,
understanding the volatile and changing landscape of the merging entity, chose
instead for short term interim contracts to allow their negotiators to adjust
accordingly for the overall benefit of s-CAL attendants. S-CAL and CMI attendants, whose contracts are
similar, would do well, for the continued protection of their respective work
forces to consider a merge NOW. After all,
LOA 25 in the current CAL contract only provides no furlough protection for
flight attendants “on
the Continental System Seniority List as of the date of ratification of this
July 13, 2012 – December 31, 2014 Agreement.”
Continental
has hired, and continues to hire, flight attendants since the current CAL
contract was ratified and they deserve the same protection the IAM had the
foresight to negotiate on behalf of CAL attendants prior to the representation
vote in 2011. CMI attendants would benefit from this protection too if a joint
contract with CAL were to be ratified.
What subsidiary CAL attendants
must understand and remember above all else is that ratification of a 3 party joint
contract, however far into the future that will probably be, is followed by an
integration of seniority lists, and the s-UAL work force is, for the most part,
SIGNIFICANTLY SENIOR TO THE CAL GROUP.
Once integrated, any future furloughs, forced leaves, and base
displacements would be by seniority and disproportionately affect the CAL
attendants. It would be in every CAL
attendants’ best interest to press their leadership for an immediate
commencement and rapid conclusion to joint contract talks with their CMI
counterparts – they will be better protected and positioned for the future
because of it.
S-UAL attendants are accustomed
to lengthy periods of go-nowhere negotiations and empty promises (e.g.
retroactive pay that has NEVER been successfully negotiated on behalf of s-UAL
attendants, thereby forfeiting THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS in lost income), and it
would set a terrible precedent if CAL attendants are forced to endure the
chicanery and political antics s-UAL attendants have come to know and love – it
gives them ample fodder to pursue their foremost passion at work – COMPLAINT,
which s-UAL “leadership” heartily encourages.
CAL and CMI attendants would already
be owed retroactive pay for new contracts with top of the scale rates that
should equal American’s recently concluded joint contract process – it is up to
current CAL leadership to press the issue and do what’s right for its
membership. If S-CAL is forced to wait for the next five or six years that some
believe it will realistically take to get a joint contract with s-UAL, they
will NEVER see true retroactive pay for the time and money that s-UAL “leadership”
will lose for them while they grandstand and posture for their NON-WORKING
flight attendant peers in oh-so-important positions of power and prestige.
As the recent announcement about
possible outsourcing of work at twenty-eight UA line stations demonstrates, events
unfold rapidly, and what appears secure and guaranteed today is anything but,
and the flight attendant group is NOT EXEMEPT. Many believe It is of paramount
importance that s-CAL and CMI leadership secure a new interim MERGED agreement to
pay and protect their groups NOW! The
additional benefit to WORKING flight attendants will be the elimination of
administrative and managerial overlap that currently exists with both a CAL and
CMI MEC basically overseeing the same contract.
While GUM based flight attendants will continue to have their local
leadership, they will benefit from the lower costs and wage savings that will
result from a single MEC overseeing the affairs of the newly combined work
force.
If the status quo continues, s-CAL
and CMI attendants risk falling into the same morass of despair and economic deprivation
that s-UAL flight attendants have long endured.
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