4.21.00 – (LAA) – Negotiations Update

Hello this is John Ward, President of APFA with a negotiations update for Friday, April the 21st.

This week members of APFA’ s Negotiating Committee met in DFW working on various subcommittee assignments and projects in preparation for our return to active bargaining with the Company.

Meanwhile, management has been reviewing the proposals that we presented to them at the end of March. We return to the negotiating table in White Plains, New York on Tuesday, May 2.

On Wednesday of this week I had the pleasure of attending an InfoRep and Base meeting in Chicago for both Chicago domestic and IOR. In spite of the inclement weather, the meeting was very well attended. I enjoyed having the opportunity to speak with everyone about negotiations. I certainly hope to get to as many of these meetings as my schedule allows.

Two more InfoRep/Base meetings are planned for May. May the 10th for DFW Domestic and May the 31st for San Francisco and San Francisco International. The DFW meeting will be held at APFA headquarters and it is scheduled to begin at 10 o’ clock for InfoReps and 1 o’ clock for all members in good standing. San Francisco’ s time and location is to be announced in a future HotLine. Have a great Easter weekend and now please stay on the line for more HotLine news.

Hello, this is Friday, April 21st and this Peter Day, member of the Negotiating Committee.

In industry news, the front page of the Wall Street Journal today reported Negotiators for Northwest Airlines and its flight attendants’ union reached a tentative agreement that if ratified will end more than 3 years of ranker with the nations fourth largest airline.

The union which represents the 11,000 flight attendants said the package would increase base pay by 29%, and 120% over several years, depending upon the employee’s longevity. The deal was for four or five years, offers a signing bonus of 8% to 28% of annual wages, improved pension pay, domestic partner health benefits, and work rules that add protection for flight attendants. (quote) “We are pleased to have reached this agreement and believe it is a fair one for all parties.” (end quote), said Doug Stealand, the Northwest Executive Vice President. The airline based in St. Paul, Minnesota declined to comment further.

American Airlines and other U.S. carriers have begun reporting earnings figures for the first quarter of the year 2000. American reported a net profit of $89 million for January, February and March, compared to a loss of $2 million for the same three months of 1999. Referring to the results, AMR CEO Don Carty stated, “We established some very positive momentum in the first quarter, posting solid results despite significantly higher fuel prices and soft traffic early in the quarter surrounding the millennium change.” Other airlines reporting profits for the quarter were: Delta, $179 million; United, $136 million; Southwest $95.6 million; and America West, $14.6. Reporting losses for the quarter were: US Airways, $115 million; and Alaska, $7.5 million.

Regarding upcoming meetings, regular APFA base meetings are scheduled for SFO/SFO-I for Wednesday, April 26th and for IDF on Tuesday, May 9. Base and InfoRep meetings will be held for DFW on May 10th; DCA – DCA-I on Monday, 22nd and for SFO/SFO-I on Wednesday, May 31st.

And this is some advice from the Scheduling Department. . .We will be in the last five days of the contractual month beginning April 26th and running through April 30th. Flight Attendants should review Article 9.P.6. or Appendix I, Article 9.P.6. for procedures regarding pay protection. To qualify, you must lose your last trip of the month due to cancellation or illegality, and subsequently must do no flying. An OE is not considered as a “last trip.” Should this happen to you, you must put your name on the make-up list for all days originally scheduled to fly and up through eight hours after the arrival time of the original sequence, and you must make an effort to recover the time lost via the make-up system. Otherwise, you will forfeit the cancellation pay; however, your guarantee will remain intact. Your obligation will appear in a header at the top of your HI1. After the obligation window has passed, the pay will be automatic following a search for your name on the make-up list by the computer. Please call the APFA Scheduling Department at headquarters, extension 8161 if you have any questions.

Hotel reviews are being conducted during April in: Greensboro; Washington Reagan, short; Washington Dulles, short; Rochester, New York; San Jose,Costa Rica; San Juan; and Rome. Please direct your comments regarding our layover hotels to the APFA Hotel Department at headquarters extension 8306, use the hotel debrief form in operations, at the APFA website’s hotel section..

For those of you on the Internet, be sure to check out the various links attached to this HotLine on our web site at: www.www.apfa.org.

And that’s it for this week. The APFA wishes every member a Happy Easter weekend and remember to always wear your APFA pin proudly as a sign of our independence, unity and strength and thank you for calling the APFA HotLine.