12.22.00 – (LAA) – AA Opposes Release Request to NMB, Skyword, SFO/SFO-I Base Meeting Cancelled, FAA Certificate Management Office

Hello this is Laura Glading and this is the negotiations portion of the Hotline.

Thanks to all of you who took time out of your holiday preparations to participate in the Santa leafleting at the airports today. Needless to say, it was a tremendous success. Flight Attendants have excellent communication skills and infinite charm. We’re always a smash when we go public. Your continuous and unwavering support is very much appreciated and very effective.

The Company submitted a response to our request to the National Mediation Board for a release. Not surprisingly, the Company opposes a release, complaining that the union owes the Company a response to its so-called comprehensive proposal of November16. The Company also claims that discussions during the last week of November were prematurely ended by a “walk out” by the union. The Company is wrong on both counts.

The November 16 proposal came in a fancy, fat binder, but the proposal itself was completely lacking in content. Any minimal improvements beyond the rejected tentative agreement were offset by substantial new concessionary demands. The proposal was a major step backward, demonstrated that the Company was not serious, and did not warrant a formal response. Because further bargaining based on the Company’s November 16 proposal would obviously get us nowhere, when we resumed negotiations the last week of November, the Mediator advised the parties to proceed in an informal manner rather than through formal proposals. As we previously reported, your Negotiating Committee made every effort that week to explore all different options for breaking the logjam in negotiations. Unfortunately, the Company made it clear that all it was prepared to offer was rhetoric and that it was unwilling to make the serious moves that were called for. That is the reason- and indeed the only reason- why the discussions terminated. That is also the reason that the NMB placed the discussions in recess, why we reluctantly concluded that the talks were at an impasse, and why we urged the NMB to grant a release and start the 30-day clock running in the hope that this might finally prompt the Company to bargain seriously.

Every Flight Attendant can contribute to our effort to achieve a contract. Your participation in the planned membership activities sends a strong message to the Company. We can’t be bribed and we’ll never give up. We work too hard and respect ourselves too much to be tricked or intimidated into working under another substandard contract. We’ve seen that movie; it’s a sad story with a bad ending. If we remain strong and unified, we will obtain a contract that we can all be proud of.

Please stay informed; there are more membership activities planned in the near future at various bases. The next national activity will be on January 19th. Please hold that date, details will be announced soon.

There are rumors abound with regard to APFA negotiation activities. Please make certain that you check the facts with the APFA and that you not engage in any activity that has not been sanctioned by the APFA.

The APFA Negotiating team would like to wish you and your families a happy and healthy holiday season and, standing together, we will ensure that prosperous New Year!

Hello, this is Leslie Mayo, National Communications Coordinator, with more APFA HotLine news for the week ending December 22, 2000.

Thank you to all of the Flight Attendants who came out for our Santa Leafleting event. It was a huge success with passengers becoming our picket signs – flooding the airport terminals with our bright red shopping bags in tow. The Grinch Christmas Card/leaflet was very well received and picketing in both Chicago and New York went extremely well. All in all, practice makes perfect and we are getting there faster than we expected! Our next membership action event is January 19th, so stay tuned for more details.

The APFA PhoneWatch is up and running and volunteers are available toll-free, at: 866-ASK-APFA. If you have ANY questions about anything involving negotiations, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. Currently, the hours are 10-4 CST, but these hours will increase as necessary.

Special Assignments: We want to clarify and correct any misunderstanding that may have arisen in some locations regarding the subject of “special assignments”. The union does not advocate or condone pressuring flight attendants to withdraw from special assignments. The decision whether to accept or decline the offer of a special assignment rests with individual flight attendants as does the decision to remain on or terminate an existing special assignment. We are aware that individuals may have differing views regarding the wisdom of accepting or remaining on special assignments. However, each flight attendant should respect the right of every other flight attendant to make these decisions. Nothing positive is accomplished by having flight attendants fight among themselves. As with all of our actions related to these negotiations, it is imperative that we remain united, that we continue to resist efforts to let the Company create splits within our ranks, and that we only engage in activities that have been sanctioned by the union.

Your final edition of Skyword for the year 2000 went out Friday and you should be receiving it soon. Please take the time to read all of the articles inside as this is one of the best ways to stay up-to-date with what’s going on in negotiations. On the back cover, there is a postage-paid, change of address card. Please tear it out and send it back to us with any changes to your personal information as the company does not keep us updated with this information.

APFA received notice from our FAA Certificate Management Office, that FAA inspectors can and will impose personal fines of up to $1100 on flight attendants who are up during taxi, performing non-safety related duties, such as taking preferences, passing out pillows and blankets, etc… This policy is outlined in FAR 121.391(d). If you have any questions regarding this requirement, please call the Safety Department at Headquarters, extension 8302.

As a reminder, SFO/SFO-I’s base meeting is canceled for the month of December and will resume their regular base meetings on the last Wednesday of each month in January. APFA Headquarters will be closed on Christmas Day and the day after, but will reopen on Wednesday, December 27.

From the scheduling department…crew schedule is assigning flight attendants trips on days off, duty free periods, and they are moving reserve duty free periods. Use caution when answering your phones over the holiday period. Refer to the order of open time coverage language in the contract on pages 51 for domestic and 235 for international.

Your APFA representatives wish each of you a safe and happy holiday season. We thank you for your continued support in this struggle to attain the contract we deserve. Thank you for calling the APFA HotLine.