1.26.01 – (LAA) – Strike Ballot Briefings, Northwest and Continental Bidding on TWA Assets, Profit Sharing Formula Announced, Health Department Survey

Hello, this is Thelma Dodson, APFA Negotiator, and this is the negotiations portion of the hotline for Friday, January 26, 2001.

Strike Ballot Briefings continued this week in Chicago and Boston. These briefings continue to draw large, enthusiastic and supportive crowds. Our main message to the membership continues to be, “The Power of Yes”. We are referring to, of course, the strike authorization balloting. As President John Ward reported in a special update to the hotline last week, the NMB plans to resume its mediation efforts. We look forward to continuing our efforts to conclude a negotiated agreement.

Now, more than ever, we need to show the Company that the membership is solidly behind our efforts. A strong “yes” vote will send the team back to the table with the leverage and support they need to negotiate the contract you have earned and deserve. We are at that all too familiar, yet critical point in our negotiations when the Company makes a last ditch effort to test and divide the membership. They do not want to pay us if they don’t have to and, although it is hard to believe, there is still some sentiment in upper management that a good portion of the membership would be satisfied with their last proposal. Thus they engage in rituals such as offering that 8% pay increase and spreading misinformation regarding the reason for our recess, and falsely stating that the NMB has denied our request for a release; all in the hope that they can crack our foundation and force us to settle for less than we deserve. A strong yes vote will tell the Company that we have built a strong house on a solid foundation and we are unwavering in our resolve. That message will be heard by the public and the National Mediation Board and may well be the largest step we have taken during these negotiations to reach our goal, which is a full and fair negotiated contract.

If you have not already received your ballot you should be receiving one shortly. If you do not receive one in the next week please contact the National Balloting Committee at 1-800-395-APFA x 8311. There is much happening within our Company and throughout the industry. Please keep focused on staying unified and achieving a contract. Your Negotiating Team remains 100% confident that as long as the membership is behind us, we can reach our goal.

Strike Ballot Briefings continue next week in New York, Washington, Miami and Raleigh. Stay informed, unified and don’t forget to vote! And now, please stay on the line for more APFA and industry news.

This is Leslie Mayo, National Communications Coordinator, with more Hotline news for the week ending January 26th, 2001.

Strike Ballot Briefings are in full swing at bases system-wide and will continue through February 2nd. The last of the ten meetings are scheduled as follows:

New York-Jan 30
Ramada Plaza Hotel
JFK International Airport
Jamaica, NY
718-995-9000

DCA-Jan 31
Sheraton Crystal City Hotel
1800 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA 22202
703-486-1111

MIA-Feb 1
Wyndham Miami Biscayne Bay
1601 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, FL
305-714-3805

RDU-Feb 2
Holiday Inn Crabtree
4100 Glenwood
Raleigh, NC
919-782-8600

Your strike ballots are due on 21st of February so please don’t forget to fill it out and send yours to APFA Headquarters via US Mail. Do not use an APFA drop box as this will nullify your vote. It must be received in the designated post office via US Mail. If you don’t receive your ballot by the beginning of February, e-mail or call the membership department at Headquarters, ext. 8153 or [email protected] and let us know so that we can send you a duplicate. Only one of your ballots can be counted so please, if you do request a duplicate, please only return one as this slows down the tabulation process.

On the subject of these and all other ballots you receive from APFA, the National Balloting Committee would like you to know that although the ballot requests pencil, over 200 types of ink have been tested on the machines used to count the ballots. The only ink that is not readable is the color red. No ballots will be voided if they are marked correctly, even with red ink, however, they will have to be hand counted which also slows down the process.

Looks like American has some competition this week with Continental and Northwest jumping into the bidding of assets for TWA. Continental is offering $40M dollars to allow TWA to continue to operate as an independent carrier and Northwest wants to “help” by purchasing the carrier’s share in their computerized passenger-reservation system. Northwest claims that AA is not following bankruptcy rules fairly by, among other things, requiring TWA to pay a $75M dollar “break-up” fee if the deal does not go through and also, by requiring whoever does outbid AA, to do it by $85M dollars. Sounds like AA covered all their bases.

The Profit Sharing Formula was announced today and will be 5.86% of your year to date gross annual pay. Remember that you must subtract from that number, the profit sharing amount you received last year before you multiply by 5.86%. Once you have a total, remember to subtract 35.65% for taxes. That should be your estimated net “take home” amount.

The APFA Health Department is sending out a survey to the 675 flight attendants who received cart related injuries in 2000. The survey will remain anonymous and will be tabulated by a consulting firm and monitored by us. If you receive a survey, please return it and let us know what happened and your ideas on prevention.

Profit Sharing was great — in fact, it’s supposed to be one of the biggest payouts AA has ever made. Perhaps the dipping pool wouldn’t have been so deep had AA F/As gotten a raise, however. But for a company who can’t afford to give us a raise, they sure are pulling money out of somewhere to acquire EVEN MORE employees! AA just paid out 5.2 billion for the TWA transactions, and we’ve also discovered that they agreed to pay $509M dollars for TWA retirees. Boy, that’s a lot of money for employees who work for a completely different company, when AA won’t even take care of their own. From the minimal raises they offered in the last T/A, AA is saving 1.22 million PER WEEK. That’s over $60M last year alone, that AA put towards more room in coach, a lovely gymnasium in downtown Dallas, and the ever important “Your World” training.

AMR’s 4th Quarter numbers for the year 2000 were announced last week and reported net earnings of $56 million, bringing the total yearly 2000 earnings to $752M dollars. This is $209M dollars MORE than the year prior. Next move: buy United or give their Flight Attendants a raise. Sooner or later, they’re going to have to deal with their employees already ON the property.

Just a reminder that the last 5 days of the contractual month begins Jan. 26 and runs through Jan. 30. 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. 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.

That’s it for this week. Remember it’s Union Pin, Wings and Nametag only and your bagtag should read 4,3,2,1… Thanks for calling the APFA HotLine.