11.23.05

This is Leslie Mayo, APFA National Communications Coordinator, with the APFA Hotline for Wednesday, November 23, 2005. We have 13 APFA members serving in the military full time and 4,094 furloughed flight attendants waiting to be recalled. Please keep them in your thoughts on this Thanksgiving holiday.

Willingness to Serve Notifications for the Vice Chairperson position at DCA-I were due in the designated post office box today. By virtue of running unopposed, Todd Burbank was duly-elected to the Vice Chair position and will take office immediately for the remainder of the two-year term ending March 31, 2007.

Joint News Watch: Last week the U.S. Senate agreed overwhelmingly to include the airline-specific provisions of the Isaakson Amendment in the Pension Reform Bill – which passed 97-2. The next step in the process will be discussion and a vote in the House on their version of the Pension Bill. This is expected to take place after the Holiday recess. A senior staff member this week said that the Senate is optimistic aviation provisions will remain in the pension reform bill through conference despite opposition from the White House, APFA’s efforts are now focused on encouraging Representatives in the House to include airline-specific language during the conference.

Bankruptcy Watch: United Airlines CFO says UAL is on track to exit Bankruptcy early next year. UAL has stopped accepting Flight Attendant applications after receiving about 17,000 in a three-day period for the 2,000 jobs that will be available in 2006. They will interview 5,100 candidates who have “successfully completed the initial steps” for qualification. These new Flight Attendants will be based in Chicago or Washington.

Talks between Continental and the flight attendant’s union (IAM) adjourned last week without a deal but another round of meetings is scheduled for early next month.

The chairman of the National Mediation Board joined last week’s talks between the company and the IAM, and management says that “the issues have been narrowed to a few remaining items.” A final bargaining session has been scheduled for Dec. 7-8 at the NMB in Washington. If no deal is reached on those dates, the NMB will consider releasing the parties into a 30-day, cooling-off period.

Fuel Watch: The price for a barrel of jet fuel as of the 22nd of November is $70.39 up nearly $2 from last week’s price. The crack spread (the cost of refining crude oil into jet fuel) remains about the same at $11.55, however, the price for a barrel of crude has risen about $2 to the tune of $58.84. As a reminder, this price is about $35 more per barrel than the cost of jet fuel in 2003.

APFA News: We’d like to make a positive clarification to the recent Settlement Agreement that included longer layover rest as well as crew meals on Long Range Flying and Extended Long Range Flying. Since Long Range Flying encompasses any single leg in excess of 12 hours of scheduled flying time, and LAX-NRT for the month of December has a scheduled flying time of more than 12 hours, all LAX-NRT sequences will receive the previously announced provision of crew meals for the bid month of December beginning December 2nd.

And finally, just to remind those of you that may be passing through Miami, Raleigh and DC next week, APFA InfoRep Denise Pointer and Legislative Rep Rick Musica will finish their system wide tour recruiting InfoReps and increasing PAC donations. They will be in MIA on November 28th and the morning of the 29th, RDU the afternoon of the 29th and DCA on the 30th.

That’s it for this week. In observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday, APFA will be closed on Thursday and Friday and reopen at 9:00 a.m. Central Time on Monday morning. If you have an urgent question or issue that needs an immediate response please leave a message for the Officer On Duty at APFA Headquarters by following the prompts. Thank you for calling the APFA Hotline and have a Happy Thanksgiving holiday.