2.03.07 – (LAA) – Annual BOD Meeting

This is Leslie Mayo, National Communications Coordinator reporting from Chicago with the APFA Hotline for Saturday, February 3, 2007.

APFA News: Your APFA leadership is in session in Chicago at the Annual APFA Board of Directors Meeting. Since Thursday, February 8th, the Board has been focused on reviewing the State of our Union and making the decisions that will affect all APFA members as we move forward into the next 12 months. The meeting is expected to adjourn early next week at which point we will update you on the course your elected leadership will take on behalf of our 20,000 members. We will also announce the two newly-elected members of the Executive Committee, among other items. Minutes from the meeting will be published on the APFA Web site in accordance with the APFA Policy Manual.

Earlier this month the Coalition of Flight Attendant unions met at TWU Local 556 – the Headquarters of the Union representing the Southwest Flight Attendants. All FA unions nationwide were represented – TWU, IAM, IBT, AFA and APFA. The purpose of this meeting was to set the course for joint efforts in legislative action on the Hill.

Eddie Morris, an AA groundworker at DFW, was in a serious accident last month when he was run over by a push-back truck near the C-Terminal around 11:00 p.m. This accident resulted in the amputation of his left leg above the knee, and most recently, his right leg had to be amputated below the knee. A fund has been set up at the AA Credit Union on his behalf. If you would like to donate, please reference Eddie’s employee number – 514619

Bankruptcy Watch: Northwest Airlines announced a 4th Quarter loss of $267 million. Their total earnings for ’06 were a reported loss of -$2.84 billion; about a $300 million higher loss than 2005’s reported loss of -$2.56 billion. The loss can all be attributed to reorganization expenses. Without bankruptcy costs and taxes, Northwest would have reported a profit of $301 million. The Northwest Flight Attendants are still attempting to negotiate an agreement and met as late as Friday in mediated talks. No future negotiations meetings have been scheduled.

Industry Watch: US Airways’ CEO Doug Parker announced last week that he will not pursue another airline until mergers between other carriers occur. Parker predicts that there will not be a wave of consolidation until another industry downturn.

Fuel Watch: On February 9th a barrel of crude oil cost $59.89. The crack spread price was $15.29. This brings the total for one barrel of jet fuel to $75.18 à nearly $1.50 more than last week’s price. One year ago, jet fuel was $73.81 a barrel, just over $1 a barrel higher than the price today.

That’s it for this week. Thank you for calling the APFA Hotline.