8.10.07 – (LAA) – Customs, Contact Congress about Extension of Recall Rights

This is Leslie Mayo, National Communications Coordinator, with the APFA Hotline for Friday, August 10, 2007.

From the Vice President’s Department: If you are asked by management to provide a written statement in reference to any situation that could result in discipline to you or to another AA employee, please contact APFA immediately. If you are not able to locate a union rep at that moment, inform management personnel that you are requesting APFA representation prior to submitting any written statement.

As we stated last week, it is important for crewmembers to properly declare all items obtained outside of the U.S. when clearing Customs. Also, remember that FAA inspectors are checking our aircraft and crews constantly. Please be sure your manual is up-to-date and your flashlight is operable. If you are found to be in violation of FAA laws, you may be subject to a personal fine.

Donít forget to visit APFA.org and click on the following links to contact Congress about the extension of recall rights, Family Leave for crewmembers and OSHA protection for Flight Attendants:

• Extend Recall Rights for Furloughed AA FAs – July 20, 2007
• Family Medical Leave for Crewmembers – June 21, 2007
• OSHA Protection for Flight Attendants – May 31, 2007

Rumor Control: After having spent the past couple of days at EPT’s, a few Flight Attendants were still inquiring about “the $40,000 we’re getting back from the lawsuit settling.” Since there has been no settlement of any lawsuit filed against APFA, I felt it important to rehash this again. As a reminder, this rumor was last addressed on July 13, 2007, and first addressed in May when it began. In short hereís the answer:

A: This rumor is completely false. APFA is working on a member update of the lawsuits filed against our Union following the TWA acquisition in 2001 and the Restructuring Agreement in 2003. Those lawsuits that have not already been dismissed remain in District Court in New York and are in the summary judgment phase. Please continue to read the Hotline, as we will keep you up to date on any future decisions. We are working on a page for the Web site that addresses litigation against your Union. You will be notified as soon as it is published ñ hopefully before the Labor Day weekend.

Q: I hear there will be more recalls shortly. Is this true?

A: APFA is very hopeful that the Company will announce a recall soon. We are aware of the short-staffed aircraft our members are working on every day, as well as the reassignments and the ever-growing miserable Reserve situation out there. The more staffing we have, the more flexibility we will realize. Thank you to all FAs for sending in your stories, your questions and your comments, particularly as they related to the off-schedule operation last month. These will prove very helpful in our upcoming negotiations.

And for those of you that have not yet initiated the Company’s deduction of PCFOS charges from years ago, ended your auto-deduction of PCFOS charges, here is what you need to do: Sign into DECS and type HISEND. Select form number 18 (This is PCFOS Administration). When asked to type a message, include your name, employee number and state your request to discontinue PCFOS service and auto-withdrawals from your paycheck.

PCFOS Admin could take up to two weeks to process your request. Please contact [email protected] if charges have not stopped after this point.

Industry News: Northwest pilots approved the TA reached last week that makes contractual changes to work rules for International flying and settled an outstanding grievance, in exchange for receiving time and a half for 80 or more hours of flying and a bonus for perfect attendance through September 3, 2007. Northwest Airlines says that the trade-off is cost neutral.

Please remember we have 2,069 Flight Attendants waiting to be recalled.

Thatís it for this week. Thanks for calling the APFA Hotline.