11.10.07 – (LAA) – AA Flight 587, TWU and AA Commence Formal Bargaining, Retirees Healthfirst

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

Monday, November 12, 2007, marks the six-year anniversary of AA Flight 587 where we lost 7 of our coworkers just minutes after take-off from JFK Airport. To Carol Palm, Joey Lopes, Wilmer Gonzalez, Barbara Giannasca, Deborah Fontakis, Michele Mills and William Valdespino, as well as Captain Ed States and First Officer Sten Molin, you will never be forgotten.

Yesterday, TWU and American Airlines commenced formal bargaining by exchanging negotiations; openers. APA’s most recent offer was rejected by AA management, which is not surprising considering managementís practice of rewarding themselves for the success of our airline without recognizing the employees’ and their sacrifices.

APFA’s Negotiating Team spent this past week in intense training with several professional labor consultants from the airline industry. Our bargaining will require the support of every single Flight Attendant showing management that we mean business. Wear your union pin, your most recent bag tag insert and remind management whose side you are on!

The Team will embark on a system wide listening tour next week. Check APFA.org and your local base bulletin boards for dates members of the Team will be in Operations to hear from you. A membership survey will be posted in January on our Web site and will be the basis for the Team’s openers with American Airlines in March of 2008.

A reminder from our brothers and sisters at TWU: please refrain from cleaning cabins on flights that are not designated as C-Bill flights. Our Contract requires us to pick up only on flights designated as C-Bill flights. On all other flights, TWU jobs are at stake. Please pass this along to your co-workers.

The annual supplemental medical billing statements for retired Flight Attendants or those on medical leave were sent first class mail on October 31, 2007, by “Retirees Healthfirst.” In order to maintain your Supplemental Medical insurance, payment is due on January 1, 2008. Read the statement carefully to ensure your payment is postmarked in a timely manner or you could lose your Supplemental Medical insurance all together. If you have any questions, contact Healthfirst Representative Beatrice Geissal at 800.711.7083, ext. 85748.

Yesterday was the deadline to submit a Willingness-to-Serve Notification for the Early Term Delegate elections.

At San Francisco International Gerri Linn has been duly elected to the position of SFO-I Base Chairperson and will complete the remainder of the two-year term ending March 31, 2009. There were no Willingness-to-Serve Notifications submitted for the vacant Vice Chair positions at Boston Domestic or San Francisco International. There will be an election for the Vice Chair position at St Louis Domestic. The candidates are Willie Aviles, Antoinette Delia and Nena Martin. Ballots will be mailed to all members of the St Louis base on November 28, 2007 and must be returned to the designated post office by 9:00 am Central Time on December 28, 2007.

Rumor Control:

Q: Does the recent action by AA extending furloughed recall rights for the FAs scheduled to fall off on November 1, 2007, have anything to do with seniority, further concessions or opening our contract early.

A: No.

AT&T tells us that it is still attempting to repair our weekly hotline recording capabilities. For now, we only have the capability to record one four-minute message at a time. We are hopeful that this problem will be resolved very soon.

We still have 1,460 Furloughed APFA members and American Airlines Flight Attendants awaiting recall. Please visit www.apfa.org and click on the link near the top of the home page and contact your Senator about extending recall rights to all of our furloughed Flight Attendants both past and present.

Thatís it for this week and thank you for calling the APFA Hotline.