4.09.08 – (LAA) – APFA Filing Presidential Grievance on Decision to Ground MD-80 Fleet

This is Leslie Mayo, National Communications Coordinator with an updated hotline for Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

In light of yesterday’s decision to ground the entire MD-80 fleet for the second time in two weeks, APFA will again demand trip pay protection from the Company. Furthermore, APFA is in the process of filing a Presidential Grievance on this matter. In the meantime, it is important for all members affected by these cancellations to follow Misconnect-Illegality-Cancellation (MIC) procedures in order to protect your guarantee. These procedures can be found on pages 20-22 of the On Duty Contract Guide. If you do not have a copy of the ODCG, it is available for download at www.apfa.org.

It is important for members to forward all documentation regarding MD80 cancellations including sequence number, date, a copy of the original sequence if available, your base, employee number, email address and phone number. This information will be important in order to file a Presidential Grievance on this matter.

APFA issued the following press release today:

UNION URGES AA MANAGEMENT TO PROTECT FLIGHT ATTENDANT PAY AS IT GROUNDS ENTIRE MD80 FLEET A SECOND TIME

April 9, 2008

(Euless, TX) – The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), the union representing the American Airlines flight attendants, has asked management to ‘do the right thing’ and pay flight attendants for monies lost as a result of massive flight cancellations of MD80 aircraft over the last two weeks.

“The flight attendants of American Airlines have already sacrificed a 33% cut in pay, benefits and work rules since 2003 after labor saved this company from bankruptcy,” union president Laura Glading said. “Flight attendants are often forced to bear the costly brunt of management’s mistake. This plan simply won’t fly.”

Crewmembers are the only work group on the property at risk of losing pay as a result of the aircraft grounding. Management continues to be compensated fully throughout the re-inspection. Next week, senior management is scheduled to receive millions of dollars in self-awarded bonuses for the third year while the flight attendants continue to pay the price.

The Union is currently in a dispute with management regarding their requirements that flight attendants use vacation days to recoup lost pay as a result of the grounding of AA’s MD80 fleet at the end of March. Last week, the newly-elected president called for top management to decline their bonuses scheduled for April 16th or resign their positions with American.”

We will keep you posted with any updates on this issue. Thank you for calling the APFA Hotline.