4.15.08 – (LAA) National Coordinators and Division Rep Appointees Confirmed

This is Leslie Mayo, National Communications Coordinator, with the APFA Hotline for Tuesday, April 15, 2008.

On April 1, 2008, APFA President Laura Glading called for AA’s top five senior managers to forego their mid-April bonuses until the Unions had a Contract – or resign their positions. Today, our company’s top-level management is scheduled to reap the rewards of its poorly executed “turnaround plan” just days after canceling 3,300 flights as well as a prospective $300 million 1st Q. loss.

There is no better time for CEO Gerard Arpey and his four senior officers of AMR to lead by example and show the flying public, AA employees and the Board of Directors of their overall commitment to American Airlines by refusing to accept any bonus money. Performance bonuses have no place in this management team’s pockets and that has never been more evident than today, on the heels of last week’s massive cancellations following a “misunderstanding” of just how precisely an FAA directive should be followed.

Our customers are without pillows or food, a dependable flight schedule or on-time departures. Shareholders are in possession of stock valued at 70% less than it was a year ago. Employees have yet to see any return on their investment despite $1.4 billion in annual concessions since 2003 to save our airline from bankruptcy. Management’s actions, if they choose to accept these bonuses, are deplorable. If the Board’s intentions are to “retain top talent” as they claim, after last week, this is talent our company can do without. Stay tuned to this hotline for details on the next step in our own version of the “Turn Around Plan.”

Yesterday, APFA’s Executive Committee met and confirmed National Coordinator and Division Representative appointments for a two-year term beginning May 1, 2008. Congratulations and thanks to these 11 APFA members as they commence, or in some cases continue their work on our behalf. APFA President Laura Glading appointed Frank Bastien, IOR, to the position of National Communications Coordinator; Brent Peterson, JFK, to the position of National Contract Coordinator; Kim Coats, IDF, as the National Health Coordinator; Kelly Gambello, IMA, as APFA’s National Hotel Coordinator; Lonny Glover, IOR, to the position of National Safety and Security Coordinator; and Mark Beeler, IDF, as National Scheduling Coordinator. APFA Vice President Brett Durkin appointed the following Division Representatives: Tony Leonhardt, LAX-I; Kim Boyett, DFW; Liz Mallon, ORD; Barbara Rives, IMA; and Suzanne Edwards, JFK.

From the Contract Department: Schedules should be updated with your PPROJ column reflecting credit for trips missed last week as a result of the MD80 debacle shortly. Your patience is appreciated while awaiting adjustments by the Company to your HI1s. Once management has rectified FAs’ schedules we will notify our members. If, at that point, you believe you have not been credited correctly, it is important that you forward your information to your Base Chair or Vice Chair for review. Management should input time lost and finalize these changes by the end of this month/beginning of May. Meanwhile, retain all documentation in the event you are not credited properly.

In Industry News: It looks like Delta and Northwest have agreed to merge. This will make them the world’s largest airline. Delta FAs are still in the process of voting for possible representation by AFA. The pilots have not yet agreed on a seniority merge scenario despite the fact that they are represented by the same Union. It is possible that the recent law highly touted by AFA mandating arbitration in the absence of a merger agreement by two unions will come into play.

Please remember we still have 1,193 furloughed members awaiting recall.

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