6.19.09 – (LAA) STL Membership Outreach Meeting Place Change, Pins and Wings Campaign, NEGOTIATE IT Onboard Sales, American Increases Order for 737 Aircraft

APFA weekly HotLine update for Friday, June 19

QUICK ALERTS

STL Membership Outreach Meeting place has changed. Read below for new location.

Pins and Wings campaign is in full swing! Wear only your APFA Union pin and wings (and any required name tag) on your uniform jacket.

Have your returned your “NEGOTIATE IT” Onboard Sales HI6 to your FSM? Deliver it now and tell them: “My Negotiating Team speaks for me!”

Onboard Retail Sales without a contract? How many do YOU think will really do it?
Take our Membership Poll from the APFA.org main page (login required)

American increases order for 737 aircaft.

MEMBERSHIP OUTREACH MEETINGS CONTINUE

APFA President Laura Glading, along with members of the APFA Negotiating Team, were in Miami and Raleigh/Durham this past week as the Membership Outreach Meetings continue scheduled visits to each base city. Coming up next week will be meetings in Boston on Tuesday, June 23 in AA Operations, and in Washington on Wednesday, June 24 in the American Airlines Ramp Level Conference Room, Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA). Times at both locations are 1pm to 4pm.

Laura and the Team have very important information to share with members regarding negotiations and upcoming activities that require your active participation. Please plan to attend. It is imperative that all members become informed, engaged and involved. For a complete list of all base meetings, please check the calendar on the APFA.org main page.

For those based at or living in the St. Louis area, note that the STL meeting location has been changed in order to accommodate more members. The new location is the Renaissance St. Louis Hotel Airport. The address and hotel phone number are available at APFA.org. The STL meeting date remains Tuesday, June 30 from 2pm to 5pm. The final Membership Outreach meeting will take place Wednesday, July 1 in New York at the Mark DuPont Conference Room, JFK Terminal 8, from 2pm to 5pm.

Members attending one of the six meetings already held have been presented with vital information regarding the current state of negotiations and a call to APFA members to join in the next step in our fight for a new and improved contract.

UNION PIN AND WINGS ONLY ON YOUR UNIFORM JACKET

As happened in 1993 and again in 2000, the Pins and Wings campaign has been launched and is an easy way for members to demonstrate our unity of purpose and show management that we stand together. Wear only your Union pin and wings and any required nametag on your uniform jacket. (Move your other favorite pins to your serving garment.) Replace a lost APFA pin by sending an email request with your name, base, employee number and current address to: [email protected].

Your APFA Team will be returning to mediated talks with management in just a few weeks. Full-week sessions are planned in Dallas beginning July 20 and Washington, DC beginning July 27. Your Negotiating Team is your voice in this fight for a new and improved working agreement. Stand behind them in unity by showing the company that we speak as one. Participate in Pins and Wings. Return your “NEGOTIATE IT” Onboard Sales HI6 to your Flight Service Manager. These small measures have an impact when thousands of members act in unison. We know as we have already heard from bases that our efforts are having their desired effect.

Show American real evidence that enough is enough and that we are ready for a new contract now. Lead by example and actively encourage the participation of your fellow Flight Attendants who may not have gotten the word. Remind them that small displays of Unity go a long way and – until we have an agreement – it’s just “Pins and Wings.”

INCREASED ORDER FOR 737 AIRCRAFT

Though it may seem that there is never any good news to report in the weekly HotLine, one item that you might have missed last week in American’s announcement of route and staffing cuts, was the increase in our 737 order. In his address at the Global Transportation Conference, AMR CEO Gerard Arpey included details that American now plans to take delivery of eight additional 737s, with a modified delivery schedule that includes: 76 737s in 2009 and 2010, including the planes already received, and eight 737s in 2011.

BRITISH AIRWAYS ASKS EMPLOYEES TO WORK FOR FREE!

Lest you think that American is alone in looking to employee sacrifices to make up for management missteps, British Airways, our biggest suitor in the airline alliance game, has made the headlines this week in its widely-publicized request that employees consent to work for free! You have to admire the chutzpah! One can almost hear the voices of airline execs everywhere chime in unison: “Mmmm, yes, we can run a profitable airline if it weren’t for those pesky salaries we have to pay our workers!”

The BBC reports that the email sent to 30,000 BA workers in the UK requesting that they forgo one week to one monthís salary received “hundreds” of positive responses.

VOLUNTEER OPTIONS (OLOA / PARTNERSHIP FLYING / TSP) TO OPEN SOON

Opening of the proffers for the voluntary options of Overage Leaves of Absence (OLOA) and Partnership Flying and details of the Travel Separation Program (TSP) through the Flight Service website and Jetnet have been delayed until Thursday, June 25. Details are still being worked out in an effort to prevent as many furloughs as possible and will be posted as soon as they are available. The aim is to mitigate an expected manning overage of up to 1200 Flight Attendants effective October 1, when many leave holders will have returned to flying after their leaves expire and the company continues to adjust its scheduled flying downwards to match falling demand. The overage was announced in conjunction with Americanís revealing it would reduce its schedule another 1% on top of previously announced cutbacks.

As we receive information from the company and have the opportunity to review it, we will post duplicates on the Reduction in Force page of APFA.org. Many of the informational files will differ only slightly from those from the reductions of last year and this past spring. Those files are archived through links at the bottom of the RIF page. However, please be sure you are always accessing the latest information.

Once the documents are posted for your viewing, if you have questions regarding the Overage Leaves, Partnership Flying or Travel Separation Programs, please contact an APFA Scheduling/Contract Rep-on-Duty.

For information on COBRA or other Health benefits, you can email the Health Rep-on-Duty.

Questions on retirement may be directed to the retirement rep at your base or sent to the Contract Rep-on-Duty.

Fill-in web forms for these reps are available through the Contact link at APFA.org. If you do not have a web log in, please use the generic contact form which will be then be forwarded to the proper department.

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As we face the task of mitigating another staffing overage, keep in mind that there are 1,258 APFA members now on furlough and awaiting recall.

Visit the redesigned Wings foundation website for contact, donation and assistance information at each base. Go to wingsfoundation.com.