8.06.10 – (LAA) – Negotiations, Skyword Online, TWU, Kelliher, 800 Number at Headquarters, Delta Flight 191 Memorial, Sugar Jolt, U PickIt, Retirement Briefing

This is Jeff Pharr, APFA National Communications Coordinator, with the weekly Hotline update for Friday, August 6, 2010.

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

A meeting has been scheduled with your APFA Table Negotiating Team and our National Mediator, Pat Sims. The meeting will take place the week beginning Monday, September 20 to discuss and prepare our next steps.

SKYWORD ONLINE GETS FACELIFT

Until the printed periodical returns, we have updated the online format on the website. Each department has a link to their respective article and a drop-down menu that will contain previous articles as we move forward. Currently the links are to the Spring í09 articles, with the exception of the President’s Department.

To debut Skyword Online’s new format, APFA President Laura Glading has written an article including the State of Our Union. In the article, Glading writes, “The status quo, bad as it is now, is only the starting point for the downward spiral in our careers that management envisions.”

Link to Skyword skyword

Articles from other departments are in the works and will be released soon. We’ll notify you via this hotline when new items are posted. Next up – an article from your Negotiating Team.

TWU

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) Fleet Service workers have extended the deadline for their strike vote. The ballots will now be counted on Wednesday, August 11, 2010.

Last week, Tentative Agreement (TA) ballots were sent to three other TWU workgroups; Mechanics and related employees, Material Logistics Group and Technical Specialists. The TWU has informed these members that a ënoí vote on the TA will, in turn, be a “yes” vote for strike authorization.

With APFA’s 96.8% yes vote already in, and possibly four of TWUís groups voting for strike authorization, AAll eyes will be watching closely.

Laura Glading stated, “Labor has struggled for many years making great strides along the way. For any work group to settle for less than what is deserved would be a step backward. The future now looks bright for American and it ës time to get back the sacrifices all frontline employees have made.”

As a Spirit Airlines Pilots’ Union representative commented on their recently ratified contract, obtained after their five-day strike, “This contract is the direct result of this pilot groupís unwavering resolve.”

KUDOS FOR KELLIHER

The National Mediation Board (NMB) recently appointed a new Mediator to their agency – Michael Kelliher. Sound familiar? Michael has a long history with APFA as a union advocate.

He was elected Central Division Representative, at the time a National Officer position, in 1982 for a two-year term and again in 1984. He went on to be elected APFA President in 1988. And in 1991, Michael was appointed to the APFA Constitution Committee where he helped to forever set the footprint for our institution that lead us into 1993 and our historic strike.

We now have two former APFA leaders at the NMB, Michael Kelliher, and two-term APFA President Denise Hedges who joined the NMB in 2000 and is now a Senior Mediator.

Michael retired from American last week in order to take the Mediator position. We are grateful for Michael’s dedicated service to APFA and wish him all the best in his new endeavors.

86 the 800#

Beginning sometime this month the 800 call-in number to APFA Headquarters will be deactivated. During the March í10 APFA Board of Directors Convention, as a cost savings measure, Resolution #6 was passed that authorized APFA to discontinue 800-395-APFA.

The resolution reads in part, “because most Flight Attendants have home phone long-distance plans that allow unlimited long distance calls and/or cell phone plans that count minutes used regardless of whether the call is to an 800 number or number with an area code. As a result, the APFA 800 number does not provide a savings to flight attendants but is costly to APFA.”

Discontinuing this 800 number does provide a cost savings to APFA. Resolution #6 can be read here (log-in required).

Make note of the local number for APFA Headquarters and please remember to update the APFA contact stored in your cell-phone – (817) 540-0108.

The 800 number to access the weekly hotline will remain – (800) 399-2732

DELTA FLIGHT 191 MEMORIAL

This past Monday, DFW unveiled a memorial dedicated in honor of the 135 people that perished in Delta Airlines flight 191 crash. Monday marked the 25th anniversary of the accident.

The three-foot granite memorial is housed in Founders Plaza at the north edge of DFW airport.

ELECTRIC SUGAR JOLT?

Make that “SUGAR Volt” – a hybrid-powered concept plane that Boeing is working on that would run on jet fuel for take off and climbing, and batteries while at cruising altitude. The aircraft could be as large as the 737 and would travel on routes up to 900 miles.

Donít trigger for Volt training just yet, aerospace researchers donít expect production until possibly 2035.

More information about the concept plane can be read on Boeingís website.

U PICKIT!

Although we set a deadline for U PickIt! submissions for July 31, suggestions continue to come in. And with a 30-day cooling off period not yet determined, we have decided to extend the contest until the end of August 2010.

What would YOU want to see on a potential Strike Picket Sign? Be creative and be spontaneous (but let’s keep it clean, please). The top slogans selected by members of your Negotiating Team will be voted on by the APFA membership to see who has the best Picket Sign idea(s). The top three winners will receive a framed copy of her/his Picket Sign.

To enter, send your idea(s) to [email protected] with the subject line ‘U PickIt! Submission.í Please include your name, base and employee number. In the event of duplicate entries, the earliest submission will count.

RETIREMENT BRIEFING

The next APFA Retirement Briefings will be presented on August 16 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and August 17 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Yandry Center in DFW Terminal C.

These lively and informative briefings are conducted by APFA Retirement Specialist, Patrick Hancock (IDF) and Jackie Phillips (DFW). These seminars are open and useful to all Flight Attendants from all bases, but particularly important to Flight Attendants planning to retire in the next 10 years.

To make the most of these briefings, print and bring your personal pension estimate and plan calculation formulas from JetNet.

The AA Credit Union Investment & Retirement Advisors will be on hand to help explain more about retirement planning, and to schedule one-on-one interviews.

APFA.ORG HIGHLIGHT

The APFA Vice President’s section contains links to all Presidential Grievances filed and active, as well as those grievances settled and their awards, including the recently filed Presidential Grievance on the company’s newly implemented “Social Media Policy”.

Log-on to www.apfa.org. In the left menu column, click “National Departments, “National Officers”, “Vice President”, and “Presidential Grievances”.
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Remember there are 1,343 members on furlough and awaiting recall.
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The Wings Foundation is much more than can recycling, though that is an important source of the funds they distribute to members in need. If you are an active American Airlines Flight Attendant and you primary home has been destroyed, please contact WINGS Disaster Relief. Visit their website for fund raising activities, to find base representatives, forms for donation ($$$, PVDs, etc.), or applications for assistance. See how you can help at your base. Wings was created by and is managed exclusively by AA Flight Attendants. Wings provide services only to AA Flight Attendants. Check out Wings and all our APFA supported organizations through these links:

Wings // Airline Ambassadors // UNICEF/Change for Good