1.21.11 – (LAA) – Negotiations Update, Foruth Quarter Earnings, Base Representational Elections, WTS, DFW Day in Opts, PVD Usage

Weekly Hotline for the week ending Friday, January 21, 2011

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE
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The National Mediation Board has informed us that, at present, they are not acting on our request for release and there are no additional meetings scheduled. APFA President, Laura Glading will be having further discussions with Larry Gibbons, the Director of Mediation Service, and the National Mediation Board Members in the next few weeks to discuss our status. We will keep you up-to-date as we move forward with the negotiation process.

APFA and AA Scheduling subcommittees are scheduled to meet in January with the company’s IT department working on programming that will be crucial to implementing and scheduling changes – once we have a ratified Tentative Agreement.

FOURTH QUARTER EARNINGS

AMR announced this week a loss of $97 million in the fourth quarter and $471 million for the entire year. The loss puts AMR in a unique position in the airline industry — it is the only major carrier to report a loss for the full year. The loss is an improvement though from the disastrous $1.47 billion loss of 2009.

AMR CEO Gerard Arpey believes the new alliances with British Airways, Iberia, and Japan Air Lines should benefit AMR financially as early as this year. He said, ìIn 2011 American will continue to enhance its own network and expand its relationship with quality carriers in the markets that are important to our customers.î

AMR also announced it has exercised options to buy two Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to expand its fleet of long-distance international airplanes. American is the first U.S. carrier to order the 777-300 ER. The two aircraft are expected to be delivered in late 2011.

Interesting that from 2007 through 2010, American has invested $4.2 billion in aircraft, cabin, and facility improvements to enhance the customer experience, yet they canít come up with the funds to invest in the employee experience!

BASE REPRESENTATIONAL ELECTIONS
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Donít forget to vote in the upcoming Base Representatives election.

Ballots for the contested positions at BOS, IOR, LGA and MIA will be mailed January 26, 2011. Polls will close February 25, 2011 by 10:00 a.m. CT. The newly elected Representatives will assume office on April 1, 2011, for a two-year term ending March 31, 2013. Please read the instructions in your ballot packet carefully. Frequently asked questions and answers are available through our ballot service vendor, BallotPoint. Click here to view.

As a reminder, you must be dues current by 5:00 p.m. on February 22, 2011 in order to vote in this election. If you have any questions concerning your eligibility, please contact the dues department at 817-540-0108 ext. 8151, or email [email protected]. If you have any questions concerning these elections call the National Ballot Committee at APFA headquarters, 817-540-0108 ext. 8311, or email [email protected].

WTS

The Willingness To Serve Notification for Ad Hoc Members of the Executive Committee Places #1 and #2 is now posted on the Elections and Balloting page of APFA.org.

If you are interested in further serving your union, the forms must be received in the designated P.O. Box by 10:00 a.m. Central Standard Time on Thursday, February 17, 2011.

Click here to download the form.

FROM THE SCHEDULING DEPARTMENT
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Let’s talk about PVD usage. First, imagine you can hold oneÖ

Look at the sample sequence below and see if you can determine how many PVDs a Flight Attendant would be charged.

SEQ 10567 ORIG DAILY 150.45 0.00 150.45| |
POSN 1 THRU 4 | |
EFFECTIVE 11/18 | |
49 272 SFO*2055 MIA*0510 $QSF 5.15 | |
//SEE HIHTL// 5.15 6.30 14.10 | |
49 1817 MIA*2035 SFO*2355 $QSF 6.20 | |
6.20 7.35 28.15| |
EXP 42.37 0.00N 11.35 0.00 11.35 | |

The correct answer is three (3) PVDs. According to the language in Article 6, the sequence arrives back at base at 23:55 LBT so the debrief period would run over midnight and into the third calendar day. Please be aware of this issue when requesting PVDs.Donít get caught burning more PVDs than you expected. The only exception to this language is an all-nighter turn-around containing one duty period.

DFW DAY IN OPS

DFW Vice Chairperson Margaret Barnes and APFA Scheduling and Contract Representative Linda Haertling will be in Terminal C Operations on Wednesday, January 26th from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00.p.m. Stop by and visit with your base representatives with any questions you may have or to pick up a union pin, disc and lanyard.

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Please remember there are currently 796 members on furlough and awaiting recall. This number includes all recalls as of April 2, 2011.