4.29.11 – (LAA) – Face of Your Base, Tornados, Imagine No Workers, Retirement Seminars, Don’t Drop the Soap

Weekly Hotline
For the week ending Friday April 29, 2011

FACE OF YOUR BASE

Seriously? This campaign just transported us back 50 years to the days of girdles, weight-checks and single, female-only stewardesses having to quit when they were married, pregnant, or reached the ripe old age of 30.

Your APFA Leadership is challenging this ridiculous, insulting beauty contest with their counterparts in Flight Service.

You can help by contacting your Flight Service Manager (FSM) by e-mail, phone or in person and letting them know how offended and insulted you are by this campaign.

“The real faces of each base are many”, APFA President Laura Glading stated. “Each and every Flight Attendant that continues to show up in their tattered mismatched uniform. Caring and professional Flight Attendants who work tirelessly despite working almost a decade under a concessionary contract are the true face of the airline. Our Flight Attendants are struggling to feed their families and some even losing their homes while the executives of this airline pocket millions. These are the heroic faces of each base.”

Rather than potentially insulting a colleague by nominating them, log on to JetNet and JetMail your FSM asking Flight Service to put an end to this ridiculous contest and to focus time and energy where it is most needed – negotiating a contract.

“We are Safety Professionals and should be respected, recognized and treated as such”, Glading continued. The only item the Flight Attendants need to be voting on is a Tentative Agreement. An agreement that recognizes our sacrifices and the value we bring to this company.”

Flight Attendants are Safety Professionals, not contestants in a beauty contest. A new video showing the many facets of our profession has been posted on our YouTube channel.

TORNADOES

Tornadoes wreaked havoc across the country this month leaving much devastation in their path – a record setting 874 in April alone. Late last week STL Airport got a direct hit from one of these vicious twisters, ripping off a section of the terminal roof and its winds lifting and moving aircraft parked at the gate.

SLT APFA Chairperson Nena Martin reported, “The stories from the crews who were on the planes or in the terminal during the tornado are amazing. STL had two crews on planes, LGA had one crew in the terminal and DFW had two crews at the hotel and one in the terminal. From the tornado being 50 feet from the STL S80 that was still on the runway, the SLT Captain from the LGA crew shielding his Flight Attendants from the exploding glass windows or the DFW Flight Attendant who retrieved the first aid kit from the aircraft while his fellow crew member gave medical care to the injured control tower employee, the bravery shown by all crew members should be commended.”

If you are an active American Airlines Flight Attendant and your primary home has been destroyed, please contact WINGS Disaster Relief – The Wings Foundation. You may also visit their website for fund raising activities, to find base representatives and forms for donation ($$$, PVDs, etc.).

IMAGINE NO WORKERS

This coming Sunday, May 1, TWU will take to the streets in major cities nationwide protesting the attack on workers’ rights. Please click here to find a May Day event near you.

RETIREMENT SEMINARS

Here is a list of upcoming Retirement Seminars ñ meeting locations to be announced:

BOS ñ May 3 from 1400-1600
BOS ñ May 4 from 0900-1100
JFK ñ May 6 from 1200-1400
SFO ñ May 9 from 1000-1200
ORD ñ May 25 from 1400-1600 and from 1800-2000

APFA Retirement Specialist, Patrick Hancock (IDF) conducts these lively and informative briefings. The 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.

DON’T DROP THE SOAP

But if you do, donít throw it away.

USA Today reporter Roger Yu’s article “Ever wonder what happens to used hotel soap?” may surprise you.

If you thought housekeeping tossed the wet and slimy bars into the trash, think again. Yu reports that about 1 million partly used bars of soap are tossed out daily by U.S. hotels. However, some recycling organizations collect, sterilize and reform the soap and distribute to refugee camps and communities affected by poverty or devastation such as Haiti after their earthquake last year. Shampoo and lotion bottles are also recycled, and the trend is growing.

Roger Yu’s complete article can be read here.

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Please remember there are currently 594 members on furlough and awaiting recall. This number includes all recalls as of July 1, 2011.