3.16.12 – (LAA) – Negotiations Update, Legislative Update, LHR, United Non-Rev Listing, National Coordinator Announcement, Human Trafficking Awareness Training, ITF Member Support Action

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

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This week APFA negotiators met with the company and NMB in continued discussions relating to the Company’s APFA 1113 Term Sheet.

The APFA made a proposal to the Company on Retiree Health Benefits. Also,the Company amended their Active Medical Proposal on their APFA 1113 Term Sheet and presented it to APFA on Thursday.

In addition, we had mediated sessions and discussions on several other issues: Staffing, Reserve, Active Medical benefits, Post-65 Retiree Medical, and valuations of the Company’s Term Sheet Cost Out.

Today AA replied to the NMBís request for comment on our request for arbitration. We are disappointed in management’s response to what we believe is the best strategy to achieve a fair, equitable, and expeditious resolution to our current contract dispute. Binding arbitration, as administered by the National Mediation Board under Section 7 of the Railway Labor Act, would allow the Company to come away from this reorganization with labor contracts that are consistent with those of our competitors. Instead, it would appear the Company is more interested in prolonging this fight through needless litigation and wasting millions of dollars on lawyers and consultants.

In an incredibly misleading letter to the NMB, American Airlines’ Jeff Brundage states, “American spent more than four years seeking consensual agreements with its Unions, without success.” Our negotiation team had worked tirelessly to achieve tentative agreements on approximately ninety percent of our contract prior to the bankruptcy and our brothers and sisters at TWU were in the process of ratifying new contracts at the time of filing. Now, management has decided to renege on those agreements in favor of a term sheet that strips our contract, decimates our benefits, slashes our pay, and puts 2,300 Flight Attendants on the street.

We believed the most effective way to achieve an agreement to arbitrate was via the NMB. Apparently Brundage considers our request inappropriate and some kind of PR ploy. He could have easily tested our sincerity by calling APFA President Laura Glading and asking if she was in fact committed to resolving this dispute through arbitration. The answer, of course, would have been and still is yes. Unfortunately, he never contacted President Glading. Obviously, it did not matter whether the request came from the NMB or from APFA, the Company would have rejected arbitration.

We Flight Attendants have done and sacrificed more for this airline than Brundage or Horton or any of their lawyers and financial advisors ever will. We are committed to the success of American Airlines just as we are committed to the fair treatment of our colleagues and we know that those goals do not conflict. We will continue to offer creative and innovative proposals to achieve both of these objectives and we hope that we will be met with more open-minded decision-makers going forward.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
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Members of Congress travel every week and over the next several weeks expect to see even more members on our flights travelling home for their Spring recess.

• Don’t miss an opportunity to tell them how important it is to have a fair and equitable resolution to our contract and we count on their support.
• It is unusual to have the three labor unions agree to binding arbitration, APFA, APA, and TWU. Your Government Affairs team has been talking to key members of Congress explaining why we believe arbitration offers the best long-term solution to get our company on the road to profitability.
• A panel of experienced impartial labor arbitrators is in the best position to craft a settlement.
• Under these terms (Sec. 7 v Sec 5 of the Railway Labor Act RLA) there is no chance of travel disruption and the imposition of the 1113 by the court would further devastate employee moral.
• Furthermore, if an 1113 were granted AA and the unions will still be required to continuing bargaining until an agreement is reached.
• We want our company to succeed and having impartial arbitrators make this decision is the best path to success.

If you have an opportunity to speak with an elected official, send a note to Government Affairs and we are happy to follow up. [email protected]

For those of you who were able to contact Congress via Capwiz to tell them to “Save Our Pensions”, thank you! Your response was tremendous. Remember, your voice matters.

HOTEL DEPARTMENT
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LHR

The Company has informed us that due to a rate increase at the long LHR layover property crews with an 18-20 hour layover in April will be moved to a location closer to LHR airport. These crews will not be going to our current short LHR layover hotel.

We do not believe that the Company adhered to the contractual language provided in Article 21 before making this change and we are challenging this decision.

Please refer to the System List at the Hotel page at www.apfa.org for information about this hotel.

The company is continuing to source the market for an alternative long layover hotel.

CONTRACT DEPARTMENT
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Secondary Vacation Bidding is currently open. The deadline to submit a ballot for Secondary Vacations is Friday, March 23, 2012 at 0800 Central Time.

UNITED NON-REV LISTING

As of the deadline for this hotline we have not received an update on United’s ability to resolve the difficulties resulting from their cutover to a single reservation system with the reciprocal cabin seat travel agreement. Please continue to call their epass line to create a listing at 866-FLY-EPAS (866-359-3727) or 713-324-7277. They will waive the listing fee until the site is working properly. Please advise the agent to reference SHARES/DBN GG PASS CABIN to assist in creating the listing.

We have passed along feedback that this process is not working in all cases, however it is their interim solution until the online listing process is fully operational. Please continue to watch your HI6 messages for any recent updates provided to American from United.

NATIONAL COORDINATORS
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APFA President Laura Glading will nominate individuals for the six National Coordinator positions: Communications, Contract, Health, Hotel, Safety/Security and Scheduling. Those nominations will be submitted to the APFA Executive Committee for confirmation at the meeting it will hold on April 11, 2012. All resumes must be received by 5:00 pm CT on April 2, 2012 for consideration.

If you wish to be considered for any of these positions please refer to information regarding eligibility, job responsibilities and duration of appointments that can be found in Article IX of the APFA Constitution and Section 13 of the APFA Policy Manual. Both of these documents can be found on the APFA website.

For consideration, please email your resume to APFA Secretary Denise Pointer at [email protected] or send it via mail to:

APFA
Attn: Denise Pointer
1004 West Euless Blvd.
Euless, TX 76040

DIVISION REPRESENTATIVES
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APFA Vice President Elect Marcus Gluth will nominate individuals for the five Division Representative positions. Those nominations will be submitted to the APFA Executive Committee for confirmation at the meeting it will hold on April 11, 2012. All resumes must be received by 5:00 pm CT on April 2, 2012 for consideration.

If you wish to be considered for any of these positions please refer to information regarding eligibility, job responsibilities and duration of appointments that can be found in Article IX of the APFA Constitution and Section 9 of the APFA Policy Manual. Both of these documents can be found on the APFA website.

For consideration, please email your resume to APFA Secretary Denise Pointer at [email protected] or send it via mail to:

APFA
Attn: Denise Pointer
1004 West Euless Blvd.
Euless, TX 76040

EAP ASSISTANCE
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Flight Attendants that attended the informational bankruptcy base meetings were given critical information on how stress manifests itself in our lives, what we can do to cope with it, and how to identify when we, or someone we know, need professional help. APFA has the people, the expertise, and the resources to help each other through these challenging times, just as we have done in the past. Please reach out to Patty French, APFA EAP Specialist, at 817-540-0108 ext. 8701 or [email protected] if you or a colleague is in need of help. We are here for each other.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING AWARENESS TRAINING
www.airlineamb.org

Airline Ambassadors International (AAI) will provide two training classes to provide common indicators of possible victims and how to play a role in stopping human trafficking on commercial airlines.

The training is a 90-minutes and is free to the airline/airport community. This training is open to all industry personnel and travelers.

Training will take place at DCA on March 29, 2012 from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm ET in Terminal A, Conference Room M120.

For more information or to RSVP email [email protected].

ITF MEMBER SUPPORT ACTION

Collective bargaining rights continue to be under attack the world over. While we fight for our livelihoods against American our fellow union brothers and sisters at the Ports of Auckland also face a challenging battle.

The management of the Ports of Auckland Limited has neglected all calls for a negotiated settlement and has now even gone a step further in the drive to privatize the port and is threatening the workers to outsource their jobs and has taken initiatives in that direction.

You can show your support by signing the electronic petition on http://www.saveourport.com/