http://www.afavpviewpoint.org/blog/AFA-CWA Vice-President's weblogFrom the wake of the disappointing loss of the campaign for AFA representation by the Delta flight attendants, NWA AFA leaders and Delta activists, along with support from the International offices of AFA and CWA, are gearing up for a joint campaign for representation.   Earlier this year Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines announced plans to merge their two carriers. In fact, this announcement came shortly after the flight attendants at Delta filed for an election to be represented by AFA.  Their campaign took on added importance for our union: not only could we help Delta flight attendants secure the benefits of a legally binding contract, but we could also help ensure that the 60 years of bargaining history at Northwest would remain preserved.  If the vote at Delta had been successful, our AFA Constitution and Bylaws spells out how the seniority lists would be integrated by date of hire – in other words by flight attendant bidding seniority.   Delta waged a full scale assault during the flight attendant campaign – encouraging flight attendants to rip up their voting instructions, intimidating activists, surveying their activities, not allowing them to talk about the union – the list goes. Unfortunately, their expensive tactics paid off and not enough flight attendants cast votes. Our legal team has filed a charge of carrier interference with the National Mediation Board (NMB), seeking a remedy of a rerun election. Whether or not a new election is ordered, we still have a plan to move forward for a joint campaign with Northwest flight attendants.   The  Railway Labor Act (RLA), the body of law under which we fall, spells out that if two carriers combine, then there must be a showing of interest of at least 35% of the combined unit to have a merged election.  Currently that number is about the total of all of the NWA flight attendants, for whom the union would get “credit” for showing of interest.  That said, in order to prevail in the election, 50+1 of ALL eligible voters must cast votes for union representation.  Put differently, every flight attendant starts out as a NO vote and must in turn vote for union representation.  To illustrate numerically – suppose their were 7,000 NWA members and 13,000 Delta flight attendants, totaling 20,000 potential.  10,001 would have to vote yes. While these rules are extreme, to say the least, we do have a plan.   After the vote count on May 28th, NWA and Delta flight attendants gathered for a debrief and began to formulate a joint strategy going forward.  The two groups agreed to form a Joint Campaign Coordinating Committtee (JCCC).  The JCCC is comprised of 4 members from NWA and 4 representatives from Delta.  They will meet regularly via conference call and in person. Stay tuned on more news of our progress.6/12/2008 4:54:00 PMhttp://www.afavpviewpoint.org/blog/comments.asp?id=93On May 20th the Horizon grievance committee met at a small conference room in the downtown Seattle Public Library.  Ed Hawes, MEC Grievance chair, invited me to assist the committee with grievance strategy.  The Council #16 committee members, Sequenna Blair, Cheryl Riggs, Heather Coleman, and Nina Litven were joined by Council #17 grievance committee and negotiating committee member, Kirk Hanson, and Council #16 LEC President, Ty Tufono.  Ready reserve/ regular reserve activation, failure to be paid for a flight due to the sudden closure of ATA, and other pending cases gave the committee a chance to review standard contract principles.  The committee spent some time talking about how to handle a flight attendant who has a gripe but not a grievance in a way that meets AFA's objectives and gives the flight attendant the support she expects. Committee members were asked about their case load and personal schedule so the grievance work load could be fairly distributed among the committee.  It was a pleasure to observe the excellent work  Ed Hawes oversees, and spend the day with the Horizon leadership in a beautiful setting overlooking Elliot Bay and downtown Seattle. Suzanne Kirkpatrick, ISR5/21/2008 10:51:00 AMhttp://www.afavpviewpoint.org/blog/comments.asp?id=92 31 newly elected leaders from across our Union met at the National Labor College, George Meany Campus from May 12 - 17 for Basic Leadership Training.  The training is held in conjunction with each election cycle and highlights each of the 6 basics duties of being an elected leader; Mobilizing our members to build and strengthen our union, Budget and Membership oversight, Managing Committees, Advocating for our members through the grievance process, Communications and Conducting meetings.  In addition to these subjects, the leaders heard about the assistance available from the various AFA International departments heads.  Each of AFA's International Officers participated and International President, Pat Friend was able to attend for much of the week.  The class also heard from William Scheuerman, President of the National Labor College and Larry Cohen President of the Communication Workers of America.  Please welcome our newest leaders and help them to fulfill their positions within each of their councils.5/19/2008 11:26:00 AMhttp://www.afavpviewpoint.org/blog/comments.asp?id=91 For all the Moms out there – I hope you had a great day!  These are my two greatest motivators – Isabelle (5) and Donovan (20 months) 5/12/2008 6:00:00 PMhttp://www.afavpviewpoint.org/blog/comments.asp?id=90For the past two weeks I have been in the International Office along with USAirways Flight Attendants Steve Smith and Steven Schembs setting up the Delta Get Out the Vote ( GOTV) call center in the IO. This assignment will continue until the end of May when we will welcome our brothers and sisters from Delta into the largest flight attendant union in the world, the Association of Flight Attendants.     In addition to calling Delta flight attendants to remind them to vote, we also handle the AFA-Delta hotline and answer questions from flight attendants around the country who have questions or concerns. Steve Schembs has the responsibility of routing all volunteers to the appropriate call center for scheduling in that location. We still need volunteers in every location. If you would like to be part of this exciting election, please email Steve at GOTV@DeltaAFA.org Geroge M. Donahue 4/30/2008 7:27:00 AMhttp://www.afavpviewpoint.org/blog/comments.asp?id=88I've spent the last couple of days sitting side by side with fellow flight attendants from Delta, United, American Eagle and USAirways calling the Delta flight attendants to encourage them to become full members of our union!  The Delta flight attendant activists have been working diligently over the past few years to get to this historic moment.  They have faced the same ruthless and dastardly anti-union campaign that every employer seems to implement.  Still, they are perservering and are determined to succeed!  Their courage in the face of these attacks is truly inspiring. They still need our help.  So, please reach out to our flying partners at Delta and encourage them to join AFA.  It's been a real pleasure. Guy4/29/2008 5:47:00 PMhttp://www.afavpviewpoint.org/blog/comments.asp?id=87April 28, 2008   Today on Capitol Hill  three very brave Delta Air Lines flight attendants shared their personal stories of the extreme voter suppression campaign by Delta Management during their election for AFA representation. They gave testimony to dozens of Congressional representatives in two separate briefings for both the House of Representatives and the Senate.  l-r AFA Government Affairs Director Shane Larson; AFA-CWA Int’l VP Veda Shook; Delta flight attendants Kay Thomas, Mara Levene, John Jablonski; AFA-CWA Int’l President Pat Friend brief on Capitol Hill Kay Thomas told daunting tales of being surrounded by six supervisors regarding her organizing activities. Said Kay, “The physical intimidation was witnessed by several other flight attendants. This sent a chilling effect across our work area. Though I am an outspoken activist, this intimidation was designed to send a clear message to every other Delta flight attendant present.”   John Jablonski spoke about the lack of access of the flight attendant organizing committee to reach their fellow coworkers noting, “Management has written a ‘policy’ dictating what are the ‘work areas’ and not allowing us to talk about the benefits of joining a union on the airplane, in the jetway, in the boarding area and in our check in areas for work.”  All three highlighted the extreme barrage of anti-union propaganda being forced upon them and Mara Levene brought notice that “This entire campaign is about fairness, yet what is ‘fair’ about management being allowed full reign to encourage flight attendants to rip up their voting instructions.”   Currently, Delta Executives are waging a multimillion dollar anti-union campaign designed at suppressing the vote including DVDs mailed to each flight attendant’s home as well as huge posters and countless leaflets in the crew lounge, not to mention supervisor wearing t-shirts with the anti-union message.  Delta voting is underway - to learn more about the campaign, visit www.DeltaAFA.org    4/28/2008 5:56:00 PMhttp://www.afavpviewpoint.org/blog/comments.asp?id=86Today I had the extreme honor of representing our profession at a much publicized Congressional Judiciary hearing regarding the proposed Northwest/Delta merger. You can read all the press on the event, including our professional press releases, but perhaps you’d care to join me on a “behind the scenes” tour?   For starters, the hearing was held in a rather small room. There was seating for approximately 50 guests. Knowing this and knowing that Delta and Northwest Executives had to put on a splashy, showy production, they “invited” 200 workers from Delta to accompany the event. In other words, they paid and housed 200 employees – including flight attendants – from Delta, and only Delta, to attend this event. How did I know it was only Delta? Because they paraded inside in uniform. Imagine if we (AFA) PAID 200 flight attendants to attend this event? Can you imagine the outrage? Delta would be racing to the NMB to void the Delta flight attendant election.    I was testifying and was accompanied by Shane Larsen, our Director of Government Affairs along with ONE Northwest flight attendant and ONE Delta flight attendant. Unfortunately, Delta PAID people to wait in the line so the parade of PAID Delta employees could “jump the queue”. Thankfully, at the very last moment, our TWO coworkers were allowed in the room.   After a few moments, the CEOs of Delta and Northwest, Richard Anderson and Doug Steenland entered the hearing room: you would have thought Britney Spears had just exited rehab with the cascade of cameras and bulbs flashing. As they entered, our TWO brave flight attendants approached Mr. Anderson and presented him with a letter requesting neutrality: http://www.deltaafa.org/aefiles/DeltaNWALtr%20Anderson.pdf. Mr. Anderson completely dismissed their request.   Once the hearing got underway, Congressmembers from both parties grilled the CEOs about service concerns in their community and, notably, potential layoffs. Of note was the questioning by Congresswoman Betty Sutton who gave Anderson a run for his money asking him repeatedly – in many different ways – if they were “neutral” in the Delta flight attendant election. He refused to answer honestly her questions. (Let me tell you – Delta is running a ruthless anti-union campaign to keep the flight attendants from voting for AFA).   After their testimony, all of the PAID Delta employees, including the uniformed Delta flight attendants, left the hearing. Too bad they couldn’t stick around to hear our side of the story. I was on the second panel accompanied by the President of the IAMAW, President Tom Buffenbarger (who represents many workers at NWA), a representative from the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Winston, a Senior Fellow Economist from the Brookings Institute.  We had each prepared written testimony for the record, but are limited to five minutes of oral testimony. I was last – which was probably a good thing – this was my first hearing and I was a bit nervous. My testimony focused on the facts that: during this merger process we have been completely left out of the discussion Delta is engaging in voter suppression during the flight attendant union election the “New Delta” executives are trying to make sure AFA loses at Delta so they can try and strip the bargaining rights of Northwest flight attendants.   I was asked several questions and it was truly my honor to give voice to the thousands of flight attendants at both Delta and Northwest who have been absent from this critical discussion.   If you would like to learn more about the Delta campaign, visit www.DeltaAFA.org and if you are an AFA member and would like to help the Delta flight attendants join our great union, email gotv@deltaafa.org   Veda4/24/2008 5:50:00 PMhttp://www.afavpviewpoint.org/blog/comments.asp?id=85Reality Bites   Do any of you remember the movie? It was about the struggle of my generation to find itself after college. Here I am a 17 year flight attendant for Alaska Airlines and also the International Vice President of AFA-CWA – the world’s largest flight attendant union. I remember five years into my job wondering what in the heck I was doing with my life; shouldn’t I be doing “more”? “More” of what? A good friend of mine at the time helped me to understand that I already had more of many things of which millions of other Americans would like to have: a good job, decent wages, excellent benefits and “intangibles” such as a job that I really enjoy(ed), a flexible schedule and the ability to work with great people. Right around the time of the Reality Bites premiere, I realized that, in fact, I had a job worthy of a career. The question became not what do besides being a flight attendant but what to do to preserve being a flight attendant and all the benefits it entailed and that was when I started to get involved in my union.   Fast forward to now: today my generation doesn’t have the luxury of having a good job and thinking about a better one. Our economy is at the breaking point and good jobs with good benefits no longer seem the norm. If we’re lucky enough to have decent employment, we pray it lasts and continually try to find ways to stretch our deflated dollar as the price of milk, eggs and, most importantly to this topic, fuel continue to rise.   The price of oil is well over $100 barrel today. Talk about a new normal! What is the airline executives’ fix: make passengers pay more now in fuel surcharges and pay more down the road in the form of consolidation. By combining carriers, these executives are planning on reducing market share of seats available so they can drive up prices. Oh yes, I remember that from college – it’s simple supply and demand economics. But wait, who benefits from this? The passengers? No. Airline workers? For some the answer is already No as four airlines have filed for bankruptcy in just the last month. For others, this remains to be seen. Airline executives clearly have a plan and so must we, as workers. As the true stakeholders of these airlines, we have a vested interest in seeing our companies succeed, but we must not sacrifice further while executives continue to line their already busting wallets.    Furthermore, as flight attendants and members of AFA, the looming Delta/Northwest merger means that the Delta flight attendants’ vote for our union is more relevant than ever.  If these two airlines want to combine, then they must also convincingly partner with their workforce. Delta management needs to be neutral while their flight attendants make their choice whether or not to join AFA as their voting begins on April 23 and continues through May 28. So far, Delta Air Lines has run a ruthless, shameless anti-union campaign: spinning lies and distortions aimed at alienating, confusing and causing conflict with its work force. To date, over 1,200 activists are signed up to volunteer on this historic campaign – that is 10% of the group. Anywhere else in the world, these flight attendants would already have a union, but management knows that if the flight attendants come together to form their own association and secure a legally binding contract, then management will have a level playing field. Today, they call all the shots. In this time of unanticipated instability with our industry and our economy, Delta flight attendants deserve some security. Management knows this or they wouldn’t be fighting their effort so mercilessly.   Hopefully, we’ll have a brighter future together and Reality won’t bite!4/16/2008 6:38:00 AMhttp://www.afavpviewpoint.org/blog/comments.asp?id=84 The last days of Aloha We all know the Greeks dance in both joyful and tragic times. Zorba taught us that. I now know that Hawaiians do hula to express the range of emotions and that included, on April 1st, 2008, the tragedy of closing down their beloved airline after 61 years in the air. The last flight from Maui was met by a huge contingent of Aloha employees, at 10:30 p.m., at gate #54, Honolulu International. The passengers disembarked, and then the flight attendants and pilots, bedecked with leis, to be interviewed by local press on how it felt to be on the last Aloha flight. As the crew members hugged each other and wept, two Aloha employees played guitar and bass; and sang; providing the music so loved by Hawaiians. Spontaneously, several ALOHA employees danced hula., a private expression of local spirit, and a public invitation to each other to celebrate what was best about the company and each other. It was a ceremony and important ritual that I only invited myself to because it needed to be witnessed and remembered by someone who could pay tribute. I have known the leadership at Aloha since the 70s when I served on the AFA Board of Directors along with Dorothy, Sandy Pelzer, Peggy Gordon, Gail Kim, Peggy again, and Gail Kim-Moe again, Karen Nakaoka, Grace Lee and Robyn Lee. And long time grievance chairwoman, Connie Young. These women have been exemplary trade-unionists, negotiators, protectors of the collective bargaining agreement, pioneers in bargaining, and models for the rest of AFA's board of directors on how to conduct the relationship between management and the union. In the end, the union could not save the company. But if it had been possible, the AFA officers serving their membership would have done it. All of AFA will miss this airline as part of our family. I particularly will miss them, because I have served as their ISR since 1989. It was my privilege to know these amazing women and I wish them well as they close this chapter in their lives.  Aloha, fond memories, and much affection, from Suzanne Kirkpatrick 4/10/2008 10:20:00 PMhttp://www.afavpviewpoint.org/blog/comments.asp?id=83