Hotline Messages
18 July 2008 Hotline
ASHS Update: Single Service Cart Changes
Your MEC Air Safety, Health and Security Service Subcommittee continues to work toward additional changes to improve the domestic single service cart. As a result of the May 16 “cart summit,” the company has already agreed to certain changes, including redesign of the cart packing/setup, overall weight reduction, and more workspace and product accessibility.
These changes were tested on 20 flights from June 9 through 14. Based on crew feedback, the carts will now be arranged for operation by one flight attendant, but are easily converted to a two-person operation. This new cart packing design was launched system wide on July 14. A two-person operation is recommended. However, if operated by one flight attendant, safe work practices should be used when positioning the carts in the aisle with the assistance of another crewmember.
Further changes are forthcoming, including new cart repair tags that will have a tracking number to ensure timely repair and follow-up. We still need your feedback: call or email the FACC and be sure to also email the MEC ASHS Service Subcommittee at .
Printed Contracts Shipped
The MEC Negotiations Committee is pleased to report that all printed copies of our ratified agreement have been shipped via company mail to each flight attendant base. Northwest and AFA-CWA representatives will be distributing copies to each flight attendant mailbox as soon as the cartons are received. Contracts will arrive shrink-wrapped containing three metal rings and two plastic page lifters; cloth zippered covers are in production and will be shipped to each base as soon as they are available.
PBS Mock 5.5 Bidding Announced
An additional practice session for PBS bidding will begin on July 25 at 1000 CDT. This Mock 5.5 bidding will close on July 30 at 0900 CDT. Please use every opportunity to submit a final practice bid before PBS goes live in August for the September bid month. The deadline for actual live September PBS bids is August 13 at 0900 CDT. See the latest PBS communication on the ATLAS home page for more information.
Northwest, Delta Steering Committees Meet in D.C.
Flight attendant activists from both the Northwest and Delta Steering Committees and our Northwest Member Engagement Committee Chair and Vice Chair will meet in Washington, D.C. next week. CWA organizers, advisors, attorneys and AFA-CWA International officers will facilitate intensive strategy sessions and advanced mobilization training to further ready these volunteers prior to a representation election of the combined flight attendant group when a merger transaction is complete. Once our joint strategic coalition has completed this comprehensive training, elected leaders of Northwest AFA-CWA will participate in a similar program, with a stronger focus on CWA’s successful local member-to-member organizing structure. A collaborative communications effort is planned – including a joint website and newsletter – with a launch date expected later this summer. Please email the Member Engagement Committee at to volunteer at the local level as we ramp up our efforts before Labor Day.
Activists and MEC Officers to Lobby Congress for MN Unemployment Insurance Benefits
MEC Officers and Government Affairs Committee activists will head to D.C. next week to lobby Minnesota members of Congress for less restrictive unemployment insurance benefits for MSP-based SLIP leave participants. Although a MN state statute currently denies unemployment to those who voluntarily take a leave of absence from work, our MEC contends that voluntary leaves alleviate more dire consequences to the State because such leaves prevent potentially devastating involuntary furloughs.
After meetings this week with Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Dan McElroy and MN State Representative Joe Atkins in St. Paul, AFA-CWA will visit several key State Senators at the State Capitol and the Minnesota Congressional Delegation in D.C., asking for the Delegation’s assistance in providing constituents with benefits afforded other unemployed workers. At the next Minnesota Central Labor Council meeting with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) on Monday, July 21, AFA-CWA will first meet with the Congressman, then will speak to the Council about the Delta/Northwest merger and Delta’s plan to eliminate our flight attendant union. We will update you with the results of these meetings.
Executive Management Team Now Included in Recycling Project
First it was aluminum cans and paper; now Northwest management itself is being recycled. A press release this week lists the Delta Air Lines transitional executive team, and many of the names are eerily familiar to Northwest employees. So much for some flight attendants’ hopes they might be treated differently by “new” faces in Delta’s management group if we’re left without a union: the same pool of “highly experienced operational, corporate and strategic leaders” who pillaged Northwest Airlines and eventually led it into bankruptcy will now be tasked with convincing investors, federal regulators, the traveling public and employees that a “seamless transition” is on the horizon. If only this reuse of corporate fossil fuel could end global warming.
Delta “Inadvertently” Removes Policy Manual References, Reissues FlyRight Work Rules
Delta Air Lines flight attendants work under imposed working conditions issued unilaterally by management and subject to change at any time. As such, keeping up with Delta’s “moving target” directives is almost impossible, especially when these rules and conditions for employment are not available for reference all in one place.
Management is not required to inform flight attendants of scheduling rule changes outside of FARs since they are not agreed upon as they would be between an employer and a union. Nevertheless, flight attendants are expected to know and abide by every mandate, even though they may never have seen or heard them.
This fleeting compilation of working conditions has never before been published in full. Our MEC web developer has been busy gathering bits and pieces of the Delta FlyRight rulebook (before any become obsolete!) and posting them on our website on the ”Delta Policy Manual” page. In a recent email to flight attendants, Delta executives warned that pages had “inadvertently” been removed for several years and were now being reinstated. It is unclear which pages may have disappeared and reappeared, but we invite you to review Delta management edicts on our website, keeping in mind that there are:
NO binding effective or amendable dates;
NO consequences for Delta management violating its own rules;
NO legally recognized processes through which flight attendants may argue against such rule violations;
and NO legal obligations for management to uphold any policy as Northwest Airlines must under our AFA-CWA ratified contract.
Reminder: Contact EAP for Professional Standards Issues
Detroit Hub Managing Director of Line Maintenance Jack Fauth recently issued a memo to his workgroup on how to report to Northwest management alleged “inappropriate conduct” during pass travel. In contrast to this directive, AFA-CWA urges flight attendants to call our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) volunteers to discuss professional standards issues with fellow union employees, not Northwest management. All conversations are kept confidential. We are discouraged to read Jack’s memo, as his goal could only be to damage the positive relationships that have existed for years between employee groups at Northwest.
Improved Hotel Committee Website Now Online
We invite you to visit the fun and informative MEC Hotel Committee website. Features include articles on everything from bedbugs to tipping, with new information being posted weekly.
Additional Local Council Meetings Announced
Local Executive Councils have scheduled meetings for July, August and September. Please visit the Council Meetings page of our website for times and locations. The page also lists scheduled PBS Seminars for July and August. The SAFA-taught PBS seminar topic for July is “Weighting;” for August is “Reports.”
Something To Consider: Happy Summer Travel Season!
Northwest VP of Communications Tammy Lee on how important service is to airline executives:
“When you’re choosing between survival and service, survival wins.”
— on Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning, July 16, 2008
Posted by Communications on 07/19 at 10:00 AM