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View From The Jumpseat
January 2010 - ATL/NYC Member ConcernsDecember 2009 - DTW FA Janette Rook's Views
November 2009 - BOS FA Jacob Easter's Views
October 2009 - MEM/ATL FA Kathy Swarts' Views
January 30, 2010 eNews
62 YEARS AND COUNTING . . .
Your MEC is pleased to announce the arrival of our newsletter, all call. Beginning today,all NWA-AFA members will receive a printed copy of the newsletter at their homes.
This edition of all call commemorates our 62-year history of collective bargaining. We’ve featured several union leaders and activists through the years, MEC President Janette Rook’s speech to the National Mediation Board, and pictures of our Agreements since September, 1947.
As a way to share some of our history, the MEC and Delta AFA Campaign have printed a limited number of copies of the newsletter to make available to our Delta colleagues. all call will be available-while supplies last-to DL flight attendants at our AFA tables in NYC, ATL, SLC, DTW, MSP, and other locations. Can’t wait to see your copy? Go to http://www.nwaafa.org/docs/printres/all_call_2010.pdf for the electronic version.
We hope you enjoy this final newsletter from NWA-AFA. Along with our Delta friends and colleagues, we look forward to creating the new Delta AFA newsletter in the near future.
NEW SYSTEM SENIORITY LIST POSTED
As contractually required in CBA Section 20, the company posted an updated copy of our Flight Attendant System Seniority List on CENTRY and under What’s New on the ATLAS homepage. Flight Attendants are contractually allowed up to 60 days following the list’s release to file a written protest, should they believe an error, omission or incorrect posting has occurred. According to the updated list, PMNW now has a total of 7276 Flight Attendants, as of January 29, 2010.
Please submit written inquiries to:
Dustin Ray
Analyst - Operations & Planning
Mailstop F 5800
7200 34th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55450
We recommend mailing seniority challenges with a USPS return receipt to verify your submission. The deadline for submitting a protest will be March 29, 2010.
MIGRATION MANIA, INSURANCE ISSUES, PAYROLL PROBLEMS AND YOU
“Already flooded with millions of pieces of medical and insurance-related paperwork, Americans are assuming more control over their own health care.
Currently 82 percent of American households are spending significant time organizing, filing and reconciling their health care information. We will break through that clutter of information and consolidate it, so consumers can be empowered to make the right decisions and save time and money.” ~ Richard Anderson, Executive Vice President, UnitedHealth Group, April, 2006
Your NWA-AFA MEC has compiled volumes of complaints about our new UHC insurance and the confusing, disorganized and misleading Open Enrollment process we
experienced several months ago. We will continue to address these issues head-on with the company as they occur, including the myriad of ongoing Payroll and Benefit
problems affecting both active and retired employees. Please see http://www.nwaafa.org/docs/benefits/2010_Health_Benefits/01.25.10_Collins_Benefit_Is sues.pdf to read MEC President Janette Rook’s emphatic letter to Delta management, reasserting our contractual rights and many of your most vocal concerns, as follow up to a recent meeting.
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miscalculated COBRA billing ~ payroll deduction errors ~ computer glitches ~ medical providers balking at UHC ~ post-tax insurance charges ~ mountains of Open Enrollment paperwork ~ switched primary residence ~ endless 800-MY-DELTA voicemail maze ~ undesired COBRA payments extracted from bank accounts
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Remember to call 1-800 MY DELTA or email for pension, retirement, payroll, travel, and benefit questions or problems. You can also contact
for payroll issues. Because Delta has a different system, it might also be appropriate to copy in or call your local inflight manager for assistance. If you are assigned a case number and/or follow up is required, be sure to record the name of the customer service representative with your case number. Document. Document. Document. Dates, times, names, and case numbers are important, especially if you need your AFA representative to pursue resolution later.
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incorrect wage verification ~ ESC phone tag without resolution ~ missing Defined Benefit retirement updates ~ “unavailable” company business seats for training travel ~ inaccurate MyHealthCareView information ~ distorted payroll marital status ~ outsourced third-party “solutions” companies
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Your MEC and Local Council Officers will continue to communicate ongoing glitches and administrative errors as they come to our attention. While many of these get
corrected as we go, others may take time, patience, and persistence to resolve. Thank you for your diligence in bringing hot topics to the forefront, as we strive to effectively and successfully survive the big move, together.
No Way AFA BRINGS ANTI-UNION CAMPAIGN ‘UP NORTH’
On the heels of a fairly regular AFA campaign presence in crew lounges system-wide, occasional teams of No Way AFA supporters have begun visibility efforts of their own, setting up camp around the PMNW system. On Thursday, DTW"s Flight Attendant lounge hosted a small group of anti-union activists. So far, reports indicate their ranks to be well armed with error-riddled, sensationalist anti-union material, including free copies of “Should You Hire a Union - What you and your co-workers ought to know before deciding,” by Cal Atwood and Bernie Koehne.
The 57-page booklet is from the Right to Work Foundation and was written by industry outsiders with no relevant airline perspective. Its claims of physical violence, beatings, entrapment and threats by union members bear no resemblance to the representation NWA Flight Attendants have enjoyed for over 60 years. In fact, the No Way AFA book so misrepresents your AFA brothers and sisters, campaign activists and the Local Council Officers with whom you share a jumpseat, we will gladly share where you can get your own copy of their inaccurate booklet, at your request.
Should you encounter anti-union activists campaigning in the lounge or elsewhere, please welcome our new colleagues professionally, as you would wish to be greeted. Feel free to engage in respectful dialogue, bearing in mind we are all colleagues at the end of the day. Remain alert to underlying agendas within casual discussions. Most importantly, however, arm yourself with education upfront. Become familiar with the headlines, newsletters and educational fliers found on the Delta AFA website and/or call your Local Council to fact-check conflicting information. Finally, always keep your Local Council apprised of such encounters.
FLIGHT #253 DEBRIEFING: A CALL FOR STRONGER SECURITY MEASURES
On January 25th, a formal security debriefing was held in ATL with the crew of NWA’s Flight #253, whose training and quick response thwarted a well-publicized Christmas Day terrorist attack. The debriefing allowed our crew an opportunity to reflect on their
experience and offer recommendations for improvements to procedures and crew security training, with a focus on “lessons learned.”
In that the circumstances of Flight 253 are part of an ongoing FBI investigation, a confidentiality restriction has been placed on the proceedings of Monday’s debriefing
session. Our Flight 253 crew has been and will continue to be recognized for their exceptional professionalism, teamwork, and courage in the face of a very real threat to
everyone onboard. We should be extremely proud of our peers! An immediate response to this attack was voiced by our Union, and most recently released as comprehensive, counter-terrorism position papers including the call for stronger counterterrorism training, and tougher legislation to protect passengers and, importantly, cabin crew, who remain the ‘last line of defense’. See AFA’s press release at http://www.afanet.org/default.asp?id=1241 .
AFA-CWA’s proposed counter-terrorism strategy includes:
Wireless Communications For Flight Attendants
http://www.deltaafa.org/fourpoint/AFA_CabinCrewWirelessDevice.pdf
Stronger Carry-On Bag Limitations
http://www.deltaafa.org/fourpoint/AFA_Carry-on_summary.pdf
Passenger Communications Systems Restrictions
http://www.deltaafa.org/fourpoint/AFACommunicationsRestrictions.pdf
Basic and Recurrent Flight Attendant Counter terrorism Training
http://www.deltaafa.org/fourpoint/AFA_Basic_and_Recurrent_Flight%20Attendant_Counter_Terrorism_Training_Course.pdf
Actively employed U.S. airline crew members interested in pursuing voluntary advanced self defense training classes developed by the Transportation Security Administration can find more information, including links for class schedules and online registration at http://www.tsa.gov/lawenforcement/programs/self_defense_cmsd_programs.shtm.
~ Submitted by MEC ASHS Chair Jeanne Elliott
SO IT’S NOT QUITE JEOPARDY,
BUT TRY THIS QUICK QUIZ CHALLENGE
Q. In 1968, how long did the average Flight Attendant career last?
A. 18 months.
Q. Under pressure from AFA, what year did courts find United’s “no marriage” rule illegal?
A. 1971
Q. What year did the court rules that Northwest Airlines must pay female flight attendants the same scale as males? (Hint: The following year, AFA challenged the requirement that females had to stop working during pregnancy.)
A. 1974 and 1975
Q. In 1988, AFA lobbying before Congress resulted in what ban on domestic flight of two hours or less?
A. The smoking ban on shorter flights became effective in 1988. In 1990, it was expanded to all domestic flights.
For more fun-and educational-flight attendant milestones, check out Milestones at http://www.deltaafa.org/images/fliers/Milestones.pdf and review an impressive chronology of AFA’s accomplishments on our behalf over the last 65 years. More recent milestone victories include the passage of legally-binding seniority protection for airline workers, successful pressuring of Congress to fund flight attendant fatigue studies, and mandated FMLA coverage for flight attendants.
This Week in the News . . .
Delta Announces Three-year, $1 Billion Product Upgrade ~ ATW Daily News, January
26, 2010, which can be found at http://atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=19164
BILLION DOLLAR BABY
* Delta Air Lines has announced it will invest $1 billion-about $300 million per year, through mid-2013 to upgrade the customer experience.
* Northwest Airlines Flight Attendants invested $1.1 billion via court-ordered bankruptcy concessions-$195 million per year, starting in 2006, to preserve our employment experience.
* President Ed Bastian stated, “…Delta will be spending its capital to improve the quality and consistency of the onboard product…”
* This statement begs a double-take. Whose capital is being spent here?
* Last year, Richard Anderson claimed, “We cannot have a business that runs on debt and borrows from our employees” in the January 2009 edition of the CEO Forum.
* This month, CEO Richard Anderson calls the $1B upgrade “the most significant investment we have made in our customers in more than a decade.”
AFA MEMBERS, OTHER AVIATION PROFESSIONS ASSIST IN HAITIAN RELIEF
Amidst the chaos and turmoil of Haiti’s ongoing tragedy, heartening stories of generosity and courage are unfolding, as well-both in survivors’ experiences, and in the relief efforts of volunteers from around the globe. Retired NWA Purser Raymond Rolak recently published an article highlighting the volunteer efforts of five United Airlines AFA members, who carried supplies and aid workers into the country, returning with survivors.
Rolak’s two-part story also features a unique trip made possible, in part, by retired NWA-Delta Captain Bill DaSilva’s donation of time and personal aircraft. DaSilva made his Albatross available for a special assistance flight to carry several tons of donated supplies, along with twelve volunteer doctors and nurses from Michigan. The Albatross is the only potential aircraft for a trip of this nature and flight length, and the mission would not have gotten off the ground without DaSilva’s generosity. For the rest of the story, go to http://www.nwaafa.org/docs/press/01.28.10_Rolak_Haiti_Rescue.pdf
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