9.15.00 – (LAA) – Special Delegate Willingness-to-Serve Notifications, Manual, Officer on Duty

Special Delegate Willingness-to-Serve Notifications were retrieved from the designated post office box on Friday, September 15, 2000.

The following persons have been duly elected by virtue of running unopposed. The Washington DC Domestic Vice Chair is Timothy M. Weston, the Los Angeles Domestic Vice Chair is John C. Nikides, the JFK Vice Chair is Kathleen H. Clements, and the Seattle Vice Chair is Pete Callaway. They will assume office immediately for the remainder of the two-year term ending March 31, 2001.

There will be elections for the Vice Chair position at Boston International, Dallas/Ft. Worth International and Los Angeles International. The candidates at Boston International are Joseph Niebling and Eugenio Vargas, at Dallas Ft. Worth International Bob Walker and Linda Wheat, and at Los Angeles International the candidates are Linda Prosser and Les Wood. Ballots will be mailed to all members at Boston International, Dallas/Ft. Worth International and Los Angeles International on October 3, 2000 and must be received in the designated post office box no later than 10:00 AM Central Time on November 2, 2000. The election will commence immediately at a location to be announced. Willingness-to-Serve Notifications for San Francisco International Chair and Vice Chair were mailed to all members at that base on Wednesday, September 13, 2000. If you are interested in serving in either of these positions, your completed Willingness-to-Serve must be in the post office box by 10:00 AM Central Time on October 13, 2000.

Please stay on the line for APFA Negotiations News:

This is Leslie Mayo, APFA National Communications Coordinator with more Hotline News for the week ending September 15th, 2000.

The September Skyword has been shipped to all members in good standing. Please make a special effort to fill out the Hotel Survey in the center section regarding our long New York City layover hotel.

From the Safety Department: You must insert and record all bulletins in your manual regardless of whether you are qualified on that equipment or not. If you do not insert and record each bulletin, your manual will not be considered up-to-date by the FAA or the company. APFA is aware of the triple 7 chiller problems. AA has reported that this is an industry-wide problem and has set up meetings with Boeing the week of the 18th.

We would like to begin announcing the Scheduling and Contract Reps on Duty each week. These Flight Attendants spend anywhere from a week to a month at HDQ taking calls from the line regarding your Contract and Scheduling issues. Remember ALL Flight Attendants in good standing are welcome to Headquarters. Just call 800.395.2732, Ext. 8261 for the Scheduling Desk or 8271 for the Contract Desk. The “Officer On Duty” for the week beginning September 18th will be Robert McIntire, Seattle Base Chair. The Officer On Duty is a Union Rep who takes calls after hours and on the weekends. This person can be reached by dialing headquarters, extension 910. Just leave a message, and they will return your call within a short period of time. Membership involvement is always welcome.

If any of you have news clippings or photos from our Labor Day Leafleting Event, please send a copy to APFA HDQ, att: Communications Department. We will not be able to return any photos, so please make copies for yourself. SFO will be having their regularly scheduled Base Meeting on September 27th at 10:00 a.m. Also, DFW/IDF and Chicago will be holding their “reps in Ops” Day. DFW reps will be in Terminal A on September 20th from 10:00 a.m until 1:00 p.m. and in Terminal C on the 21st between 10:00 and 1:00 as well. Chicago’s “Reps in Ops” Day is, as always, the 18th of every month. Please call your local base Chairs for more details.

Mr. Carty has been in the news quite a bit this past week. From addressing the United pilot’s new Tentative Agreement, to the “Flight Rescheduling” that is planned for DFW and ORD. Here’s what Mr. Carty said on the Pilot’s T/A as reported in the Ft. Worth Star Telegram: “Until United reached its agreement with its pilots, I thought our contract extension had a pretty good chance of passing, but now, I don’t know. It seems that some of our pilots, having seen or heard what is in the United deal, want to have their cake and eat it too.” And Mr. Carty, on the rescheduling of flights at our two major hubs to help alleviate delays: “What we’re doing is we’re trying to be more attractive to passengers. If this works as I’ve described it, you’re going to see American’s dependability increase and you’re going to see American’s baggage numbers get better. And all that stuff gets published very nicely every month by the DOT. So it tends to market itself.” In a nutshell, Carty explains the restructuring like this: we are “building a firewall between our operation and the rest of our network. If there’s a snowstorm in Chicago, it won’t affect your flight from New York to Dallas. Or Dallas to Albuquerque.” On the industry consolidation, Carty stated: “For labor, it’s good news, bad news. There will be more work stability. The government is growing less tolerant of delays and strikes.” Susan Donofrio, an analyst for Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown investment firm stated that AA’s plan is a “positive step toward solving the customer service and air traffic control/weather issues.” She, along with other airline analysts, were disappointed by Mr. Carty’s inability to answer two of the biggest questions looming: What about labor relations with your employee groups; and what about your global partnership, particularly the British Airway alliance? The latter is mainly due to either side’s inability to negotiate a new “air services treaty” to allow the partnership. The former must just be habit.

Just an update on merger talks: News sources have reported that American and Northwest have cooled down prospective merger talks. These discussions began around the time United and USAir announced their merge and became quite heated, up until a few weeks ago. The media reports that the problem is the approximate $50 gap in price of cost per share.

Don’t forget about the enrollment period for Registered Companions. The company has announced the registration dates for the year 2001 to be from September 15 through the 30th. Please review N*REGISTERED COMPANION in res for more information. Remember, you must register again even if you are submitting the same name as the one you currently have on file.

Remember, it’s Union Pin, Nametags and Wings only. Thanks for calling the APFA Hotline and stay unified!