3.23.01 – (LAA) – Negotiations Postponed, BOD Convention in Los Angeles, TWA Acquisition, Ad Hoc Election

Special HotLine Update For Tuesday, March 27.

This is Dana Davis, San Francisco Flight Attendant and member of the Strike Preparedness Committee with a special HotLine update for Tuesday, March 27.

APFA received word from The National Mediation Board that negotiations tentatively scheduled for the first week of April in Washington, D.C. have been postponed. In a fax to APFA President, John Ward and AA Senior Vice-President of Human Resources, Sue Oliver, the NMB wrote “Due to the exigencies which the Board is dealing with at present and the significant potential of service disruption, should disputes currently in the final stage of the statutory process fail to find resolution, it will be necessary to reschedule meetings planned for early April.”

Simply put, the NMB has got its hands full with Comair’s pilots on strike and Delta and its pilots, who may possibly begin a thirty day cooling off period at any moment. It is reasonable to conclude that the NMB wants to see how that dispute plays out prior to calling APFA and American to Washington. As a result, we anticipate the meetings will likely be rescheduled for mid April. We’ll let you know as soon as dates have been finalized.

APFA’s goal continues to be to reach an acceptable negotiated settlement and to do so as quickly as possible. It is apparent that the Company’s goal, on the other hand, is to continue to resist making the improvements you told us were necessary to any new contract and we expect this resistance to continue until such time that they feel the pressure to do otherwise.

Should further mediation prove unsuccessful, we expect the National Mediation Board to give serious consideration to our request for release in to a thirty day countdown. Maybe the Company will then, finally, do what is right and what we have been waiting for more than two and a half years for them to do, provide us with an Industry Leading Contract with no fine print.

Stay unified and thank you for calling. Please stay on the line.

APFA HotLine for March 23, 2001

 

This is Leslie Mayo, National Communications Coordinator, with APFA Hotline news for the week ending March 23, 2001.

The 8th Annual APFA Board of Directors Convention took place this past week in Los Angeles. Among the items on the Board’s agenda were contract negotiations and the TWA Acquisition. The Board of Directors also elected three Ad Hoc Members to serve on the APFA Executive Committee.

Item #1 Negotiations

The Negotiating Committee was present to give a detailed presentation to the Board on the current status of negotiations. The Strike Preparedness Committee was also present, and updated the Board on their many activities. As was reported on last week’s hotline, the National Mediation Board has asked the parties to observe a communications blackout regarding the details of our last round of talks. The NMB did indicate that we can expect to be back in Washington sometime in April to resume mediated negotiations. We’ll keep you posted.

At APFA President John Ward’s request, American CEO Don Carty came to Los Angeles on Monday. Attending the meeting with Don were Chief Company Negotiator and Senior Vice President Human Resources Sue Oliver and Vice President Flight Service Jane Allen. Mr. Carty gave a short speech which covered a wide range of topics. The Q & A that followed made it very clear to Carty that the Board was focused on one thing, and one thing only: a new contract for our 23,000 members.

Item #2

TWA Acquisition

After two days of discussion, the APFA Board of Directors voted unanimously in favor of a resolution which sets forth how the APFA will proceed with respect to the TWA acquisition. The Merger and Acquisition Committee will meet with the Company for the purpose of reaching an agreement guided by the following principles:

1. Preservation of the bidding seniority of the American Airlines Flight Attendants.

2. A fence around the TWA St. Louis and JFK bases restricted to the flying currently flown by TWA at such bases.

3. Opportunities for American Airlines Flight Attendants to transfer/proffer to fill vacancies in the fenced bases and to fly trips included within the fence.

4. Protections against furlough of American Airlines Flight Attendants.

5. Classification (or pay) seniority and Company (retirement credit and vacation accrual) seniority for TWA Flight Attendants based upon their years of service at TWA.

6. No credit for bidding seniority for TWA years of service in the event TWA Flight Attendants transfer from the fenced St. Louis and JFK bases.

The Board also passed a resolution which added additional members to the Merger and Acquisition Committee. The members are:

John Ward, (DFW) President of APFA and Chairman of the Committee
Pete Callaway (SEA)
Suzanne Edwards (LGA)
Susan French (IDF)
Judy Huckaby (IDF)
Anne Loew (JFK)
Jennifer McCauley (BOS-I)
Bob Walker (IDF)

Item #3

Ad Hoc Election

In accordance with the APFA Constitution, the Board of Directors at its Annual Convention, elects Ad Hoc Members to the Executive Committee. The 5 Ad Hocs, together with the 4 APFA National Officers, make up the Executive Committee. The EC meets quarterly and acts as agent for, and on behalf of, the APFA Board of Directors. The Board elected Kim Boyett (DFW), Cheryl Walters (IDF) and Mario St.Michel (JFK).

April 12th is our next Informational Picketing event. Let American and our passengers know that we’re tired of AA investing in everything but their own employees. Picketing will be nationwide at the following times:

* Western Division: 9:00 a.m. to noon
* Central Division: 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and
* Eastern Division: 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
(JFK and BOS will be from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.)

Please check this HotLine or the web site at www.www.apfa.org for more details as the date draws nearer.

That’s it for this week, remember to wear your Union Pin, Wings and Nametag only along with your APFA Bagtag which should read 4,3,2,1… Thanks for calling the APFA HotLine.