2.03.23 – APFA LGA Base Brief – Friday, February 3, 2023

Friday, February 3, 2023

Once again, American Airlines is coming to the Flight Attendants to solve their problem with no real benefit to us. At the same time, we take to airport terminal curbsides around the country, marching to make our case to the public that we deserve a fair contract. To see the largest airline in the world unable to keep the agreed commitment of paying holiday premiums due to supposed programming, but on a whim be able to bend their policies that limit our quality of work life to attempting to recover from the disastrous winter storm Mara that passed through Dallas and Fort Worth. There were Flight Attendants all over the system stranded without hotels or transportation for hours. Scheduling was hanging up on Flight Attendants, and Crew Tracking was impossible to get through to. We heard of DFW crew members driving stranded crews to hotels since there was no other way to get them to a safe and warm spot. Crew tracking was trying to Re-Schedule Flight Attendants up to 8 hours after their initial disruption, which is a clear violation of our contract. Suddenly they announced today that they would open “Calling in Well.”

“Calling in Well” is an option only the company can turn on and off, and they did so in hopes that Flight Attendants would come off the sick list early and pick up open flying. A few hours later, the company again contacted AFPA leadership and informed us of their intent to offer attendance mitigation for Flight Attendants who “Call in well” and pick up a trip via TTS or UBL. As your representative, I would never deny us the opportunity of something we deserve, such as mitigating points in an inhumane attendance policy. As a Union, we have missed an opportunity that would benefit us all long-term and would have shrunk the high level of terminations we are seeing. We should be asking for this sudden change of heart on a strict policy to be in the form of an agreement, better known as a “Letter of Agreement,” that could be incorporated into our Tentative Agreement and, eventually, the contract. Suppose a policy like this can be changed at a moment’s notice.

In that case, APFA as the bargaining agent of Flight Attendants should also be able to use this exact mechanism when circumstances are beyond our control which happens more often than management cares to understand. We are in negotiations, and we should take every opportunity to get agreements in writing that benefit us…even through irregular operations. We give up our power when we don’t ask the company to “put it in writing.”

Lastly, upper management has developed good skills at decorating communications that do not match the reality of labor who lives and works daily, keeping this airline profitable even as we emerge from a global pandemic. Some days as I read, I wonder who does the writing, but even more so when I read CCI messages from the multi-titled Mr. Brady Byrnes, Vice President of “Inflight” and “Premium Guest Services.”  “Whether you’ve been caring for our customers onboard or in the clubs and lounges….” is a quote from a recent CCI. Robert Isom, American Airlines CEO, was recently quoted in Airline Weekly as saying, “What you are going to see from us, certainly in the near term, is more of the same, intense focus on reliability, profitability, and accountability.” It seems that Mr. Isom needs to practice what he preaches, especially in the accountability department. Where are we on the priority list, gentlemen?

I want each of you to know that I will never give up, cover up, or shut up. We, the frontline workers, must know this.

Please fly safely, take care of one another, and always put yourself first until we have reasons to do otherwise.

In Unity,

Christian M. Santana
APFA LGA Base President 
[email protected]

PROUD to represent New York-LGA