Friday, June 6, 2008

AFA uses tactics that destroy solidarity and ignore democratic principles.

Recently I have been contacted by one AFA paid staffer, one AFA “volunteer” who got his trip dropped to go to AFA’s Atlanta “rally” for DAL (along with many other NWA FAs who also got their trips dropped), and by one IAM paid staffer who is friends with AFA paid staffers. They all want me to stop sending you information about what is really happening at AFA.

Why? Not to get better terms from the company as the pilots are presently doing in their “discussions” with DAL and did last year to get their current increases, but so that AFA can win another representational election at NWA.
You can imagine then, why I sent the following letters in return…

Dear Kip,

I appreciate your contacting me through email, however, we have more than a few mutual friends that could have supplied you with my number, but perhaps you needed to put this in writing for AFA. Since most likely you will supply AFA with this note, I will write it for all of you.

For the last two years many flight attendants with previous union experience tried to offer their skills to AFA. These well-intentioned unionists were either completely rejected or if able to contribute, were ridiculed, silenced or threatened. If you have been getting my emails, you would know that I am supplied information by wide and varying sources, thus what I am telling you is not the experience of just a few people. I, myself, have had my life threatened by fellow workers due to AFA’s initiatives.

I want to quote you here: “I am also sending it to the AFA because I think you should be accountable for your views.” Please ask AFA who holds them accountable for their actions?

The same people who were in office when all of this lunacy took place (and it continues) and who were the leaders of it are still in office or are serving AFA in various roles. Let us not forget that these are the same AFA people who have lied to the flight attendants and continue to use coercion and fear mongering tactics to get their way.

Do you know what those tactics do in the long run? It destroys faith in people; faith in our collective worth and each other. Guess who wins out? The people employing those tactics.

AFA uses tactics that destroy solidarity and ignore democratic principles.

Can you sincerely call AFA a union?

Do you know that:
  • After two years we still do not have membership cards to show that we are registered members with AFA…even though there have been repeated calls for membership acknowledgement due to sketchy elections? Our last contract was voted in by a margin of just over 100 votes. Meanwhile, AFA threw out 484 ballots, claiming the members casting them were not in good standing. Because AFA International repeatedly bungled the processing of membership applications and refused to send any type of membership confirmation, such as a membership card, many members submitted applications four or five times and STILL do not know whether they are in good standing. How are we supposed to feel confident in even the membership numbers the AFA will give the NMB?
  • After one year we still have not been given a contract to carry with us? Think of being in a foreign city trying to employ union rights with no contract. Isn’t our agreement the reason for a union?
  • Just last week I offered solutions to AFA that were rejected on the spot because it would mean an overhaul of the union and the change of people currently holding union staff positions?
And these are just three points among many.

The most important point is that AFA pulled opened the door for the company to brutalize our contract and thus us and our families.

You may not know who flight attendants are, but I hope you will never forget this: We will never excuse, welcome or tolerate those who demean, use, disrespect or knowingly hurt us – or especially our families.

AFA chose to be one of those organizations which did just that.

I support collective bargaining. I do not support AFA.

Sincerely,
Jose Arturo Ibarra
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Greetings Diana,

Since our recent phone conversation, I have received word that you had no authority whatsoever to offer me a position with AFA, so I can only imagine what the call was really about. Additionally, I was appalled to learn that Danny Campbell, who, like Bruce Retrum, holds no elected position within AFA, actually exerts more influence and authority than you do and that Shawn Fivecoat (or Turncoat as many flight attendants refer to him) leverages his close ties with Pat Friend to exert a disproportionate amount of authority on the NWA MEC. This really isn’t the bottoms up, democratic organization that AFA promised the NWA flight attendants during their raid.

How sad that you, who represent the largest LEC at NWA (and I believe the second largest LEC within AFA), have so egregiously abdicated your responsibility to your members. You have allowed yourself to become nothing more than another puppet to the international. I recoiled at reading you repeat yet another meaningless AFA mantra in your 31MAY letter to your members, when you state: “. . . we can take our place at the table.” What delusion makes you think the Northwest flight attendants have ever had a place at the table with AFA? Was it when Pat Friend had her secret meeting with Doug Steenland and refused to allow any NWA AFA leadership to attend? Was it when AFA international suspiciously delayed the TA 3 vote results, threw out 484 ballots and got the TA to pass with just over 100 votes? And what about those flight attendants who have submitted three or four membership applications and are still not considered in good standing, because the AFA membership department has bungled the processing of their applications? Do you think those members have a “place at the table”?

Wake up and take a good look around Diana. Look at where the money is going. AFA is pulling people off line right and left – not to improve our contract – but to benefit their own coffers. Look at all the time and energy being spent on mobilization. It is not for the purpose of improving the lives of those who pay your salary and expenses, is it? And where are the results of our Quality of Life discussions with the company? Why has Kevin Griffin refused to communicate to the members about the recent information he received from Bob Brodin?

I find it despicable that you would represent yourself as having the authority to offer me a position when you clearly did not. Based on your deception, I also wonder what you reported back to the MEC about our conversation. I’m fairly certain you didn’t convey my ideas, thoughts and suggestions or my willingness to take Pat Friend’s position. More likely you simply told them I wasn’t interested.

At the end of the day, the truth about AFA and its supporters is as clear now as it ever was: you will continue to pursue your failed strategies and tactics; you will continue to pursue the almighty dues dollar above all else; and you will continue to ostracize anyone who does not display a cult-like belief in the demagoguery that defines AFA.

Sincerely,
Jose A. Ibarra

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