BRACE FOR IMPACT – Is AFA Ready to Crash Again?

BRACE FOR IMPACT – Is AFA Ready to Crash Again?

Another week gone – another lost opportunity for AFA to prove their worth.

AFA has crashed so many times since their raid on the Northwest flight attendants, that it’s no wonder the tagline of their latest initiative urges us to “Brace for IMPACT”. And the question on everyone’s mind is not “AFA, what have you done for us lately?” but, rather “AFA, What have you done now?

What is The Real IMPACT of AFA?

Is having an AFA contract really any different than having a policy manual?

Recently Delta ALPA and NWA ALPA announced a tentative agreement with Delta management. ( Link to news article here: Startribune )

This is the second time in less than a year that ALPA has negotiated improvements to the NWA pilot contract. What has AFA done for us? Months since our quality of life has been demolished: 14 Meanwhile, Kevin Griffin and the rest of the AFA staffers are stymied by NWA’s refusal to better our agreement. It has been over 300 days since Kevin Griffin’s Quality of Life Discussions with NWA management and we have seen no improvements whatsoever. In fact, we don’t even have a printed copy of our contract to carry with us and AFA has refused to keep us informed on the 70 hour minimum line dispute. We have to wonder why the same NWA management and the same Delta management who felt compelled to negotiate with ALPA refuse to sit at the table with AFA.

The difference appears to be in the union leadership – or lack thereof. Perhaps even Northwest management has lost respect for Griffin and other members of the MEC after a year of backroom deals, sparse communications and a tactical and strategic abyss. Maybe it’s because Griffin is too busy shuttling between his investment properties in Wisconsin and Florida to spend much time in Minneapolis fighting on our behalf. Maybe NWA is still laughing at a union that spends more time fighting against flight attendants than it does fighting for flight attendants. We cannot forget the broken promises, the shady balloting, the ‘lost’ membership applications, the sub-standard contract and the politically motivated attacks against individual flight attendants that have defined AFA since their raid on Northwest.

Griffin encourages removal of AFA as the ‘third party’ between the flight attendants and management.

And now it appears that even our MEC president has thrown up his hands in submission. Griffin ends a June 20 email to us with a request that we contact Northwest management directly, rather than explaining to us some plan or strategy he has for getting what we deserve from NWA management. What happened to speaking with a strong collective voice? What happened to the ‘seat at the table’ that AFA was promising the Delta flight attendants? Even Griffin has to admit that unilateral initiatives, such as the Summer Reliability Program are just another example of the company dealing directly with the employees, without regard for the union. It seems that Griffin and the MEC have no idea whatsoever on how to win improvements to our agreement and if AFA is powerless to stop management from doing whatever it wants anyway, then we have to ask ourselves if AFA is really accomplishing the job that we are paying them for. It is time to hold Griffin and the rest of the AFA staffers accountable for failing to do the job they were put in office – and we pay them handsomely - to do.

Sincerely,
Jose Arturo Ibarra