AFA: The Enron of Unions?

AFA: The Enron of Unions?

In This Email

*** Information and Facts Are Paramount and the Sharing of Such Embrace Your Democratic Right to Make an Informed Decision
*** AFA: The Enron of Unions? They got the Numbers Wrong Again! Plus This Weeks AFA Lottery Winner.
*** Danny Campbell Twists and Twirls, but Fails to Dodge the Truth
*** Kevin Griffin’s Numbers Don’t Match
*** Janette Rook’s Outrageous Rationalization of Budget Mismanagement & the Worst Run Northwest Councils


*** Information and Facts Are Paramount and the Sharing of Such Embrace Your Democratic Right to Make an Informed Decision

While NWA management turns a handsome profit by our hard work and concessions (Northwest Airlines sees up to $100M pretax profit http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/09/18/ap5443093.html ) and ALPA members continue to enjoy their post-bankruptcy negotiated increases, what is our union doing to better our professions and contract? Harassing those who are trying to hold them accountable and very little else.

Shortly after I sent out my most recent email, I received numerous responses from AFA staffers who tried to rationalize their pay, distort the truth and even threatened filing charges against me for daring to tell you the truth. Such emails provided valuable input into the creation of this email and two of the most important questions are: Why is Danny and his Teamsters allies stirring everyone into a frenzy in an attempt to cover up their real salaries? Is this a meager attempt to distract from another failed representational campaign and an effort to lay the groundwork for blaming those who provide facts and truth?

In a blatant attempt at distraction, AFA staffers are trying to fool you by comparing their salaries with those at the former union. Keep these points in mind when they show you their apples to oranges comparison:

1) They are showing you information from before the Flight Attendants took concessions. Remember, the Northwest flight attendants were the last group to take concessions and were therefore able to collect several months more in yellow book pension, sick, vacation accruals and other benefits. Union representatives at the time took cuts directly in line with the flight attendants. In contrast, current staffers recently gave themselves a raise in the form of per diem that they can claim whenever they want and without submitting any proof of travel.
2) Fewer people at the former union got more work done. Previously Detroit had four Council Reps, at lower cost than the current 8 AFA DTW staffers. Under the former union, a communications department of 3 people mobilized the flight attendants and put out a newsletter every second month, as well as regular hotlines and a state of the art website. It took AFA communications folks Elisabeth Joyce, Neal McMahon and Renee Foss (with additional help from other staffers and the international office) to barely squeak out a weekly hotline and one print newsletter. It took almost a year to get our contract posted on the website.
3) The bottom line is, AFA promised that they would do even better than the previous union. Many believed them with so many people on staff, but now realize the organization is paralyzed by bureaucratic bloat, and self-interested staffers. History has shown that AFA is very good at collecting dues, issuing empty proclamations and hollow promises, but not effective in producing work that benefits the membership. All we have to do is look at our monthly paychecks. Are you seeing a difference in your paycheck due to AFA?


*** AFA’s Numbers Are Wrong Again!!!!!

In a September 14, 2008 email, written in response to my last blog, LEC 93 (MEM) President Shawn Fivecoat admits that the numbers that AFA reported to the federal government were incorrect! He states, “. . . you need to know the 2007-2008 fiscal year Budget & Expense Reports were not corrected until a few weeks ago.” Incredibly, in his email to me, Fivecoat admits that AFA filed a fraudulent document with a U.S. governmental agency!!! (To read Shawn’s email, link here.)

Does this gang ever get the numbers right? Do they ever tell the truth? Remember when AFA Vice President Veda Shook told Congress that AFA filed for the election at Delta with cards from over 50% of the flight attendants? Remember that AFA lost the election with less than 40% of the votes? That’s a margin of error of, like, 1,400 flight attendants. Oops.

Remember the whole membership application fiasco and the botched TA 3 election when AFA threw out almost 500 Northwest ballots and the contract passed with just over 100 votes? C’mon AFA! Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. And now we have to question if even the elections of the officers themselves are valid. Fivecoat won MEM by 5 votes. Based on the Delta election, that seems to be well within AFA’s accepted margin of error. . . Scary.

Speaking of stopped clocks, I will begin counting the days since Fivecoat’s admission of AFA’s perjury to the Department of Labor to track how long it takes before he provides the true numbers.

Days since Shawn Fivecoat admitted that AFA filed false information with the Department of Labor and continues to withhold the truth: 8

Shawn Fivecoat is this week’s winner in the AFA Sweepstakes. He is the highest paid NWA LEC Officer for the entire fiscal 2007-2008 year, winning both the ‘Salary’ and ‘Total Cost to FAs” Categories for a grand total of $56,082.00. $148.37 of each MEM flight attendant’s annual dues went to pay for Fivecoat’s salary and lunches. Shawn also made a valiant effort to win the Business Expense category by claiming $7688 in annual expense reimbursements. Ironically, Fivecoat told the AFA Board of Directors that he doesn’t claim expenses when he works in MEM; only when he is on the road, so we have to assume those expenses were for the days he traveled away from home. Let’s see: $7688 divided by $45.90 per day means 167 days away. Where is the president of MEM traveling so much and for what purpose? Doesn’t it defy the AFA Constitutional intent of local representation to be away from base almost half the year? Does this include payment for trips to Africa that you claim to have taken on your own time even though you were paid almost 100 hours while being gone for half the month? How many grievances have you filed for you generous salary and perks? How many have you won? How many flight attendant jobs have you saved? Actions and work results speak louder than words Shawn. Maybe it’s time you showed your members your expense claim forms, and your work log. Honorable mention goes to BOS LEC 92 President Bob Cannatelli for his admirable effort. Even though he managed to pocket $185.09 (or almost half) of EACH BOS flight attendant’s dues payments, his overall ranking fell short due to a smaller base population in BOS. Think what he could have accomplished in a base like MSP or DTW. The mind reels at the possibilities. . .


*** Danny Campbell Twists and Twirls, but Fails to Dodge the Truth

In his email dated September 14, 2004, Danny Campbell, AFA staffer and Pat Friend lapdog, equates truth-telling with hate. I concur: Danny must hate it when the truth is told about him. In his email, Campbell spins a magical tale of LM-2 reporting that is so fantastical it should qualify him for a job as J.K. Rowling’s ghostwriter.

Danny doesn’t want his dupes to know the truth about his outrageous salary, so he tries to claim that the 28% override the union pays the company for benefits is included in his salary on the LM-2. He then quotes our contract language that says AFA has to pay NWA a 28% override to cover the cost of benefits for union staffers. I included the amount of the 28% override under the heading “Benefits” in my document (PDF files found here).

What Danny fails to cite in his desperate deception are, uh, the actual instructions for completing the LM-2, which can be found here: http://www.dol.gov/esa/olms/regs/compliance/erds/LM2Instr2-2-04koREVISED.pdf

Page 20 of the instructions provides clear language for completing Schedule 11 – All Officers and Disbursements to Officers: “Column (D): Enter the gross salary of each officer (before tax withholdings and other payroll deductions). Include disbursements for "lost time" or time devoted to union activities.”

Definition: Gross Salary - The entire amount of salary (a fixed amount of money paid to a worker) earned before taxes and other deductions are made. The gross salary is different from the net salary or the take home pay, which is the amount of salary after taxes and other deductions are made.

Obviously benefits are not included in Gross Salary, anymore than your sick leave accrual, vacation accrual or former pension benefits were included on your W-2, so we have a dilemma:

Which is it Danny? Are you ready to tell the truth about your salary or do you concur with Shawn Fivecoat that AFA is intentionally deceiving even the United States Government with their Enron style of accounting?


*** Kevin Griffin’s Numbers Don’t Match

In related news, MEC president Kevin Griffin has been walking around with a W-2 to prove that the numbers don’t match with the LM-2. Poor Kevin. He doesn’t understand that his 2007 W-2 shows his salary from JAN-DEC, 2007, but the LM-2 is filed for CWA’s fiscal year, which is JUN-DEC, 2007 and JAN-MAY 2008. Of course the numbers don’t match, Kevin. They are for different periods of time. If you’re interested in showing the truth, why don’t you disclose your monthly paycheck stubs, as well as copies of your expense reports? Are you collecting per diem, even when you’re sitting at home in Tampa? What about your union credit card? Where is the reporting for that?

It seems like Griffin is too busy dodging his members to keep his facts – or his numbers straight. For his $63,000 in pay and meal reimbursement, Kevin is almost nowhere to be found. Here is what one flight attendant had to say about Griffin’s availability to his members.

“Just a little update on Kevin Griffith. At a time when AFA need us and we need answers to questions. Kevin was commuting on my flight out of TPA. At NO time did he acknowledge the crew and say HI or even tell us he was on board. When a jumpseating FA told him she had a question he said he would talk to her on the flight. Guess what? He made NO effort to find her or to answer her question. If he wants us to back him and the union this is NO way to present yourself. I don’t care if you are tired or need some "me" time while commuting. We pay his salary and he should at least say HI and take time to be supportive and respectful. Anyone working flights out of TPA check your spill and don’t let him sit back and suck our money and not even acknowledge his co workers.”


*** Janette Rook’s Outrageous Rationalization of Budget Mismanagement & The Worst Run Northwest Councils

Link Here (PDF AFA Salaries by Base found here) to see which local councils are managed responsibly and which council presidents are in violation of the AFA Constitution.

Janette Rook, MEC vice president paid herself $48,238.00 in salary and expenses last year as a part time Council Rep. She now defends her pay with excuses and rationalizations. What she doesn’t cop to is how she knowingly and willingly violated the AFA Constitution by helping put the DTW base over budget by more than $107,931.00. She claims that part of her $11.956.00 in business expenses reimbursements was for a $4,000 voice card that she bought. (Is that from the same store as the $10,000 toilet seats the U.S. government was buying awhile back?)

There are two problems with Janette’s claim:
1) Page 21 of the LM-2 instructions specifically states: “Do not report the following disbursements in Schedule 11:

• Reimbursements to an officer for the purchase of investments or fixed assets, such as reimbursing an officer for a file cabinet purchased for office use, which must be reported in Schedule 4 “

2) Even if we believe Janette’s claim about the $4,000 voice card, what about the other $8,000 in expense reimbursements? Janette states, “I have no "union credit card," nor have I ever rented or leased a car, while working for the union,“ but she falls silent on the issue of union-paid meals and the other $8,000 in expenses. The real question, Janette, is how much did you claim per day for your meals, even though you lived and worked in Detroit? Do you think it’s right that you get paid to eat while you’re sitting in the office a few miles from home when flight attendants don’t get paid per diem for turns? Is this another way you’ve chosen not to live under the terms of the contract AFA forced on us, like the “super seniority” you implemented as a reserve flight attendant and a part-time Council Rep when you pre-blocked your line to hold trips that you admitted you couldn’t hold honestly? (Janette’s email to me link here.)


*** Other questions that need to be asked:

1) Why is MEM spending more than twice its annual budget? The costs for salary alone are staggering! It’s no wonder Fivecoat is wishing and praying the LM-2 numbers are wrong.
2) Why is each BOS flight attendant spending OVER HALF his/her annual dues ($251.00) just to pay for Bob Cannatelli and Jacob Easter to be offline so much?
3) Why is the cost per flight attendant so different in running the 7 smaller bases? LAX is twice as expensive as HNL, SEA and SFO. NYC is 2 ∏ times as costly and MEM costs FIVE TIMES as much to run. Why the added expense? Does MEM file 5 times as many grievances as HNL, SEA or SFO? Do they have office hours that are 5 times longer than the other bases? Are they winning the MEM flight attendants 5 times more contract improvements? These amounts are just for salaries and don’t include hotel rooms, rental cars, cell phones, etc. Are these legitimate costs or the by-product of gross mismanagement? (PDF Files, regarding their salary according to the official LM2 are found here.)


*** Janette gets the final word in today’s blog:

In an email to me dated September 15, 2008, Janette admits that:

“Yes, NWA-AFA is over-budget. AFA International continues to absorb our overage, due to the fact that we have very limited negotiated Company paid Flight Pay Loss and that we continue to have massive costs associated with 1. Contract negotiations, 2. CHAOS, 3. Merger, and now probably a 4. Representational election.” (Link here to Janette’s email.)

Is Janette playing some kind of shell game with the AFA budgets? Don’t negotiations and CHAOS get paid out of the International budget? If that’s the case, then how can those two items cause NWA-AFA (or LEC 94, DTW) to be over-budget? Does Janette even know what she is talking about or has she borrowed Danny Campbell’s Twister game to write her email?

Why are there “massive costs” associated with negotiations that were concluded over a year ago and to pay for a strike strategy (CHAOS) that was never deployed? What was the cost of operating a “virtual strike” strategy anyway? Didn’t AFA recoup their CHAOS expenses from the sale of CHAOS t-shirts, wristbands, buttons and jewelry? Whatever happened to the donations that individual members made to the Strike Fund? Has an accounting ever been given to the membership, or did that money just melt into the general fund?

And what does Janette’s budget excuse have to do with her excessive salary and expenses as a part time LEC 94 Council Representative? Did Janette use her union position to catapult herself off reserve out of seniority order as some type of negotiations strategy? If not, than what was her purpose? It’s sad that Janette and AFA refuse to provide full transparency and the complete answers to important questions.

Spending the members money like it’s water, increasing dues and not having a strategy for contract improvements is just plain corrupt. How do they ever expect to get votes when they have nothing to show for the last two years and millions of dues spent?

Sincerely,
Jose Arturo Ibarra