AFA keeps telling us it’s our union – it’s time they start showing us!

AFA keeps telling us it’s our union – it’s time they start showing us!

Without question, AFA badly needs reform. From its bloated officer and appointee salaries, to its undemocratic, banana republic style process of anointing officers to the highest international and local union positions without membership ratification, time and again AFA officials have seemed more intent on representing the best interests of themselves and their political cronies. There is no system of checks and balances in the current AFA structure and the tradition of cronyism and good ole boy n’ gal backslapping continues.

So, it is with complete surprise that our appointed NWA MEC President Kevin Griffin (who has failed to win a single advance for the NWA flight attendants, or even put out regular, effective communications to the members) has put his name to several very interesting amendments to the AFA Constitution, to be voted on at this year’s 36th Annual AFA-CWA Board of Directors Meeting (March 31 to April 2) to be held in Milwaukee. While there is no doubt that Griffin had (a lot of) help writing these proposals, they are striking, nonetheless.

On the eve of a representational election, it appears that the AFA Board of Directors will finally discuss the issue of direct election of all union officers – MEC and International. And if these constitutional changes were made, this would represent a great step forward for union democracy.

Unfortunately, it appears that our NWA MEC would rather that we did not know about these proposals, as they have not been publicly released via hotline, but instead have been hidden in a difficult to access, cloak and dagger like “Classified Documents” section of our NWA AFA website.

Why the secrecy?

What are they trying to hide?

Isn’t reform good – regardless when – especially for an organization that so desperately needs it?

Is this a sincere effort to reform a broken union structure, or just a bone thrown to the Northwest flight attendants in an attempt to secure a few more votes for AFA?

At a time that AFA is fighting to retain representation of the Northwest flight attendants, and expand representation to Delta flight attendants, wouldn’t you think that our union officials would be looking for every way possible to modernize and democratize our organization?

Specifically, two of Kevin’s proposals question the current, outdated, paternal and undemocratic style of appointment for International and local MEC officers. In his proposals, Kevin rightly asks if the AFA-CWA Constitution and Bylaws be amended to require:

*** the International Officers to be elected directly by the entire AFA-CWA membership?

*** that the Master Executive Council Officers of each airline be elected directly by all of its airline’s membership?

As background for both proposals, Kevin correctly notes that AFA-CWA members do not have a direct vote in the election of International Officers or Master Executive Council Officers, further adding that, “In order to be the most democratic union, members need to have a process in which they directly vote” for these positions.

I highly urge that you contact your AFA officials and representatives today (lecmec@nwaafa.org ) and demand that they support these very just and compelling changes to the AFA-CWA Constitution. These proposals, if passed, would help bring unity to our very badly divided membership. This is a great opportunity for AFA to show us that they are listening, and that they do respect our need for a democratic organization.

This is an opportunity for Pat Friend and her organization to step up and do the right thing for the flight attendants. What is Pat’s position on these proposals? For those of you who have never been to a Board of Directors meeting, Pat’s position for, or against any proposed change to the Constitution is quickly and clearly known. What does Pat think about these proposals? Why hasn’t she communicated them to us? In fact, why doesn’t she communicate with us at all, other than a periodic “This is what I’ve been up to, here’s where I attended a luncheon” email? C’mon Pat! There’s a representational election on the horizon and $12,000,000 a year in your dues dollars is at stake. Why aren’t you hitting the campaign trail and hitting it hard? Why aren’t you communicating with the flight attendants? What’s the strategy? Where’s the vision? What’s the plan? Flight attendants don’t care where you had lunch last week, Pat. They want to know how you and AFA are going to fulfill this new promise of an industry leading contract at the world’s largest airline. How quickly can you and AFA accomplish this? When are you going to fill us in? Or this destined to be the biggest, baddest, hottest mess of an AFA broken promise yet?

A few simple amendments are not enough to change an archaic dysfunctional structure overnight. Nor are they enough to untwist union leaders who are bent on corruption and self-enrichment. Here are some other reforms that must be discussed, debated and acted upon to ensure AFA offers the highest and most responsible form of union representation:

*** Full and monthly public disclosure detailing which flight attendants are offline, what their duties are, and what their compensation is. The union demands and receives the same information from the company regarding special assignment positions – don’t we, the dues paying members, deserve to know who represents us, what their duties are and what we are paying for their work? Why is it that some union staffers, who earn $75,000 per year, can also be absent from work for months at a time with no repercussions?

*** Full LEC President accountability to the membership for the Local Council budget. Did you know that 7 out of 9 LEC Presidents overspent their budgets last year, in direct violation of the AFA Constitution? Did you know that one West Coast LEC President has paid himself holiday pay for practically every national, state, local and religious holiday there is, with the possible exception of Groundhog day – and that the union offices are CLOSED on most of those holidays?!?!? This same president loves to travel to Hawaii and other states on “junkets” funded by his members’ dues money. These people are not brought up on charges because the very people who enforce the Constitution (the International Officers) are elected by them. Talk about a lack of oversight and control!

*** Immediate pay reform for all union positions, bringing union salaries into line with those who officials represent. AFA touts itself as a member-driven, bottom’s up, mostly volunteer organization, so why is it that so-called volunteers, organizers and representatives continue to earn more than twice that of what many of our members earn? Why do MEC Officers like Kevin Griffin, Janette Rook and Mark Gehrt pay themselves special “bonuses” and “incentives” above and beyond their agreed-upon pay? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just erase the amount of pay NWA puts on our checks and fill in whatever amount we wanted? Since we can’t do that, why do they believe that they are entitled to grab whatever amount of our hard-earned dues money whenever they want? When they were caught with their hands in the cookie jar, Rook and Gehrt said they would repay the money they took. Griffin remained defiant, claiming he needed the money. Now there’s an idea. How about if NWA paid each of us according to our individual need. What gives, Kevin?

*** Some form of term limits. No union official deserves office for life, and certainly no union official – such as International President Pat Friend – deserves to remain in office if he/she is no longer a flight attendant.

They keep telling us it’s our union – it’s time they started showing us it’s our union. Write your union leadership today and let them know this is their OPPORTUNITY to show us UNITY and RESPECT. Before it’s too late. . .

Sincerely,
Jose Arturo Ibarra