LOA 35 (Me-too clause): Dead or Alive?

LOA 35 (Me-too clause): Dead or Alive?

In a stunning admission buried deep in a link within the April 10, 2010 hotline, AFA conceded that it does not have the experience, ability or intellect needed to multitask multiple global grievances simultaneously. During a recent unannounced MEC meeting, our elected and unelected AFA LEC and MEC officers voted to postpone indefinitely action on the LOA 35 “Me-Too” grievance – the very grievance that if won holds the potential for flight attendants to reclaim more than $195 million in concessionary wage and work rule cuts.

For those who have missed it, here’s AFA’s hotline update:

LOA 35 “Me Too” – Round 2

“In response to recent inquiries regarding the status of the grievance filed over the new Delta pilot contract constituting a violation of LOA 35 (“me too”), you should know your Master Executive Council thoroughly reviewed and discussed this grievance at a recent MEC meeting that included all ten LEC Presidents, your MEC officers, and legal advisors. As a result of the discussion at that meeting, the MEC made the decision that this grievance be considered again at a later date, so we may devote our full attention and resources to the recently filed Scope grievance, which Delta is challenging in Federal Court. Please contact your LEC President or Local Council if you have any questions.”

So what gives, AFA? What happened to the army of attorneys, advisors, advocates and “unlimited International resources” we were promised would fight on our behalf to preserve our precious contractual language? Why do you continue to fail when it comes to the most important legacies of our contract? Is it more important for you to waste our dues money paying “volunteers” to sit in crew lounges and stuff their faces with Burger King slop, while continuing to delay our democratic right to vote for our future? Is the world’s largest flight attendant union saying that it is capable of working on only one grievance at a time?

What is more stunning is that some within AFA don’t even know what is going on with LOA 35. MEC Grievance Chair Greg Riffle has claimed that the LOA 35 grievance is dead in the water, while MEC President Janette Rook claims it is “on the docket” behind other grievances (is she seriously saying AFA will fight the red dress grievance before LOA 35?). So who knows what the real status is? Certainly not the people we pay dearly to safeguard our withering contract. This begs the question (and sad joke): “How many AFA LEC presidents, MEC officers and legal advisors does it take to sit around and wring their hands and do absolutely nothing to protect our contract?”

As I’ve previously noted, and encouraged AFA to do, this grievance should have been filed back in October 2008 when the pilots ratified their new contract. Had AFA filed it then, the decision would already have been reached and we would all be more than 20 percent richer.

So Janette, why did you file the "Round 1" LOA 35 grievance at all, instead of going straight to the meatier - and more easily proven - "Round 2" grievance? Were you too busy producing You Tube videos or figuring out how to pay yourself extra bonuses again? If you had filed that grievance in October 2008 and taken it to expedited arbitration, as allowed in LOA 35, then that grievance would have been resolved long before it was necessary to file the scope grievance. What gives, Janette? Why are you trying to blame your procrastination and incompetence with regard to LOA 35 on the scope grievance? Why are you lying to your members again?

Contact our elected and unelected AFA officials today. Demand that they get out of our crew lounges and get to work today. LOA 35 – ($195 Million) NOW!

Please note, all email addresses and phone numbers were taken from previously published AFA websites, emails/hotlines, and other publicly posted content.

AFA International President Patricia “Pat” Friend
pfriend@afanet.org 202-434-0574

AFA International Vice President Veda Shook
vshook@afanet.org 202-434-0578

AFA NWA/Delta Organizer Mollie Reiley
airmom@frontiernet.net 763-479-4006

AFA NWA/Delta Organizer Danny Campbell
dgcampbell@comcast.net 248-556-6196

NWA MEC President Janette Rook
jrook@nwaafa.org 952-241-4101

NWA MEC Vice President Daniel Grey
dgrey@nwaafa.org 952-241-4102

NWA MEC Secretary-Treasurer Lynn Bible
lbible@nwaafa.org 952-241-4103

NWA MEC Grievance Chair Greg Riffle
griffle@nwaafa.org 952-241-4105

NWA LEC Presidents:

ATL President David Carter
dcarter@nwaafa.org 678-358-6201

BOS President Robert Cannatelli
rcannatelli@nwaafa.org 617-957-4877

DTW President Diana Mitcham
dmitcham@nwaafa.org 734-532-8404 ext. 6

HNL President Dave Tadlock
dtadlock@nwaafa.org 808-223-0610

LAX President Leslie Meeks
lmeeks@nwaafa.org 213-453-3688

MEM President Shawn Fivecoat
sfivecoat@nwaafa.org 901-326-1348

MSP President Bruce Retrum
bretrum@nwaafa.org 952-241-4127

NYC President Josh Zivick
jzivick@nwaafa.org 347-419-4219

SEA President Jay Hong
jhong@nwaafa.org 206-304-2489

SFO President Brett Clark
bclark@nwaafa.org 707-364-5538