In spite of AFA’s numerous promises that contract negotiations with Delta will be “quick and easy,” nothing could be further from the truth.
Negotiations take experience, time and money, and AFA’s negotiations track record at United, Northwest and USAirways/America West demonstrates that AFA appointed negotiators suffer from a gross lack of real-world experience, leading to years of expensive bargaining that continues to push AFA towards insolvency.
For a negotiations update at AFA represented carriers see chart at the end of this email.
Given this reality, and the possibility that AFA might win the representation election, it is important for all pre-merger Delta flight attendants to learn at least the rudiments of negotiations, and how AFA handles bargaining.
Following an AFA representation victory, AFA International President Pat Friend will appoint interim premerger Delta AFA MEC officers, to hold office for six months or possibly more (no one really knows except Pat Friend, as this is her decision). Most likely, these people would be selected from among the leaders of AFA’s current Delta campaign – and as an important side note, all pre-merger Delta flight attendants should demand that Pat reveal whom these leaders would be (as she likely has already chosen them).
Pat’s personal appointees would then appoint three negotiators, who must be approved by Pat’s successor (currently Veda Shook, but chances are Veda will be removed once she takes office and replaced by Pat’s current personal assistant, Bill McGlashan, an USAirways flight attendant, who ran against Veda in the recent AFA international officer elections and barely lost).
Regardless of AFA’s political, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, the pre-merger Delta negotiators would then have to survey the pre-merger Delta flight attendants to determine what the union would pursue in negotiations (pay raises, scheduling issues, reserve issues, etc…). Keep in mind that just because a question is on the survey does not mean AFA will win improvements in that – or any – area.
Simultaneously, Pat’s personally appointed pre-merger Northwest negotiators (already in place, with already one failed concessionary contract under their belts) would be following the same process on the pre-merger Northwest side. Both surveys would have to be written and then approved by Pat’s successor – surveys take time to write, and even more time to conduct and tabulate. In other words, this could take up to six months, if not longer. The respective teams would have to work together to write a contract opener, which with a bare minimum outline could also take months. Remember, AFA claims to be a “bottom’s up” member-driven democracy – thus by AFA’s own standards the members must be kept abreast of negotiations plans, which means AFA would have to provide us with their proposed contract language before negotiations begin.
So already this puts us deep into 2011, and negotiations haven’t even started yet. Meanwhile, the current pre-merger Northwest concessionary contract has reached its amendable date, and continues to renew until a new agreement is negotiated and ratified. Hence, Northwest flight attendants will continue to give concessions to a defunct airline. Nifty, isn’t it?
While this drags along, the company will establish its own negotiations team, as well as proposed contract language. More than likely, the pre-merger NWA negotiators would be tapped, as they have extensive negotiations experience. Once both sides are ready to meet, they would have to agree on a schedule for negotiations. Whether or not the company has an incentive to negotiate quickly or slowly, dates still have to be determined, and it won’t be a quick process. Negotiations often drag on for years, and much of it is spent deciding where to meet, what day and what time. For example, AFA is currently negotiating a new contract for United flight attendants, who are currently serving extended time under a concessionary contract also negotiated by AFA. This month, AFA and United management will meet for three days. So you see, negotiations are a very slow process, especially with AFA at the helm. Just ask the USAirways/ America West flight attendants – both of those groups were represented by AFA before they merged, yet now, more than five years later, they still don’t have a merged contract, or seniority list.
Once at the table, both sides must pass proposals back and forth. Again, this can be a long and tedious process, and would take months alone just to reach tentative agreement on some of the most simple contract sections, such as Uniforms, or Missing, Internment, Prisoner of War and Hostage Benefits. Also consider that the current pre-merger Northwest contract has 33 sections – time equals money, negotiations cost money, and guess what? Because AFA’s constitution guarantees that previously unrepresented groups do not pay dues until they have a ratified contract, the pre-merger Northwest flight attendants (and probably parent union CWA) will pay for the joint negotiations. Think about it – 13,000 flight attendants not paying dues. This could putter along for years if AFA doesn’t run out of money, or if CWA doesn’t pull the plug on AFA.
Most importantly for AFA, the union MUST negotiate a Union Shop and Dues Check Off section to the contract – basically, this section forces pre-merger Delta flight attendants to pay monthly AFA dues so Pat, Veda and their friends can spend our money organizing other airlines. In fact, right at the time of our contract talks, AFA will be distracted by the representational battle they will be facing against IAM for control over the combined United/Continental flight attendant group. We have all seen how AFA set aside the interests of the PMNW flight attendants for the sake of the Delta campaign over the last 2 ½ years.
Without the dues check off section, AFA sinks because AFA MUST have the dues from the 13,000 pre-merger Delta flight attendants to keep the organization afloat. Thus, even in optimal circumstances, and even if AFA is able to negotiate the rest of the contract in a record two years (which is highly unlikely), AFA will NEVER reach a tentative agreement for membership ratification without a Union Shop and Dues Check Off section.
IMPORTANT NOTE: AFA CANNOT force Delta to agree to Union Shop and Dues Check Off, and Delta is under no obligation to do so. In fact, it would be in Delta’s best interest to NOT agree to Union Shop and Dues Check Off because Union Shop and Dues Check Off is purely a benefit for AFA. Delta gets nothing out of it.
As such, without Union Shop and Dues Check Off, AFA would likely ask the National Mediation Board to step in and put negotiations into mediation. Now, there are three parties that have to coordinate meeting schedules and the frequency of meetings gets bogged down even more. This could run on for ages, because mediated talks tend to drag on, and often nothing is agreed to until the two sides are released from mediation and enter a 30-day “cooling off period” – the last step before AFA would be able to strike.
So pre-merger Delta flight attendants:
· Are you willing to strike in order to fund AFA?
· Are you willing to engage in AFA’s trademarked CHAOS strikes, which single out individual flight attendants to strike individual flights?
· Are you ready to be FIRED for striking, and are you ready to wait the year or more it would take for the union to win your job back?
· And if you’re not ready to strike, are you ready to face retribution from your union (to whom, by the way, you are not paying dues to yet) and be branded a scab, and have AFA International file charges against you for violating the AFA Constitution?
AFA Chart for carriers they represent. Source AFA – CWA Communications and Research Department
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8 Days left before we start voting!
EDUCATE – EDUCATE – EDUCATE
Sincerely,
Jose Arturo Ibarra
