Are you ready for Happy Holidays? Is your pocketbook?
On November 3, 2010 we voted to have pay and benefit increases, and increased work rule flexibility, but if Pat Friend, aka “the Grinch,” has her way we all could potentially spend another year without those improvements while working under AFA’s hideous contractual rules, pay and benefits.
So much for a Merry Christmas, Pat.
Because AFA filed an objection to the NMB vote results the following items will NOT occur for us:
- · Extra cash from the profit sharing
- · Base transfers
- · Pay raises
- · Schedule flexibility
- · Flying together as one combined group
And I am sure there are more items which could be improved in the next month!
So instead of celebrating a victory we have the Grinch stealing our joy and celebration due to her being a poor loser.
Do you doubt that we could see money in our pockets so quickly if Pat would actually honor our vote and voices?
It’s already been done on the Delta property by a union that sincerely cared about the interests of their members:
- · On February 25, 2009 AMFA sent a letter to their members letting them know that the union extinguished their certificate of representation since there was not enough member interest to file for a representational election. Their reason to not spend months and members dues towards a prolonged fight: “This will clear the way for Delta to treat the combined work group equally based on their agreement to the Transition Commitment. We wish you all the best in the future at the new Delta Airlines."
- · The very same day Delta wrote this: "We have committed to a transition plan, which will be available on the TechOps portal later today. Let me share a few important details about how we will align pay, benefits and work rules.” One of those details was this:
“Pre-merger Northwest technicians will come up to the Delta pay scales and applicable license, skill and line premiums, effective with the next pay period.”
Further, "Our new AMT colleagues from Northwest can begin bidding on jobs as soon as Sunday, March 1.”
Within one month the former AMFA union members experienced increased pay and seniority integration.
It’s our turn! It’s time for Pat and AFA to move on and accept their defeat with a little grace and a little dignity. But they refuse to go away.
Recently AFA General Counsel Ed Gilmartin (the same AFA attorney who convinced the deposed NWA MEC that it would be “bad form” and “too costly” to pursue the me-too arbitration over LOA 35, and who admitted to former AFA leaders that AFA had all but lost our scope clause) sent an embarrassing, desperate letter to Delta management telling them that it would be “all right” to bring the PMNW flight attendants up to the PMDL pay rates. This letter was nothing more than political posturing for a campaign that ended in defeat well over a month ago. Link here to read his despicable letter.
In AFA’s desperation to regain a stranglehold on the PMNW flight attendants (and even more so, our dues), their actions are telling on their duplicity and hypocrisy.
The same AFA that filed interference charges over raises Delta announced more than two years ago is now claiming that they will not charge interference if Delta brings the PMNW flight attendants up to the PMDL pay scales.
Further, the PMNW flight attendants have already lost tens of thousands of dollars individually (and millions of dollars collectively) over AFA’s lengthy delay of filing for an election and completely botching their campaign. If Ed Gilmartin and the rest of the AFA brain trust had really cared about the PMNW flight attendants’ pocketbooks and general well-being, they could have sent this letter to Delta management more than two years ago, as well as filed for an election in a timely manner.
But they didn’t, and so the real Christmas story in this case is best read between the lines. In other words, let’s review AFA’s actions and see how they conflict with their words:
1) AFA refused to pursue the LOA 35 (me-too clause) arbitration, costing each PMNW flight attendant tens of thousands of dollars.
2) AFA waited more than a year after the merger was announced to file for a representational election. They finally filed on July 27, 2009 and then requested a voting rule change, which prompted the withdrawal of their application.
3) The NMB granted a change in the 75-year-old voting rules specifically for AFA and the Delta union elections (remember, AFA went forward with several elections at other airlines during the time the NMB was deciding on the rule change; it was only the Delta flight attendant election that AFA held up).
4) Two and a half years after the merger was announced – and two years after ALPA had combined the pilot groups – AFA finally filed again for a vote … and lost.
5) When AFA lost the Delta election, they petitioned the NMB to NOT certify the election results until all the interference charges had been investigated. This would have kept AFA in office and allowed AFA to continue collecting dues from us while they delayed pay raises for the PMNW flight attendants and full integration for what could well take another year. Fortunately for us, the NMB refused AFA’s request.
All of these actions clearly show that AFA is NOT interested in what is best for the Delta flight attendants, but only in what is best for AFA. And AFA’s latest pathetic letter to Delta leadership is nothing more than a knee-jerk, ill-advised reaction to the pressure they are receiving from the PMNW flight attendants, who want and deserve the better pay and working conditions that the Delta work rules afford us – and from ALL the Delta flight attendants who want to move forward with full integration and all the flexibility that will afford us.
It’s our turn for improvements, AFA! If you truly care about the well being of the Delta flight attendants, withdraw your bogus interference charges immediately and let us move forward to gaining improvements in pay, benefits, work rules and flexibility, instead of trying to drag us down with your sinking ship. Your behavior is not the embodiment of the Christmas spirit.
Sincerely,
Jose Arturo Ibarra
