DTW flight attendant Julie Higby ~ author of The Contractor emails ~ may not have a talent for numbers or an ability to accurately and truthfully recall history, but she is a brilliant marketer.
Further exploiting the campaign of fear and anger that AFA and their followers started years ago, Higby seized an opportunity to line her own pockets on the backs of the Delta flight attendants, by hawking bag tags at a 1,200 % mark-up (tags she’s selling for $3.95 can be bought wholesale for as little as 31 cents. Simply link here to view real prices for bag tags:http://www.branders.com/subcat/promotional_items_Luggage_Tags?fdrid=82471&gclid=CPP4u6K1jqwCFcyP7QodD3GK8Q). Profit margins of that magnitude are the envy of retailers everywhere. Nice going, Julie.
Meanwhile, Higby, as well as AFA-CWA backers - including those who have suddenly and inexplicably jumped over to a sure-to-fail TWU write-in campaign (more about that folly in a future blog) has failed to answer the quarter billion dollar question: Since bringing the PMNW flight attendants up to the Delta Work Rules would cost the company nearly $80 million more per year in labor costs (or about $240 million since the Delta pilots resolved representation), how do you explain leaving almost a quarter of a billion (yes, that’s with a ‘b’) in Delta’s pockets and out of flight attendants’ hands over the past three year period?
The Big Picture Comparison (Hint: It's More Than Just Holiday Pay, Isn't it Julie?)
Despite proclamations to compare the AFA-CWA NWA contract to the Delta work rules, Higby has done precious little analysis over the past year, preferring to harp on the one or two items that she falsely believes are better in the AFA-CWA contract. Higby has failed to produce a comprehensive line item comparison of the two documents, but remember, it’s more about sales numbers for her, than it is about facts or truth.
In fact, a flight attendant at Julie’s seniority and age plus years of service, has lost in the neighborhood of $33,664.62 by remaining hostage to the subpar AFA-CWA contract over the last three years. While individual results will vary based on a variety of factors, link here: http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/3240480/totalpackagecomparison-pdf-november-2-2011-1-34-am-78k?da=y for a big picture, total package breakdown of a flight attendant’s schedule at Higby’s pay level.
Hazy History and Fuzzy Math
It takes amazing acts of revisionist history, Olympian feats of obfuscation and generous servings of hubris to convince flight attendants to walk away from that kind of money, but hey, the success of Higby’s luggage tag business depends on her ability to perpetuate the AFA-CWA misinformation campaign.
In an October 20, 2011 missive (arrogantly tagged as a “must-read”) to her “Contractor” followers, Higby claims “I have been a flight attendant for 25 years,” yet later confesses that her hire date at Northwest Airlines was May 14,1990, which pegs her actual longevity at 21 years and 6 months. That’s a 14% margin of error!! On her own information!! If we can’t count on Julie to accurately recall such a simple aspect of her own history, how can we rely on her for any truthful information, whatsoever?
Higby further claims in this same communiqué that it was by virtue of her contract that she was able to survive as a single mother flight attendant. In a complete slap in the face to the pre-merger Delta flight attendants (not to mention Delta employees across all pay grades), Higby, by insinuation, denies that any single mother employees exist at PMDL. How rude!
Later, Higby perpetuates another blatant lie when she claims “I . . . always voted even at the local level where many times I found the turnout was unfortunately poor.” Since she was a member in BAD STANDING for several years, Higby was not allowed to cast a ballot in any union local, national or contract vote during that time.
Hey Julie: You Have to Pay it Back Before You Can Pay it Forward!
That’s right, this latest bag tag scheme isn’t the first time that Higby has ridden the backs of her fellow flight attendants (including flight attendants who were also single mothers or fathers) to serve her own selfish interests. For three (3) full years, Higby skated by without paying one penny of union dues. If fact, she is in dues arrears to the tune of over $1,400.00
Hey Julie: You Have to Pay it Back Before You Can Pay it Forward!
That’s right, this latest bag tag scheme isn’t the first time that Higby has ridden the backs of her fellow flight attendants (including flight attendants who were also single mothers or fathers) to serve her own selfish interests. For three (3) full years, Higby skated by without paying one penny of union dues. If fact, she is in dues arrears to the tune of over $1,400.00
This begs the very obvious revelation and question: Hey Julie, for several years you didn’t believe that your contract was worth the $1,400 you were supposed to pay in union dues, yet now you deem that an inferior contract is worth the approximately $33,000 you handed over to Delta in the past three years. What gives? How do you explain this? Do you really believe the Delta flight attendants are too stupid to see through your sham and your deceptions? Even at your incredible product markups, you’d still have to sell about 10,000 luggage tags to make up the difference. Who knows? Maybe Julie has such a low regard for the intelligence of her colleagues that she actually believes she will recoup all of her pay, benefit and work rule losses through massive bag tag sales.
Get Your Own Personalized Pay and Benefit Comparison
While Higby struggles to come up with rationalizations to these very germane questions (and while flight attendants everywhere ponder whether Higby is qualified to opine about anything, given her complete lack of honesty and credibility), find out how much money AFA’s delay has cost you. Send me your October or November schedule, including your year of service (to calculate pay rate and vacation accrual) and age plus years of service (to calculate retirement benefit) and I will provide you with a line item comprehensive comparison.
Find out what you've lost so far, and get an idea of how much more you stand to lose, the longer AFA holds us all hostage. The analysis will not cost you $3.95. It will cost you ZERO because I believe in real education.
Get Your Own Personalized Pay and Benefit Comparison
While Higby struggles to come up with rationalizations to these very germane questions (and while flight attendants everywhere ponder whether Higby is qualified to opine about anything, given her complete lack of honesty and credibility), find out how much money AFA’s delay has cost you. Send me your October or November schedule, including your year of service (to calculate pay rate and vacation accrual) and age plus years of service (to calculate retirement benefit) and I will provide you with a line item comprehensive comparison.
Find out what you've lost so far, and get an idea of how much more you stand to lose, the longer AFA holds us all hostage. The analysis will not cost you $3.95. It will cost you ZERO because I believe in real education.
The comparison will be returned to you and will remain completely confidential. In upcoming blogs, I will provide the line item comparisons between the AFA-CWA contract and the Delta work rules that Higby has refused to provide. Feel free to send me any questions that you have or rumors that you heard.
Again Total Comparison is found here: http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/3240480/totalpackagecomparison-pdf-november-2-2011-1-34-am-78k?da=y
Sincerely,
Jose Arturo Ibarra
