Exquisite Hypocrisy: When Better Rest Provisions are “Worse”

They are still at it.

We’ve given the Machinists Union (IAM) a year. We’ve waited more than a full year for them to show us a plan and to tell us their solutions and to answer our questions.  Instead they have persisted in telling us how miserable we should be, how bitter we should feel and how hopeless our lot in life is. But they haven’t shown us a single solution or a track record of doing better for their members. They haven’t because they can’t.

And therein lies the supreme, exquisite hypocrisy of the Machinists campaign: not only are they unable to provide a single solution to a single issue (some legitimate, some complete rhetorical fabrications) facing the Delta flight attendants, but the Machinists’ “answers” would actually negatively impact our quality of life, in direct contradiction to  their main campaign theme. It’s as though they haven’t read a single one of their own flight attendant contracts.

In a recent invective to the Delta flight attendants, the Machinists Union (IAM) alleges that if you vote for them, they will get you a “good nights sleep”. As usual, the Machinists campaigners appear to be confused to the point of delusion, and that’s probably largely because the Machinists’ don’t really represent flight attendants anymore.

Perhaps that’s why they think that 7:45 layover rest from release to report (as negotiated in the former Continental contract) is a “good deal”.  And that’s after an allowable 16-hour domestic duty day. With contract language like that, it’s no wonder that flight attendants make up less than half of 1% of the Machinists Union total membership. Clearly, that small a percentage of their total membership doesn’t warrant a lot of the Machinists’ time, energy or resources. Need proof? Just look at the state of their campaign.

Michael Cooper’s Proclamation: Awesome Confusion or Blatant Falsehood? (It’s really not that hard to understand the difference between behind the door rest and release to report rest, is it?).

Michael Cooper is the self-anointed Atlanta coordinator for the Machinists campaign. Being an IAM campaigner in Atlanta must be a tough job. So it may be tempting for someone like Michael to falsify facts, or distort comparisons, or even act befuddled by simple work rule provisions.

Michael recently misrepresented the truth about behind the door rest on a public forum. As you read the following, remember this is someone who wants to negotiate a contract on your behalf against a company that he portrays as cunning and conniving and out to “get” its employees.

“Actually we are not 8hrs Behind the Door anymore, its now "Lobby to Lobby" from personal experience and per OCC our "Behind the Door" is considered to Start upon arrival and check in at the Hotel, and ends when you are expected to be in the lobby, on the Van to the airport.” ~ Michael Cooper

And then:

“They don't listen! They are stating the whole 8hrs behind the door and when you POST The workrule SHOWING its from Release to Report they still call you a liar? If your going to defend something at least know what the current revision of the ever changing work rules states.”~ Michael Cooper

And then, this:

“ . . . it becomes harder to feed me the same lines used over and over from past elections that I know are not true, and when I can back things up via Work Rules, Manual, Laws etc there isn't much they can do.” ~ Michael Cooper

Well, there is something we can do. We can read the work rules for ourselves. We can also realize that this work rule has not changed, although it sounds as though Michael’s “understanding” of it has. “Behind the Door” rest is also often called “Key in Hand” rest in the airline industry. Since a call has to be made to crew scheduling once all crewmembers have their room keys, it’s sensible to call while all crewmembers are still gathered. But Michael’s all-of-a-sudden, overly literal reinterpretation of the EXACT same work rule has caused his overly emotional postings on some public forums.

8 Hours Rest ‘Behind the Door’

A flight attendant who does not arrive at the layover hotel at least
8 hours before scheduled pickup time will be afforded a minimum
8 hours ‘behind the door’ at such hotel if,

a) upon arrival at the hotel you inform Crew Tracking that
you will be unable to report as scheduled, and

b) your late arrival at the layover hotel was through no fault
of your own

When requested, the 8 hours behind the door guaranteed hotel
rest will start from the arrival time at the hotel (See NOTE below).
The new transportation pick-up time is the end of the 8 hours rest
behind the door, and the expected travel time to the airport is
added to the 8 hours rest by Crew Tracking to calculate the new
report time at the airport, which also includes an authorized 30
minute late report.

Example:
A delayed crew arrives at their hotel at 2330 and requests 8
hours behind-the-door guaranteed rest.

The new pick-up time at the hotel
is set for 0730. With expected travel time to the airport of 15 minutes, the
new report time is set for 0745, and with an authorized 30 minute late
report, the new scheduled departure is set at 0815.

NOTE: If there is a delay in procuring rooms for the crew, the 8 hours rest
should be calculated using the Flight Leader’s arrival time in the hotel room.

Simple enough to understand, right? So why is Michael “confusing” behind the door rest with minimum time between release-from-duty to report at the airport the next morning? Is his “confusion” genuine or an intentional attempt at distraction? If Michael doesn’t understand the significant difference between behind the door rest and release to report time, than how is it that he qualifies himself to be an authority of what is and what isn’t good for the Delta flight attendants? And if none of the other Machinists campaigners corrected Michael’s misinformation, how can we trust them with the truth if they are ever elected to represent us?

Even more disturbing is the fact that the Machinists union has negotiated NO behind the door rest in ANY of its flight attendant contracts. Continental flight attendants have NO behind the door guarantee. Their only guarantee is 7:45 from release to report, which can be reduced to 7:30 (see 5-8 and 5-9 of the IAM Continental contract), with no provision for delays in transportation to the hotel or delays for checking in. The Northwest contract ALSO had no behind the door guarantee, but no one seems to mention that.

Rather than acknowledging the truth, rather than being honest with the people whose votes they’re trying to collect, Michael and his Machinist cohorts have attempted to hang the better Delta rest provisions around the necks of the Delta flight attendants like some sort of albatross, and there is a supreme, exquisite hypocrisy in their blatant and futile attempt to dupe us all.

A good night’s sleep with the IAM? I doubt that.

Sincerely,

Jose Arturo Ibarra