Destination: Representation

I have some exciting news to report this week...

On Thursday and Friday last week, I hosted an open house meeting in ATL -- where DAL and NWA FAs attended a short presentation I made on the state of our industry and the importance of us winning our next election. A portion of that presentation can be found here; http://www.deltaafa.org/default2.asp?active_page_id=80

After the presentation, we recruited nine (9) new Georgia State Chairs in our campaign to secure AFA representation. I would like to thank the FAs in Georgia for taking ownership of the campaign.

Also this week, AFA International President Pat Friend and CWA President Larry Cohen hosted a series of open house meetings at the DTW Westin. I was pleased by the firm support our DTW FAs expressed when it comes to the decision to keep our union. Soon, these meetings will be made available in video for those who could not attend.

Our campaign of unity between DAL and NWA flight attendants is coming together! Please checkout the website at www.DeltaAFA.org for lots of campaign material and information. Most importantly, please share the information with our flying partners.

Several FAs have told me that they were stunned by the line-up of our "new" corporate executives, which was included in our first joint newsletter. Specifically, many FAs are concerned by how many of the NEW leadership team are from NWA and Frank Lorenzo's Continental. I will reprint that list here"

NEW Leaders Team -- which culture do you think will carry over to the new global airline…

* Richard Anderson (NWA/DAL) – Former NWA CEO and current Delta CEO will lead the new airline. Previously at Frank Lorenzoʼs Continental.

* Doug Steenland (NWA) – NWAʼs current CEO will take a seat on the Delta Board of Directors.

* Ed Bastian (DAL) – Current President and CFO for Delta. Bastian will become CEO and President.

*Mike Campbell (DAL) - DALʼs Executive Vice President of HR, Labor and Communications. Founding partner of anti-union law firm Ford and Harrison. Previously at Frank Lorenzoʼs Continental.

* Mike Becker (NWA) – Current NWA Sr. VP of Human Resources and Labor Relations.

*Steve Gorman (DAL) – Will be Executive VP of Operations at new airline - currently serves in the same post at Delta. Previously with NWA.

*Glen Hauenstein (DAL) – Will become Executive VP Revenue and Network – currently serves in similar position at Delta.

*Ben Hirst (NWA) – Will be Sr. VP and General Counsel. Current NWA Sr. VP of Corporate Affairs. Previously at Frank Lorenzoʼs Continental.

*Laura Liu (NWA) – Will be Sr. VP of International Division. Currently serves in the same position at NWA.

*Theresa Wise (NWA) – Chief Information Officer at NWA. Will retain same title and position at new airline.

Finally, several FAs have asked for a "time-line" of the Merger and Election. The DL/NW AFA campaign activists have put together this graphic; http://www.deltaafa.org/images/MergerTimeline.pdf

Until next time, fly safe & stay informed...

Lies, Liars (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them)

I know - it's the title of a fantastic book by Al Franken. But, I think it is relevant.

It's been a full week since the creation my blog and the first entry. And, wouldn't ya know it -- Jose and some of his followers refuse to accept any responsibility for telling lies. Even when provided with correct information, they won't apologize or back down. Check out the "comments" section of my first blog and you will see an exchange between me and one of his followers.

In short, this person (under the screen name "m") accuses me of posting inaccurate information and challenges me to post evidence of my pay. I accepted that challenge and posted my last paycheck for the year 2007, along with this brief description...

______________________
m:

I will take you up on your offer - and will upload a PDF of my final 2007 paycheck (12/27/2007). What it shows is the following...

1.) Vacation Pay Out (just as I stated in my blog) of $1,423.88

2.) Flight Pay Loss for the year: $49,469.72 (actually LESS than what I stated in my blog)

3.) Emergence/Equity Claim/Performance payments of $9,047.90

Here's the link: http://www.afafrontier.org/aefiles/2007%20Pay001.pdf

So, will you now stand corrected about my blog and the 28% over-ride that is reflected on the AFA-CWA LM-2?
______________________

Mr. "m" brings up a good point in one of his comments that I would like to address. He says that I should not devote any of my time to defending myself (i.e., correcting lies told by Jose or Micheal). While I agree (in principle) that it is indeed distracting from our real issues, I believe some flight attendants need to have a place where they can go to get ACCURATE information in order to steer flight attendants (i.e., the more gullible sheep among us - who may be inclined to listen or believe the ranting of Jose and Michael) to the truth. Too often, our ability to mobilize around the real issues is made more difficult when dishonest smear campaigns are allowed to spin out of control. After careful thought, I have calculated that the risks in this campaign are too important for us to not address their allegations. Besides, how hypocritical is it to say that Jose and Michael can make their personal attacks -- yet nobody can defend themselves? Sounds a lot like the Bush administration's position on 'anti-war' critics.

Now, on to a more positive message...

If you have not watched last week's congressional hearing on the National Mediation Board (NMB), it is certainly worth your time. Last week, congressional house members (from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee) held the first of (what will hopefully be) a series of 'oversight' hearings on the anti-worker practices of the current NMB. Former NWA lobbyist, Read Van De Water (who chairs the current NMB) was firmly questioned on the policies and practices of the agency which oversees employer-union relations in our airline industry. Not only will this hearing give you a good idea what we are up against in our next election, but I think you will learn a great deal about the difficult [last] Delta-AFA election. The closing comments by Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) were emotional and inspiring. You can watch the entire hearing here; http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingDetail.aspx?NewsID=753

Until next time, please continue to visit the campaign website at http://www.deltaafa.org/

Fly Safe & Stay Informed!

The Painful Truth

Welcome to my blog.

This is a place where I have committed to providing NWA and DAL flight attendants truthful and accurate information about our union. I decided to create this blog after reading far too many of the unfortunate and dishonest anti-union blogs by SFO FA Jose Ibarra and Michael Lehr. For those who do not know the motivations of Jose and Michael, I believe it is important to know that Jose was the founder of our former independant union (PFAA) and sadly, he is still very angry that we replaced that union. Michael Lehr -- well, I'm not sure what his motivation is - it's not like he ever volunteered a day (or lifted a finger) for any of our unions on the NWA property -- nor does he understand how any of them operate. But, as a highly accomplished 'actor', I'm sure he can use all the publicity he can generate for himself - and what's more fun than being a watch dog for our flying partners who work hard to better our aviation careers.

Because we have so much at stake in our next AFA election, I felt it was time to hold Jose and Michael accountable for their false statements and their destructive campaign to destroy our voice at work. In return, I welcome the same accountability.

Let me start with a recent blog from Jose, entitled; AFA and the High Price of Failure, where he posts several false statements concerning flight pay loss for me and many others who have raised their hand to work for our union. Better yet, let me share with you the email I sent to Jose - along with his response:

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Email sent on 9/14/08 12:23 PM

Jose:

I was saddened by your latest hate-blog where you continue to take aim at me and others. As the founder of PFAA (a union where leaders DID earn 35 - 45% more than our flying partners), I want to educate you on how to read an LM-2 Form. For me, the LM-2 Form shows under the heading "Gross Salary Disbursements" 72,128.00. That figure is not what I was paid - that is what CWA paid. As you should know, when we drop flying for union work, the company bills us (the union) according to Sec. 23.I.2.b of our contract with a 28% over-ride. That over-ride covers the costs of our continued insurance benefits, sick leave accrual, vacation, etc...

Portion of our AFA Contract (Section 23)

2. Flight Pay Loss (FPL) When a Flight Attendant is on official Union business leave, he/she shall be paid flight pay loss for the trip(s) dropped when such leave has been authorized by the Union President or his/her designee. The following shall apply:

b. The Company shall be reimbursed by the Union for such actual pay plus twenty-eight percent (28%) of such amount for salary related costs incurred.

Now, I know this must be confusing to you (i.e, this is a different LM-2 reporting procedure than we had in the Teamsters and PFAA) -- but you have to remember that under those organizations, we were under the Flight Pay Continuance portion of our contract, where the company bill the union for our insurance premiums SEPARATELY. That's why our benefits did not appear under Salary Disbursements on those LM-2s.So, when you subtract 28% from that figure, it brings the total to around 50k. Moreover, that includes my ENTIRE accrued vacation (paid out) that I should have gotten in 2006 -- but didn't take. The last mistake you make is adding $3,908.00 to what you say I earned. $3,908.00 is money that I paid out of my own pocket that I was reimbursed for. For example, if I had to pay for a hotel room on my credit card for someone or any other expense during the campaign, that is money that came OUT of my pocket and was later reimbursed with submission of a proper expense report.

Where you came up with figures in the 90k range, I have no idea. I won't hold my breath for you to do the honorable thing and correct your slanderous blog - as I know it doesn't serve your agenda. You'd certainly gain back my respect if you did.

Danny
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And here is his charming response....
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Email received on September 15, 2008 7:38 AM

Your are sadden! What happen? Did your drugs not arrive? Did they ship you the wrong load or batch? Get your respect? Honey, at one point many people respected you and I was one of them, today any way you put it, you are SCUM. Respectable individuals do not ask to get respect from SCUM.You want to educate me........Ha! Ha! Ha!......I have an education! You have none. I think your goal is an impossibility.-- Sincerely, Jose Arturo Ibarra
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Well, hopefully you recognize that I tried.

Jose's refusal to correct false information is not the most alarming part of this for me -- what I find even more upsetting is the hypocrisy. Let me explain...

Take a look at this 2004 LM-2 form from the union that Jose created (PFAA); http://www.afafrontier.org/aefiles/PFAALM-2004.pdf

Unlike our current AFA union, where the LM-2 includes 28% over-ride amounts that are not actual income for union officers, the totals in the PFAA LM-2 are pure salary. That's right -- in Jose's union, officers, negotiators and base representatives were all paid 35 - 45% more than the average flight attendant. That is not the case in AFA, where we are simply reimbursed the value of a flight schedule at our applicable rate of pay for time we spend working for our union.

You will note in the 2004 LM-2 from PFAA, that Jose Ibarra (SFO Negotiations Committee member) earned a modest $62,918.00 (if we play his game and include reimbursed expenses in the total -- or I can be fair and call it $46,917.00). But, what you don't know from this LM-2 is that the Negotiations Committee was only off-line in 2004 from May thru December of that year. In other words, if he had been off the entire year, that would have increased his PFAA pay by 33% to a whopping annual salary of $62,399.16 (with the expenses of $16,001.00 that is a grand total of $78,400.16).

Wow, Jose - and you are complaining about me (and others) being reimbursed flat flight time (where we earned less than $50k) under our current union?

Interesting side note; in 2004 Jose was also paid an illegal 'vacation advance' by PFAA where he left the country to spend several weeks at his luxurious vacation chateau in Paris, France.

Well, I think that pretty much ends this blog. Until next time - safe flying - wear your AFA pin with pride and get involved in our fight to keep our voice on the job. Offer your talent and your voice to the campaign today by visiting the official campaign website; http://www.deltaafa.org/