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AFA MEC Passes 'No Confidence' Resolution

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Source: Archived Content

Date: Jul 24, 2001

According to last Friday's DEAR-AFA tape, our union's Master Executive Council recently passed a special Resolution that proclaimed 'No Confidence' in UAL senior management.  You can view this resolution in its entirety on AFA's website.

I assume this recent resolution was our union's official 'We Have No Confidence in Senior Management' statement for the public record.

'Senior Management'?

I may not be the brightest guy around, but there are a couple of points about this Resolution I think deserve further consideration:

  • The term 'Senior Management' has always been vague to me.  Are we referring to the UAL Board of Directors, the Officers, the Company Directors, the entire group of Onboard Service department leaders at WHQ, or perhaps all of the above?  The newspapers and television media also use this same terminology, which lumps a generic management group together as one big, bad wolf entity.  Yours truly is also guilty of this very habit in writing previous news articles!
  • Should our union express 'no confidence' through the use of the general 'Senior Management' statement, or would it be better to single out specific individuals and/or certain divisions?  Perhaps we could indicate the specific individual(s) involved that lead (or failed to lead) their respective department(s).  Those individual leaders could then be clearly mentioned on the Resolution's WHEREAS list of grievances and problems our labor group has with this airline's leadership.
  • Personal accountability is what's important here, especially once this US Airways merger fiasco has concluded and the healing process begins.  Also, since flight attendants are hearing more and more lately about the need for increased accountability as part of the Onboard Redesign philosophy, then it's time them to put the money where the mouth is---or however that weird expression goes!

The final two paragraphs of the MEC resolution state the following:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Association of Flight Attendants Master Executive Council at United Airlines, representing members in the service of United Airlines, at this time express its lack of confidence in the senior management at United Airlines, and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the United Airlines Master Executive Council at United Airlines, from this day forward, pledges to continue to work with all stakeholders of United Airlines, including the United Airlines Board of Directors, senior management and their representatives and all other interested parties to resolve all problems currently facing the Flight Attendants at United Airlines and move United Airlines forward in a positive and productive manner.

Here's where I notice a potential conflict:  The first paragraph makes it clear that our union expresses its lack of confidence in the senior management at United Airlines.  But then the next paragraph states that our union will 'pledge' to work with "...the United Airlines Board of Directors, senior management and their representatives..."

So on one hand, we're saying that we have no confidence in them as leaders, and on the other hand we are saying that we 'pledge' to work with the very same group we lost our confidence in.  The very same group that lead us down this yellow-brick road to anywhere but the Wonderful Wizard of OZ.

To complicate things further, our union also reported on July 13th's DEAR-AFA tape our MEC president's statement regarding the US Airways merger and Bizjet operation:

"We have never operated as if the merger was dead. We never let our guard down. Things will continue as they were--we will continue our CHAOS activities and strike preparations. If this deal eventually dies, Bizjet produces a unilateral change to our contract. We are ready, and we will be ready for any eventuality."

This doesn't strike me as 'pledging' to work with anyone, but rather, more akin to a 'We Are Taking Care Of Ourselves Thank You Very Much'-sounding statement.  In fact, the DEAR-AFA tape also reported that if the DOJ approves the US Airways merger, we will immediately file a lawsuit against United Airlines.  Completely understandable, but a different approach than this recent Resolution describes.

It's time for some personnel changes.

I'm 100% for two things: 1.) Improving communication and 2.) Positive change.  I do agree that United Airlines management and our union need to 'reach agreements which are in the best interests of our members at United Airlines and move United Airlines forward in a positive and productive manner'.  Easier said than done, at the present time.

There needs to be some serious sit downs governed by neutral party---definitely not the UAL People Division or AFA leading the discussions, but some outside professional psychiatric and staff counselors.  No, I'm not kidding about this!  We are in dire need some serious collective problem solving and professional communication---with individual accountability, responsibility and consequences clearly laid out on the table.

And yes, quite frankly, there are a few 'leaders' at this airline who should be thinking about taking their stock option parachutes and getting the hell out of here.  We do need some fresh ideas, refocused priorities, increased professionalism, leadership position modifications, and improvements in how we do business internally.

However, I don't believe that any UAL 'senior management' group as a whole was responsible for placing us in our current situation.  There are many talented and exceptional members of management at this airline working over there at WHQ; individuals that are genuinely concerned and desire to make positive changes for all employees involved.

However, the specific individuals who were responsible for leading us to our current problems and difficulties ought to be singled out from the leadership group as having lost our confidence.  Buh-bye.

Does that sound a little harsh?  I certainly hope so, because 100,000 employees and their families have a lot a stake in the future of this extraordinarily remarkable airline.

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