From: www.unitedafa.org

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Until now, we have had no interest in joining the discourse or responding to the misrepresentations of the Flight Attendant Coalition for Change (FACC), a small group working against our Union and known for its preposterous lies, distortions of fact, and politics of personal destruction. During and subsequent to the representation election the FACC has engaged in a shameful exercise to mislead Flight Attendants, discredit the leadership of our Union, and employ various tactics designed to create disunity intended to destroy our Solidarity and undermine our bargaining power.  They have gone to great lengths to attack and denigrate all our efforts to achieve the best of the Contracts from Continental, Continental Micronesia and United Airlines and to unite Flight Attendants at the world’s largest airline.  Our silence is over.

Over the past two months, the FACC has been engaged in a common Union busting tactic of launching a competing contract survey.  This ruse  will not be successful, especially since some of you have provided us with their internal communications that have unmasked who they are, and the maniacal depths of their scheming and plotting to harm our Flight Attendant community. We will detail some disturbing examples in this letter.

You have noticed the recent misleading statements made by the Continental Master Executive Council about the Joint Negotiations Survey.  The Continental Master Executive Council has stated that ”The CAL AFA MEC did request that the process wait until both CAL and CMI had successfully ratified their agreements, just as UAL AFA did.  That request was denied.”  This is patently false.  The fact remains that the survey opening date was delayed by the request of the Continental Master Executive Council until the day after the close date of the vote on their Tentative Agreement. 

The Continental Master Executive Council has had ample opportunity to be full participants in the design and distribution of this survey.  Further, the specific request was to delay the survey “until our ratification is complete on July 13, 2012.”  A chronology of key events between March 26, 2012 and June 22, 2012 follows:

• March 26, 2012 - Meeting of MEC Presidents of Continental, Continental Micronesia, United and International Officers.
• March 30, 2012 - Commitment Letter from the three MEC Presidents agreeing to survey Membership for Joint Negotiations.
• May 30, 2012 - Continental MEC President sends “Contract Proposal Form” for inclusion in the Joint Negotiations Survey.
• June 6, 2012 - Draft of Joint Negotiations Survey including Contract Proposal Form circulated amongst MEC Presidents at Continental, Continental Micronesia and United.
• June 12, 2012 - Follow up request for feedback regarding draft Joint Negotiations Survey.
• June 13, 2012 - CMI MEC confirms its participation in Joint Negotiations Survey.
• June 14, 2012 - Continental Master Executive Council President expresses concern with timing of the sending of the Joint Negotiations Survey. 
• June 15, 2012 - Following a discussion on timing issues the Joint Negotiations Survey timeline is adjusted to respect CAL MEC concerns and Joint Negotiations Survey scheduled to open July 14, 2012.
• June 20, 2012 - Special Joint MEC Meeting of Continental, Continental Micronesia and United Master Executive Councils.  CAL MEC President publicly confirms they will participate in Joint Negotiations Survey.  
• June 21, 2012 - Request for final modifications to Joint Negotiations Survey from Continental and Continental Micronesia MEC Presidents.
• June 22, 2012 - Continental Master Executive Council issues Union Update that advises Continental Flight Attendants that the contract proposals collected from prior negotiations will be combined with the “UAL survey” claiming that CAL and CMI were not “involved from the beginning” of preparation for the Joint Negotiations Survey.

We now know why the Continental MEC refused to participate in the survey.  We have confirmed that the actions of the Continental Master Executive Council have been coordinated with those of the FACC and are intended to undermine our efforts in Joint Negotiations.

Instead of joining with their peers to build Solidarity, to construct a survey that solicits unbiased feedback from the combined Flight Attendant work groups, and to engage in meaningful efforts to prepare for the most important Flight Attendant negotiations in the history of our profession, the Continental Master Executive Council and the FACC have engaged in efforts to manipulate and mislead you.

A recent communication amongst the FACC and representatives of the Continental Master Executive Council illustrates the depth of the deceit being perpetrated against you.  These following  statements from current CAL AFA Officers are unedited and are not the totality of the fraud being perpetrated against you; however it is significant, illustrative and requires us to bring this to your attention. 

These are statements made by CAL AFA MEC Officers regarding the FACC Survey:

“our survey results can result in anything we want.  That’s the beauty of it.  We make them look like liars by countering their results.” 

 “The response to the FACC survey is ok we need more numbers people!  Get it done!!!”

“it needs to be clear that we were not involved with the construction of the survey at all.  The FACC survey will show the opposite of whatever they claim to have heard from OUA.”

As you can see, the refusal by the Continental Master Executive Council to participate in the Joint Contract Negotiations Survey with the Continental Micronesia and United Master Executive Councils is a carefully coordinated ruse.  This FACC survey is nothing more than a shameful and coordinated effort by the Continental Master Executive Council and the FACC to distort reality and to harm our Joint Contract Negotiations.

While we take appropriate actions against the perpetrators of this fraud, we call upon you to reject those who are spreading bold faced lies and to participate in the official survey for our upcoming Joint Contract Negotiations.  Rest assured that we will keep our survey results in the strictest of confidence.  We will only share them with the entire Joint Negotiating Committee when those who are responsible for this fraud have been dealt with accordingly and when the Continental Master Executive Council allows their Members to participate in the official survey.  Negotiations only work when they are focused on you and accurately reflect the entire Membership.  We will not stand by and allow your future to be manipulated and defined for you.

We have brought these matters to the attention of the Continental Master Executive Council and expect that they take immediate action to address the fraud perpetrated against you and to restore the confidence necessary for us to move forward together.

The United Master Executive Council will not condone efforts to distract us from our Members’ goals in the upcoming Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement Negotiations nor will we tolerate any attempt to harm Flight Attendants.  It is clear that we will have to start over in our efforts to build a relationship with a solid foundation of mutual trust, cooperation and a shared understanding that these upcoming negotiations will be defined by the priorities of the combined Membership.  While this may take time, we are confident that together we will be successful.  Like you, we are committed to truly uniting Flight Attendants at the new United Airlines.

In Solidarity,