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Joint MEC Calls for Collective Action

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Source: AFA

Date: Nov 25, 2015

From: ourcontract.org

November 25, 2015

Fellow Flight Attendants:

The Joint Negotiating Committee has released more details about the status of proposals at the negotiating table. This is not the start of negotiations and these are not opening proposals. After three years of working to reach agreement with management, you will note in the status of proposals just how much more management believes we should collectively concede in order to reach agreement.

Contrary to the continued assertions of management, we are not the roadblock to reaching agreement on a joint contract in the midst of record profits. Management is demanding concessions to our collective contracts in an effort to make us pay for increased wages. We have heard loud and clear from you that there is no way we should allow management to decimate decades of bargaining and protections achieved in our contracts.

The Joint Negotiating Committee has prepared an industry comparison that puts into context the contracts we are merging, what we are attempting to achieve and how our efforts to combine our contracts compares with the industry. Our negotiators have made all the arguments they can make at the table, but even with new leadership in the Executive Office we continue to face the same obstructionist management tactics at the negotiating table. The only way to break free of this is to use the strength of collective action. While other work groups are reaching new agreements after combining contracts, we are experiencing a very different tone and tenor at the table. It is clear that management hopes to gain by painting our collective work group as divided and our Joint Negotiating Committee as uncooperative. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We are not divided. We are United. As your elected leaders we are committed to speaking with one voice. Our Joint Negotiating Committee has full text comprehensive proposals for an entire contract. Clearly, there will be change for all of us because we are putting together different contracts. But Flight Attendants are not in competition here – we can benefit from the strengths we bring to this merger. This comes down to how this management is choosing to address our entire work group. And it must stop now.

In order to change the dynamics at the negotiating table, management must hear from all of us. Every day they delay is another day we go without a raise and fail to realize the benefit of this merger. Every day they delay is another day United Airlines runs as three airlines; this is no good for the airline and no good for Flight Attendants. Every day they delay we must collectively get stronger, more united and more committed to standing up for our fair share of the profits we are instrumental in creating.

We are calling on every Flight Attendant to engage in these negotiations. Put on your red AFA pin, ensure you are signed up for Negotiations Updates at OurContract.org and mark your calendars. As the holiday travel season starts we will conduct informational leafleting and picketing to bring our message to the public. Informational picketing is designed to simply publicize our issues to the traveling public, not to turn away passengers. Informational events like this are legal at any stage of the negotiations.

If management can't hear us at the table, they will read our message in the papers and hear it on the evening news. On December 17th, we will be heard around the world during a Day of Action: Contract Now. And, going forward we will be staging a world-wide day of action on the third Thursday of every month until we have an agreement we can ratify. We will also be meeting as a Joint MEC in December to discuss the next steps available to us under the Railway Labor Act. United Airlines Flight Attendants have given our all in the success of our airline. We expect a substantial, well deserved return on our investment and a better future. We are speaking with one voice, united and strong, to negotiate for our fair share.

Enough is Enough. Stand with us -- 24,000 United -- committed to achieving the contract we are due.

In Solidarity,

AFA Joint Master Executive Councils representing United Airlines Flight Attendants

Ken Diaz
MEC President

Kathleen Domondon
MEC President/Council 65

Randy Hatfield
MEC President

Andreas Curlee
MEC Vice President

Jose Torres
MEC VP/Council 65

Sheryl Kee
MEC Vice President

Jeff Heisey
MEC Secretary-Treasurer

Kevin Batey
President Council 14

Franko Ocasio
President Council 42

Richard Dagnall
President Council 5

Michael Blake
President Council 20

Cari Kershaw
President Council 60

Anthony King
President Council 7

Todd Failla
President Council 21

Joey Guider
President Council 62

Paul Antuna
President Council 8

Bill Carico
President Council 25

Jayson Jarrell
President Council 63

Ken Kyle
President Council 9

Nara Nakulan
President Council 26

Denny Wheeling
President Council 64

Chris Black
President Council 11

Andrew Fahy
President Council 27

 

Dante Harris
President Council 12

Rick Gonzalez
President Council 38

 

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