A letter to the AFA membership:

"From AFA:

January 23, 2014

United Cuts Backroom Deals

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Bowing to pressure from you, management moved from their position that the only option to their stated headcount overage was an involuntary furlough. As you know, we made a comprehensive proposal that keeps everyone working.

However, the manner in which Mr. Risoli went about it deliberately avoided your locally elected leadership, in order to achieve management’s agenda; one that has nothing to do with managing staffing concerns. Earlier today, you learned of a deal, reached with the President of the Continental Master Executive Council that was intended to do an end-run around your Local Council representatives. Mr. Risoli deliberately circumvented your Local Council leadership who were in session at a meeting of the United Master Executive Council.

It is right to expect every leader of our Union to stand with us to protect our Members' jobs by demanding management talk about solutions with us. But management split off our Continental counterparts in an attempt to undermine our strong position for those facing involuntary furlough. Without a single word with your representatives, the Continental MEC President agreed with management that United Flight Attendants will be out of work at their airline. As a result, the collective bargaining process was trampled without a care that jobs are on the line.

Since this was announced earlier today, Flight Attendants have been writing and calling expressing outrage. They have been telling us they don’t want to be involuntarily furloughed nor do they want to be forced into a position of an ultimatum by either having to seek employment at Continental or be forced onto the street. And, most assuredly, they are telling us they do not want to be told what their priorities are – since they have already expressed them clearly to their Local Council leadership.

We have a long, rich history. We are proud, independent and comfortable with self-determination. We are prepared to aggressively defend our Contract and our jobs. Cutting backroom deals, with the intent of duping United Flight Attendants, is not the path to unity and success.

The actions taken today must be seen for what they are - a deliberate effort to drive a wedge between United, Continental and Continental Micronesia Flight Attendants. Not only is this a dangerous game of roulette with Flight Attendant jobs, it is not consistent with responsible union stewardship or the very tenets of trade unionism. We call on each of you to reject any and all efforts to divide our Flight Attendant community.

In Solidarity,

Greg Davidowitch, President
United Master Executive Council"

Any way you cut it, a raw deal. I'm not sure if this means the offer of employment on the CO side has been rescinded. This is a very dangerous game.

 

The LCAL MEC had nothing to do with the 1500 out of work pilots LUAL brought to the merger, unless this alternative reality includes JP manipulating LUAL's fleet plan years before MAD.

 

Dave can speak for himself, but I think he was referring more to the unfair fight the L-UAL FAs are facing. They, in the immediate future are having to fight to adversaries. Management and a labor group whom clearly feels they will benefits more the longer they stay separate.

 

The "our" in the thread title and his red text seemed to indicate otherwise. If not my apologies.

 

Absent a JCBA and SLI, I tend to agree with Dave. Looking at UCH just strictly from an IT development point of view, management was not ready for our JCBA/SLI. Look around the system and see which aircrafts are mixed crew. The B777 I believe is the first and only started mixing a few months ago. B737 has yet to start mixing crews. The integration of CCS and FAR 117 was not a smooth transition. All these things that I mentioned above are one year past our JCBA/SLI. To think that UCH was willing/ready to to settle our contract a year go is a pipe dream. They were drag into settlement kicking and screaming. To think that UCH was coming back to the table had we rejected the JCBA was a pipe dream. Now ask which pilot group would have been harmed the most by a lengthy delayed in our JCBA. Maybe that is what Dave was referring to when he used the words, "our alternate reality"

 

There is no doubt the company didn't expect the L-UAL pilots to accept the merger contract. It left Jeff and JP flat footed. They are now attacking the AFA with back room deals using L-CAL F/A's like they did JP and L-CAL pilots. Hopefully, the AFA will come up with a way to combat the onslaught.

Profit Sharing anyone - Jeff's way of course?

 

First they came for the communists, .....

Reminds me of a JS ride I took a couple of years ago from ORD to STL on a Trans States RJ. Cap was complaining about Go Jet "stealing" all their flying. I related to him how back in 96 (damn am I getting old) when I was commuting from ORD-STL, TWA had 13-14 flights a day, UA had 4-5 flights a day, and AA had 4-5 flights a day and not a one of them was an RJ. So, a) I am prob not the guy to complain to and b) don't be surprised that the same management that was willing to screw people to get you a good deal, will turn around and screw you if they can get a better one.

That same statement applies to the CAL FAs. I am not involved with the negotiations or anything like that and I am not saying they are some evil group. I am just saying the CAL FA's better watch out for what old Jeffy has in store for them once he is done with the UA FA's.

... and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist

 

Sorry if you missed the point. This was an AFA letter addressed to their members. I did not alter, emphasize or change anything in the letter. It is their letter. Yes, this could have been us. However, you never know which way the whip saw would have gone.

Again, please see the bigger point. Ours is done, we have ours. I do not want to relive past theoretical arguments. The UAL AFA is being abused by Jeff and the CO fight attendants by this deal. They need our support, not argue that one side is right. It is all the employees against management. If the CO flight attendants can't see that this is bad for everyone, they need to re-read some labor history. This is some of the worst labor strategy I've seen since Lorenzo, and the original reasons we are covered by the Railway Labor act. A review of "Flying The line" might be in order.

This is the worst sort of tactic possible. Do not think for a minute that Jeff wouldn't try this with us if he thought he could get away with it.

The secondary unstated point of my post is, enforce your contract, insist on it!

 

Thanks, Dave. I do know this was the FA union. I'm sure I'm overly sensitive to draw too close a comparison between us and them although we do share a common management bent on intransigence towards all of us.

 

Agreed......