WingNaPrayer
Veteran
Found this on one of the Union sites today, and I find it both interesting, and impossible to enforce:
____________________________________________
AA Reaches Into MIA Agents Families – Restraint of Trade
June 20, 2007 – (MIA) Agents arrived to work today to find a brand new item dropped into their training lessons, complete with mandatory compliance by July 31, 2007 regarding what the company calls “Conflict of Interest.†Here is the text of the lesson as stated, and we will discuss the ramifications of this lesson at the end:
Miami Passenger Services Conflict of Interest/Employee Solicitation:
It has been recently brought to management’s attention that employees are soliciting co-workers and family members to get involved with a website named “Your Travel Biz†(YTB). After joining the YTB group, enrollees are provided with business cards, ID cards, and a website specific to the member. Members then function as a cyber-travel agent, and receive compensation when customers purchase airline tickets, car rentals, cruises, hotels, etc., via the website.
After a review by our corporate policy and legal departments it has been determined that this activity results in a “conflict of interest†for American Airlines’ employees. Please visit our Jetnet.AA.Com employee policy guide, “joining the company introduction to American Airlines, working for another company†which states in part:
Ownership of, or an interest in, a travel agency by any AA employee or family member is never permitted. In addition, please refer to AA’s standards of business conduct. You must inform your immediate supervisor in writing if you have a spouse, domestic partner or family immediate member who is working for a travel agency or in a management/specialist or officer/director capacity for a competitor. A copy of this letter must be placed in your personnel file.
This advisory serves as official notification that your involvement in activity that is considered a conflict of interest may result in corrective action up to and including dismissal from the company.
In addition this is a reminder that if you work for or decide to work for another company, or are self-employed while at AA, you must notify your manager in writing. A copy of this letter will be placed in your personnel file.
Furthermore, using company resources to promote a personal business of any kind is prohibited, and employees must refrain from using lists, or email addresses of other employees in order to solicit potential customers for their own personal business.
Feel free to contact your customer service manager or shift manager if you have any questions. In order to get credit for this lesson, you MUST type “I will complyâ€.
********** ********** ********** **********
First off, this doesn’t read as a lesson. How many lessons have you taken that start out with: It has been recently brought to management’s attention Poor grammar and syntax aside, this isn’t a lesson – it’s a set-up!
American Airlines portends to have the right to reach into your family tree, and dictate what your immediate family members may or may not do for a living. This in itself is unconscionable! For the record, American describes immediate family members as: Spouse, parents, step-parents, grand parents, step-grand parents, brothers, step-brothers, sisters, step-sisters, in-laws (spouse, domestic partner or registered companion’s: parents, step-parents, grand parents, step-grand parents, brothers, step-brothers, sisters, and step-sisters), (as listed for travel authorization – the lesson does not specify “family immediate member†[sic]) Like anything else, the list could go deeper at American’s discretion). All of this Orwellian control over your family members, in exchange for the wage concessions and slashed benefits they provide to you, is it really worth it? With “family immediate member†included along with the employee, this could potentially mean more than a half-million people restricted from YTB under threat of termination of the employee (who has no control over what their family members do anyway), but dismissal from the company because you may have a family member with a website that is a YTB affiliate? Does that include any family member who may use a YTB affiliated friend to make travel arrangements? Somebody please, draw the line! This is clearly an attempt by American to reach into the employee’s family home, family tree, and attempt to control what employee’s family members do. Just when did AA write their own intra-company version of the Patriot Act?
Look at it this way, is the up to 20 bucks an hour or less American compensates a single Agent, enough to give them the right to dictate the lives of potentially dozens of people that an Agent may be related to? You’ll each need to decide on that one.
Once the lesson has been taken, you must sign it with I WILL COMPLY. One has to wonder just when did the Borg assimilated AA management as that is clearly a Borg reply. The only thing missing is the lock-step and nihilist salute!
It is not normal for a lesson to give a response of a personal nature from the MIA Passenger Service Seven upon completion, but this one does, as you’ll see after you have “complied†with the lesson. (Ok, lets cut to the chase, this isn’t really a lesson, it is a statement of life control which you must “comply†with or face the consequences).
Agents, be on the alert. You know better than anyone else that you have no control whatsoever over what your family does for a living, just like family members can’t control you working for AA. However, the way this “I Will Comply†nonsense is set up, a family member could take a job tomorrow that will result in your being terminated. A Family member could affiliate with any travel service on the internet, and it will result in your being terminated. In this instance, YTB has been specifically named. This is clearly restraint of trade!
Enough is enough! Contact your HDQ HR department regarding this issue immediately and voice your concern.
Contact:
Jeffrey J. Brundage – SVP
Human Resources, American Airlines
4333 Amon Carter Boulevard
Fort Worth, TX 76155
1-817-967-3462
To those of you agents who have already “complied†you should quickly have a look at your immediate family employment situations, for your own protection, so in the very least you are prepared for what could come. A6001/CWA has thus far been silent on the relatively new issue. The Miami Group however, has not (since it appears this is only being directed at MIA Passenger Service employees so far) and it is recommended that Agents not rush into this lesson too quickly. The “Mandatory Compliance†does not expire until July 31, 2007, and after that date although your lesson points system may drop, it is not a terminable offense as of yet. However, the MIA Passenger Service Seven may make it so when it is learned that not all agents are willing to surrender the rights and freedoms of their family members to American Airlines.
Good Luck!
____________________________________________
AA Reaches Into MIA Agents Families – Restraint of Trade
June 20, 2007 – (MIA) Agents arrived to work today to find a brand new item dropped into their training lessons, complete with mandatory compliance by July 31, 2007 regarding what the company calls “Conflict of Interest.†Here is the text of the lesson as stated, and we will discuss the ramifications of this lesson at the end:
Miami Passenger Services Conflict of Interest/Employee Solicitation:
It has been recently brought to management’s attention that employees are soliciting co-workers and family members to get involved with a website named “Your Travel Biz†(YTB). After joining the YTB group, enrollees are provided with business cards, ID cards, and a website specific to the member. Members then function as a cyber-travel agent, and receive compensation when customers purchase airline tickets, car rentals, cruises, hotels, etc., via the website.
After a review by our corporate policy and legal departments it has been determined that this activity results in a “conflict of interest†for American Airlines’ employees. Please visit our Jetnet.AA.Com employee policy guide, “joining the company introduction to American Airlines, working for another company†which states in part:
Ownership of, or an interest in, a travel agency by any AA employee or family member is never permitted. In addition, please refer to AA’s standards of business conduct. You must inform your immediate supervisor in writing if you have a spouse, domestic partner or family immediate member who is working for a travel agency or in a management/specialist or officer/director capacity for a competitor. A copy of this letter must be placed in your personnel file.
This advisory serves as official notification that your involvement in activity that is considered a conflict of interest may result in corrective action up to and including dismissal from the company.
In addition this is a reminder that if you work for or decide to work for another company, or are self-employed while at AA, you must notify your manager in writing. A copy of this letter will be placed in your personnel file.
Furthermore, using company resources to promote a personal business of any kind is prohibited, and employees must refrain from using lists, or email addresses of other employees in order to solicit potential customers for their own personal business.
Feel free to contact your customer service manager or shift manager if you have any questions. In order to get credit for this lesson, you MUST type “I will complyâ€.
********** ********** ********** **********
First off, this doesn’t read as a lesson. How many lessons have you taken that start out with: It has been recently brought to management’s attention Poor grammar and syntax aside, this isn’t a lesson – it’s a set-up!
American Airlines portends to have the right to reach into your family tree, and dictate what your immediate family members may or may not do for a living. This in itself is unconscionable! For the record, American describes immediate family members as: Spouse, parents, step-parents, grand parents, step-grand parents, brothers, step-brothers, sisters, step-sisters, in-laws (spouse, domestic partner or registered companion’s: parents, step-parents, grand parents, step-grand parents, brothers, step-brothers, sisters, and step-sisters), (as listed for travel authorization – the lesson does not specify “family immediate member†[sic]) Like anything else, the list could go deeper at American’s discretion). All of this Orwellian control over your family members, in exchange for the wage concessions and slashed benefits they provide to you, is it really worth it? With “family immediate member†included along with the employee, this could potentially mean more than a half-million people restricted from YTB under threat of termination of the employee (who has no control over what their family members do anyway), but dismissal from the company because you may have a family member with a website that is a YTB affiliate? Does that include any family member who may use a YTB affiliated friend to make travel arrangements? Somebody please, draw the line! This is clearly an attempt by American to reach into the employee’s family home, family tree, and attempt to control what employee’s family members do. Just when did AA write their own intra-company version of the Patriot Act?
Look at it this way, is the up to 20 bucks an hour or less American compensates a single Agent, enough to give them the right to dictate the lives of potentially dozens of people that an Agent may be related to? You’ll each need to decide on that one.
Once the lesson has been taken, you must sign it with I WILL COMPLY. One has to wonder just when did the Borg assimilated AA management as that is clearly a Borg reply. The only thing missing is the lock-step and nihilist salute!
It is not normal for a lesson to give a response of a personal nature from the MIA Passenger Service Seven upon completion, but this one does, as you’ll see after you have “complied†with the lesson. (Ok, lets cut to the chase, this isn’t really a lesson, it is a statement of life control which you must “comply†with or face the consequences).
Agents, be on the alert. You know better than anyone else that you have no control whatsoever over what your family does for a living, just like family members can’t control you working for AA. However, the way this “I Will Comply†nonsense is set up, a family member could take a job tomorrow that will result in your being terminated. A Family member could affiliate with any travel service on the internet, and it will result in your being terminated. In this instance, YTB has been specifically named. This is clearly restraint of trade!
Enough is enough! Contact your HDQ HR department regarding this issue immediately and voice your concern.
Contact:
Jeffrey J. Brundage – SVP
Human Resources, American Airlines
4333 Amon Carter Boulevard
Fort Worth, TX 76155
1-817-967-3462
To those of you agents who have already “complied†you should quickly have a look at your immediate family employment situations, for your own protection, so in the very least you are prepared for what could come. A6001/CWA has thus far been silent on the relatively new issue. The Miami Group however, has not (since it appears this is only being directed at MIA Passenger Service employees so far) and it is recommended that Agents not rush into this lesson too quickly. The “Mandatory Compliance†does not expire until July 31, 2007, and after that date although your lesson points system may drop, it is not a terminable offense as of yet. However, the MIA Passenger Service Seven may make it so when it is learned that not all agents are willing to surrender the rights and freedoms of their family members to American Airlines.
Good Luck!
