AFA topic 11/2-

[Furloughd4now]

As someone who's worked "both sides" I can assure the East is not much better. West has a better chance of picking up trips on off days. You have no LTO, and you have no max hours on Co. flying. The past 2 months I have not broken guarantee as most of the rsvs east. The only thing I see that's nice about east is if a scheduler calls you and there is multiple trips you can pick (this is becoming increasingly rare) and they are nicer people (which is huge in my book ;-)

Also, East is on duty 24 hours .... you have 3-12 hr shifts to choose from.

You also have better vaca to again pick-up trips in open time.

You also have better D/H pay.

Be careful what you wish for .... We need a better contract ... like pre-BKs!

 

[bottomofthepit]

As someone who's worked "both sides" I can assure the East is not much better. West has a better chance of picking up trips on off days. You have no LTO, and you have no max hours on Co. flying. The past 2 months I have not broken guarantee as most of the rsvs east. The only thing I see that's nice about east is if a scheduler calls you and there is multiple trips you can pick (this is becoming increasingly rare) and they are nicer people (which is huge in my book ;-)

Also, East is on duty 24 hours .... you have 3-12 hr shifts to choose from.

You also have better vaca to again pick-up trips in open time.

You also have better D/H pay.

Be careful what you wish for .... We need a better contract ... like pre-BKs!

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

What is it you wanted to say?

 

[Mrs. Doubtflier]

As someone who's worked "both sides" I can assure the East is not much better. West has a better chance of picking up trips on off days. You have no LTO, and you have no max hours on Co. flying. The past 2 months I have not broken guarantee as most of the rsvs east. The only thing I see that's nice about east is if a scheduler calls you and there is multiple trips you can pick (this is becoming increasingly rare) and they are nicer people (which is huge in my book ;-)

Also, East is on duty 24 hours .... you have 3-12 hr shifts to choose from.

You also have better vaca to again pick-up trips in open time.

You also have better D/H pay.

Be careful what you wish for .... We need a better contract ... like pre-BKs!

Things have worsened here. Most reserves are getting less than 45 hours of company assigned time per month and so many lineholders have been put back on reserve that even if you spend all of your free time on the ETB, there is practically nothing to be had. Even with the ongong VLOA's we don't get anywhere near our guarantee. No caps means nothing to a reserve anymore. Caps would actually help us since it would prevent lineholders from being able to cherry pick everything right up to the end of the month.

Deadhead pay, true. But again the reason that scheduling solicits autos from lineholders every day is to assign reserves those so low credit turns with no duty rigs. A deadhead built into a trip is really not something that we see any more.

Vacation for most junior people is nothing more than working through your one week in January/February vacation in order to pay any expenses you may have incurred this year trying to have any kind of holiday.

Most reserves have experienced a 50% reduction in income since September with no end in sight. We still have tagging, upgrades to Hot Room., extension to Hot Room shift if deemed necessary, increased benefit costs coming in January and have dutifully paid our increased AFA dues in order to be represented.......and a contract with no COL of any kind in January to help offset those imposed increases. Please understand that it is right up there in Maslow's Hirearchy, a starving Flight Attendant does not want to hear about preserving the sanctity of a contract that doesn't fulfill their most basic needs. Even though the work rules for reserves on the East are archaic the contract is looking better and better to us just from a bill paying standpoint. You know I will be glad to petition for 12 hour reserve shifts once I get Verizon off my back so that I can keep my cell phone service and not end up with a NCT for my next PHX-LAS turn!

You have your NO RESERVE LINES with a Christmas INV (that is truly painful and shocking to hear), we have our ever increasing poverty with a alleged unamendable contract and no contract in sight. It is truly an ugly situation for reserves company wide to be the face of the company to our passengers during the holiday with empty wallets and rapid descent morale.

That said, I hope to continue this discussion in whatever hotel I find myself in over Thanksgiving and Christmas with my East Reserve counterparts to raise a glass and toast to an equitable and profitable future.

 

[Zarah]

No reserve working under either contract is making any money right now. Both contracts suck in their own way.

Everybody can sit and daydream of all the plus' that the other contract has to offer, but people seem to forget all the nuts and bolts that would change the way blocks are awarded, trips are picked up, dropped, traded, how many reserves are needed, how a reserve gets a trip and is paid for that trip, with the East contract you would suddenly be tied to pilots and all the restrictions that go with it.

I hate that it is taking so long to get a new contract and feel that it is extremely unfair to the West FAs to have been forced to wait this long. However, I feel that we need to make sure the union gets a system that works instead of two systems that impacts the quality of life of the FAs and leave people not making enough money to live on.

 

[hulagirl]

I'm a west reserve fa and running out of time and money. The west fa's need to wake up fast - we need a contract now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is there anybody out there who thinks this is possible??????????... Why can't the west fa's vote to have the east contract now - while we work on negotiations for a combined contract. "Better Pay Now!!!" Why wait another 3-5 years????

As a West F/A, I can assure you I do NOT want the East contract. The West contract has better scheduling, vacations, pairings. If we want a contract now, and I cannot think of a reason for that to happen in this economy, look no further than the pilot situation: we won't get one until they do. They get the $$$ and we get the leftovers. Why would anyone want a contract now? It seems it is only in the interest of the Company to come to terms with the flight attendant group at this time--everyone is nerved about the economy (and our very own survival in it)...

 

[Mrs. Doubtflier]

As a West F/A, I can assure you I do NOT want the East contract. The West contract has better scheduling, vacations, pairings. If we want a contract now, and I cannot think of a reason for that to happen in this economy, look no further than the pilot situation: we won't get one until they do. They get the $$$ and we get the leftovers. Why would anyone want a contract now? It seems it is only in the interest of the Company to come to terms with the flight attendant group at this time--everyone is nerved about the economy (and our very own survival in it)...

The West Contract has better vacations, scheduling and pairings from the viewpoint of the top 10% of the West Flight Attendants. Vacations....I can agree with because it is by the numbers. Scheduling and pairings is more subjective. If you actually do a comparison with the Easts Primary, Secondary, SAP and AIL, the East has more flexibility. So to the remaining 90% of the membership, the West Contact is no better, no worse than the East but definitely much worse in compensation. As far as the economy, it is not wise to be financially stagnant with a contract that is a decade out of step with the industry and the economy.

OK, if the pilots appeared to be coming to any kind of resolution about anything I could see it being advantageous for us to wait for them. But there is absolutely no time line and with the exponential number of issues that continue to be created by the pilot groups it could be a decade or worse. If you feel the pilots get the $$$ and the flight attendants get the leftovers why would you want to wait for their negotiations to be complete? Doesn't make any sense.

If the company and the unions want to wait for the pilots then they should, in good conscience revisit the LOA concept to bring some fairness to the F/A work group. I have empathy for the pilots but the only way I want my negotiations tied 100% to their difficulties is if I am going to be paid as much as a pilot. Anything else is bad business judgment.

Why would anyone want a contract now? Because the one we have on the West is punishing to the ever increasing number of reserves in both control of their emotional and financial life. The least amount of flexibility married to the least amount of pay and coupled with the least amount of hours and you have a completely unbalanced damn near caste system.

Here is a good one. A reserve from the West got in from a three day Tuesday, bringing her grand total hours for the month to 22, was tagged for an ALQ turn and joined by a hot reserve who had 5 hours for the month.

Now that is some fine livin' on this contract don't you think?

 

[songbirdstew]

THE DATES ARE THE HOLIDAYS. NO RECURRENT THE WEEK OF THE HOLIDAYS

Well, I can understand no recurrent during the week of the holiday as flights will be full of revenue passengers travelling. Perhaps they should just schedule training for those who live in CLT that can drive there. :blink: That would open up more R/T slots the rest of the month for those in other bases.
However, I agree that it is not fair to schedule meetings in order for trainers to avoid flying. Anyone know the length of these meetings and dates? I agree with whoever said that this is a violation of seniority and AFA SHOULD be involved....

 

[BajaBabe]

Well get AFA involved how clever

 

[WCT]

Life is good for some of US PHX base flight attendants!! After 13 years, I still held Christmas off as a primary line/block holder. More of our RSV's held secondary/Relief lines. Times are tough, but some of Us are truly blessed with the AWA contract still in place. And my vacation is 30 days for next year!!! I wish to have better pay parity of that of the East, but I am very greatful!

 

[flygirl74]

What is the seniority of the most junior blockholder in PHX? For November and December. Also, how has that changed vs. last year this time.
Thanks

 

[LCC_#1]

Life is good for some of US PHX base flight attendants!! After 13 years, I still held Christmas off as a primary line/block holder. More of our RSV's held secondary/Relief lines. Times are tough, but some of Us are truly blessed with the AWA contract still in place. And my vacation is 30 days for next year!!! I wish to have better pay parity of that of the East, but I am very greatful!

Just what the company wants to hear!

 

[FlyGuyBWI]

What do you know, I finally can hold a secondary line with weekends off in December -- Oh, wait, Chirstmas and New Years are mid-week this year. But, at least I have my first line with weekends off!! And, it's only taken 13 years!

 

[Furloughd4now]

Life is good for some of US PHX base flight attendants!! After 13 years, I still held Christmas off as a primary line/block holder. More of our RSV's held secondary/Relief lines. Times are tough, but some of Us are truly blessed with the AWA contract still in place. And my vacation is 30 days for next year!!! I wish to have better pay parity of that of the East, but I am very greatful!

Well of course you're thrilled, who wouldn't be And the only ones who are "truly blessed" are the lineholders while the Rsvs take up the slack and get tagged for your dropped legs so you can go home after a grueling 2 day and they can work an additional turn after an even more grueling 4 day (oh, and 3 hrs of "airport appreciation"). I truly hope they eliminate that monstrosity in negotiations.

I do not believe that this month or next, many Rsvs are holding lines in PHX. In fact, in light of the large number of VLOAs it is more likely quite the opposite. As a matter of fact, blank relief's most senior number was 1910 (last year was 2140). I'm sorry looks quite the opposite.

We need a contract that is fair of ALL FAs, NOT A SELECT FEW. I know seniority is everything. I get that, but don't throw the Rsvs under the bus. :down:

We will not accept any concessions on either side. Thanks for allowing me to vent. I feel better now

 

[USCREW]

Anyone watch the last F/A crew meeting in PHX? Who is this Maria/Mariella person? You know, the one who asked the same question three times starting with, "Chu our leedair Mr. Parrkair, Chu chupose to hellp us". Does she have a comprehension problem? How much clearer can the answer be?