F/a Sicklist On The Climb!

[Garfield1966]

Fly. Look at the numbers through out the years. This year about 2 weeks prior to Xmass, there were about 1200 people on the sick list. If 1200 people all of a sudden got sick in the period of 1 to 2 week then someone needs to call the CDC because we have a very very dangerous situation our hands. In the year 2000, which until this year was the highest holiday sick count it was at 2072. There was no flue epidemic that year. All you have to do is look at the sick reports for every year and you will see a bump for every holiday. Some bumps being larger than other depending on the importance of the holiday. The funny thing is that by the 2nd week of January, the sick list will be back to normal. Funny how the end of a holiday cures the flu huh?

As far as the reassignments are concerned, no we do not snicker or do a reassignment dance. It’s a pain in the rear for us. We do not like it. We have had to keep people out for 6 days and it sucks. But when 1200 people all of a sudden come down with the flu, it kind of narrows your options.

Fly, let us just call a spade a spade. A majority of the people (FA’s and non FA’s) are calling in “sickâ€￾ because they are either pissed off or just don’t feel they should have to work. Fine, but at least be honest about it. Don’t try and convince me that in a span of less then 2 weeks, the sick list doubles and just happens to coincide with a holiday.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

Actually, a lot of my AA friends in MIA really ARE sick right now, some with the flu, many with colds, sore throats, etc. They are still at work, and most of them are not FAs. They have the sick time, but this "one occurrence per calendar year" crap has them in fear for loss of their jobs. What happens if you take a few days off for the flu, and then 3 months from now you get seriously ill and all you have to look forward to is being canned by your employer?

The downside is, they are all showing up for work, and making everyone else sick. The chain will go on and on until it has gone through everyone, not to mention the passengers they come in contact with who take it with them to all parts of the world.

Modern travel is bacteria's best friend

I don't doubt that there is some dead weight in those sick list numbers, more power to them, but this is a rotten time of year nationwide for colds, flu and such and I don't doubt that many of them genuinely feel like hammered ####!

 

[Garfield1966]

Wing, I never said everyone was faking it. I know several friends who are sick. I have a bad cold a few weeks ago that I have to my wife. And yes winter is the time when people seem to be more susceptible to illness.

When you said that there is “some dead weightâ€￾ I think you are underestimating the numbers. I remember reading somewhere that on average about 30%-40% of people out sick nation wide are not sick. Given a average base line of around 1100-1200 which is what it climbed to on the FA side after the TA was enacted, and a current FA sick list of 2400, you do the math.

Something else to consider. The 1 occurrence per a year is ludicrous I agree. We get 2 per a rolling year. For those who are abusing the sick list now, does that not hurt your cause in getting a more equitable sick policy in the future? If you come to me and say you want a more lenient attendance policy my first response would be that till your work group as a whole stops abusing the current policy, it is impossible to determine what is fair and what is not. Seems to me that if people only called in when they were actually sick, it would be much easier to say “look, this policy is not fair and needs to be changed.â€￾

You mention that if someone calls in sick more than once a year they face termination. Do you know this for a fact or is this what flight service has told you? I see absence records by the dozens a day that have 5 or 10 a year. They are not coded as family leave either, just regular sick or unpaid sick. I have seen 6 or 7 in the last week that have called in sick every single Christmas since they have been with AA. Is attendance policy up to the discretion of the attendance manager or is it a policy set by the contract? If what you say is true (and I am not saying it is not or does not happen) it would seem to be that it is being selectively enforced and that needs to be dealt with as well. Everyone needs to be held to the same standards. I would even go so far as to argue that FA’s need a slightly more liberal policy due the interaction that you mentioned. But if a work group is going to abuse the policy, I do not see how change can start.

But again, for the sake of curve talker and Bear who think I am always slamming the FA’s as a whole. I disagree 100% with a 1 occurrence sick policy. That is unfair and unreasonable just as the FAA approved lay over is.

As far as working on the holidays. I do not want to either but I have done so without exception for close to 20 years. One of these days I may actually have the seniority to hold a holiday off and actually spend it with my family. Until then, we celebrate the holiday when I have the time off and can see them. I chose this profession. I chose to work on the operational side of this company knowing full well that we were open all day of every day of every week of every year. If I wanted holidays off that bad I would seek another position that would afford me that luxury. I am not going to because the flexibility that this job offers (like that of a FA) is too much to give up in trade.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Jesus garfield, I just had a scary thought.

What will happen if YOU get SICK during the wee hours of Christmas Day ?????????


NH/BB's

 

[Garfield1966]

Very simple answer Black, I would call in sick.

 

[AC AA LA FA]

At 14 years domestic I just returned from a 2 to 5 day re assignment-yes I was to be home over x-mas ect.....but I do understand the flight attendants reasons for being out or staying out over Christmas...who am I to judge...who are any of you? and when it comes down to it I would take one on the chin for the f/as ANY day before i gave one inch back to this company who has declared war on me and all labor-yea you too crw skd... by spitting in our face-and then consideriing it a compliment...Desperate times call for desperate measures, beleive me I wish it did not have to be this way.....so ya...it sux to be away from home when you planned otherwize-but as I said before...all is fair in love and war...and this most certianly is war to me-AC

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

At 14 years domestic I just returned from a 2 to 5 day re assignment-yes I was to be home over x-mas ect.....but I do understand the flight attendants reasons for being out or staying out over Christmas...who am I to judge...who are any of you? and when it comes down to it I would take one on the chin for the f/as ANY day before i gave one inch back to this company who has declared war on me and all labor-yea you too crw skd... by spitting in our face-and then consideriing it a compliment...Desperate times call for desperate measures, beleive me I wish it did not have to be this way.....so ya...it sux to be away from home when you planned otherwize-but as I said before...all is fair in love and war...and this most certianly is war to me-AC

AC AA LA FA;

"VERY WELL PUT" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NH/BB's

 

[AirLUVer]

At 14 years domestic I just returned from a 2 to 5 day re assignment-yes I was to be home over x-mas ect.....but I do understand the flight attendants reasons for being out or staying out over Christmas...who am I to judge...who are any of you? and when it comes down to it I would take one on the chin for the f/as ANY day before i gave one inch back to this company who has declared war on me and all labor-yea you too crw skd... by spitting in our face-and then consideriing it a compliment...Desperate times call for desperate measures, beleive me I wish it did not have to be this way.....so ya...it sux to be away from home when you planned otherwize-but as I said before...all is fair in love and war...and this most certianly is war to me-AC

So its OK for a fellow flight attendant to SCREW you over? I will pass that on to the crew schedulers and trackers so they won't have to feel obligated to apologize to you when they extend your trip, or reassign you from a turn to a 6day trip.

 

[orwell]

Apparently the US based f/a sick list is around 2111 as of Dec 23.
The Foreign Nationals are around 23. The following code in DECS will update you on this information if you're interested.


RF9999 SOD


ATTN HDQOP
DATE..<23DEC03
TOTAL NBR OF F/AS ON SICK LIST..........<2111
TTL NBR APFA ON SICK LIST....<2088
TTL NBR S/A FA‡S ON SICK LIST.<23
ARSW/23DEC03

Garfield1966, and Operations,

You guys must be beside yourselves, with the above info
(F/a sick list)

Whats you medication of choice, FOR YOUR ANGER ????????

Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, "Booze", "Nothing at all" ???????????

NH/BB's

Thanks for this DECS tip. Is there a format that will show the pilot list as well?

 

[orwell]

They have the sick time, but this "one occurrence per calendar year" crap has them in fear for loss of their jobs. What happens if you take a few days off for the flu, and then 3 months from now you get seriously ill and all you have to look forward to is being canned by your employer?

And of course this occurrence "crap" arose spontaneously out of the pure, unilateral cruelty that is Evil Management, and is not in any way a reaction to unbridled abuse of sick policy, right?

I'm with you, man. Rules are for losers! Why do we even need timeclocks? Every worker is honest, right? It's the same way I feel about traffic lights - who needs 'em? I can barrel through an intersection without affecting anyone else, 'cause I'm just that good - and it's all about me! The same goes for attendance - I can come to work on my own terms, 'cause I'm just as important as all of my coworkers - combined. That's the spirit!

Go teAAm!

 

[Garfield1966]

There probably is a rf for the pilots but I don't work that side so I have no idea what i is.

It is nice to see that at least someone can see our side of the problem.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

They have the sick time, but this "one occurrence per calendar year" crap has them in fear for loss of their jobs. What happens if you take a few days off for the flu, and then 3 months from now you get seriously ill and all you have to look forward to is being canned by your employer?

And of course this occurrence "crap" arose spontaneously out of the pure, unilateral cruelty that is Evil Management, and is not in any way a reaction to unbridled abuse of sick policy, right?

The fact is, employees earn sick time, and they earn it for a reason. When they DO get sick, the last thing they should have to worry about is getting fired from their job for calling in sick because they happened to get sick more than once in a calendar year.

That's about as ascinine of a policy as one can be and AMR's use of this policy is nothing more than a direct threat and a means of cracking the whip on the backs of the sick and injured employees.

Now, should we discuss AMR's new rules for IOD related light duty? You know, that one where when you get injured on the job, you damn well better be healed and off of light duty in 20 days or less or you're out the door! Or, even if you aren't healed you have to come off light duty and go back to full duty even if you're injured and if you don't. . .likewise you're out the door.

People are not can openers, you don't throw them away when they break, but AMR thinks it's ok to double and triple up your work loads with their "more productivity" BS and when you do get worn out because of it . . . they have new rules in place that let them throw you away. You want to talk about abuse? THAT is abuse right there and it's not being done by the employees.

Oh . . . and while we're at it, lets jack up the cost of the healthcare and blow those co-payments for medications right out of the water, that way, when employees DO get sick, they won't be able to pay the higher cost of getting well, and AMR will get to fire them.

Am I onto something here, or are you just being a corporate supportive idiot?

What a great company!

 

[L1011Ret]

Alright, which AA F/A on these BBs gets "whiner of the year" award?

 

[StraaightTaalk]

Alright, which AA F/A on these BBs gets "whiner of the year" award?

And which retired pilot gets the "Bitter Old Man of the Year" award?



Here is hoping for a better 2004.

 

[AC AA LA FA]

So its OK for a fellow flight attendant to SCREW you over? I will pass that on to the crew schedulers and trackers so they won't have to feel obligated to apologize to you when they extend your trip, or reassign you from a turn to a 6day trip.

LUV-can you read? and crew skd are not flight attendants-so if I do choose to let f/as screw me-crew skd would be excluded-got it

btw-when was the last time crew skd ever appologized for ANYTHING?-so I wont miss those appologetic words uttered to me after my RA----