I just saw the Seniority List

[USstew23]

Where are you getting your information??? Where is it written ANYWHERE that we can bump and flush anyone in the West? We can't bump and flush within the East why would you think you could do it to the West? That is not going to happen! Why try to put fear in their minds as they already have enough of it??

Exactly!!! Just an educated guess but I do not think anyone is going to get bumped or furloughed especially "IF" they get the 190's. Even if they cannot work something out to recall the invols, I think the only people that would have any chance of getting furloughed would be the people that could "POTENTIALLY" be hired off the street. Now these aren't words from the bible so please no one go off all h#ll bent. It's just an opinion.

 

[Optimist]

Here maybe this will help: This was an update from AFA 66:
Cut two weeks of vacation and the company will put some money into your contract.” That’s what the Federal Mediator told you AFA Negotiations Team (NT) and that is what caused negotiations for our AWA contract to come to a screeching halt.

“You have the right to negotiate your contract at America West,” said the Federal Mediator. Despite those assurances, the Federal Mediator will soon put our Section 6 contract talks – for our AWA contract – in recess for an indefinite period of time.

....

So what happens now??? It sounds like we at US West are better off with our vacation, dead head pay, cancellation pay, better domicile rest etc.
If this is the case, why can't we just negotiate what we currently have? Just improve our reserve section and other stuff. I really like the idea of Jetway trades for commuters and Deadhead trades. I would love to have this! Being able to get rid of my trip if someone is trying to go home. I would rather have more flexibility than a minimal pay increase!

**Moderator Note: Please refrain from quoting a lengthy post. It just makes it easier for everyone to read follow-on posts. Thank you.**

 

[hublablebla]

It seems as though we at West are better off with our existing contract for now with better vacation, scheduling, deadhead, insurance, etc. Why would we want to get a merged contract that isn't significantly better than the one we now have? The East fa's have the numbers to force us to accept thier will, but I think if they got to know how nice it is to have significant flexibility, they would be likely to want it as well. On a side note....I have worked with pilots for whole trips, we used to do it that way. I cannot inagine going back to that and losing all our high yield trips and turns that we can do now. Sounds like another pay cut to me.

 

[goodgirl37]

Exactly!!! Just an educated guess but I do not think anyone is going to get bumped or furloughed especially "IF" they get the 190's. Even if they cannot work something out to recall the invols, I think the only people that would have any chance of getting furloughed would be the people that could "POTENTIALLY" be hired off the street. Now these aren't words from the bible so please no one go off all h#ll bent. It's just an opinion.

This is the problem - no one thinks they can be bumped ( however that is very untrue ) ask your international president! If they do not agree to a transition agreement, (essentially to recall invols from the east - with their pay and be bumped up to their original seniority in PHX, after the fence) then when the lists are merged "combined" whoever is the last 1450 (approximately) f/a's on the list will be furloughed and the majority will be AW f/a's... It's a fact people - unless there is a transition agreement then you can bump if your seniority list is merged with another - nowhere in the contract does it say you cannot bump - for example - in the east if you are displaced out of PIT and the openings are in DCA but you want to go to CLT and there is someone in CLT that is junior to you then you can bump that person to DCA and go to CLT.... So you CAN bump and it will happen if they don't come up with a transition agreement VERY soon... and that was straight from the horses mouth at the VERY top - and she has advised G. Richardson that this will happen if the transition team doesn't get their shiaaatttt together!!!!!

 

[l8rd8r]

Here maybe this will help: This was an update from AFA 66:
Cut two weeks of vacation and the company will put some money into your contract.â€￾ That’s what the Federal Mediator told you AFA Negotiations Team (NT) and that is what caused negotiations for our AWA contract to come to a screeching halt.

“You have the right to negotiate your ..............

OK MEC, YOUR DUTY IS TO GET THE MESSAGE OUT TO ALL F/A'S EAST AND WEST.

There is no communication going on. Of course East would want a contract that has the best of both worlds as well as West. Get with the East MEC and start educating us. Get some open forum meetings going at all the major hubs, start a seperate forum or inform all to this site.

East fly trips to get the most hours done quickly not, to party with the boys up front. Our high time trips go senior. We all have families we'd rather be home with.
So go ahead and get rid of building our trips with the pilots.

We are a bigger group than you but, that's why its important for you to educate us. You need us to get what you want. Please remember all these cuts with vacation, sick, pay etc was just put into play the end of 04 and done so we'd be acceptable to Parker for the merger. We want what you want....A great contract. So please get the word out via our unions, via our crew members via any means possible. Compare the two contracts and get it out to the F/A's so we can go over it. Us the MEC websites to communicate. Compare the contract of both sides, post it to the website and we can print it off and share it on the jumpseats, vans etc. If our groups join together we truly have strength in numbers.

PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE START TALKING TO US.

 

[N109UW]

Communication on the East side as always been insufficient. It has gotten better lately, but could still improve. I have never been a fan of flying with the pilots. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the commaraderie and having a few cold ones with the 3 and 4 stripers, but I have always wished that they would split us up. They could easily schedule the F/A's with better trips. All trips on the East side are built to the pilots. We sit because they sit. People say that the company will screw us, sure if you don't know your contract and let them. Damn, people, stand up and be counted. If it's a problem, I will help you learn how to print a trip sheet, it's easy. And another thing the union needs to pay attention to is the RSV bidding. On the East side, we don't get our bids until the 25th of the month. We have to bid VAC filler days and schedule recurrent training 2 months in advance. We don't even know our schedule yet. This works great for the blockholders, because they bid their schedule that far in advance, however, for a RSV, it stinks.

 

[IpourNotCan]

OK MEC, YOUR DUTY IS TO GET THE MESSAGE OUT TO ALL F/A'S EAST AND WEST.


PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE START TALKING TO US.

I don't think MEC West even read this board. Try emailing them directly.



MEC President
Gary Richardson
[email protected]
extension 11

MEC Vice President
Bill McGlashen
[email protected]


MEC Secretary/Treasurer
Mary Cost
[email protected]

 

[N903AW]

OK MEC, YOUR DUTY IS TO GET THE MESSAGE OUT TO ALL F/A'S EAST AND WEST.


PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE START TALKING TO US.

Actually US East need to get their information from Mike Flores, their elected MEC President. Our MEC Council 66 (West) is working to secure a fair contract for OUR members, just as Flores (East) is doing for his.

The two FA workgroups and MECs will remain separate until the two carrier Certificates become one and we can finally agree on a Contract that benefits ALL Flight Attendants. This is why I am not holding my breath for a Contract any time soon. All indicators show that this "merger" will only benefit the Flight Attendants on the East at our (West) expense both in the interim and long term.

I will patiently wait on my old contract (with my vacation, dh pay, etc.) until both sides can agree on something that will not send AWA Flight Attendants to the soup line. And I will also vote against any new contracts that are not beneficial to BOTH sides.

Right now the scales appear to be too unbalanced and until we (East and West) can agree on a new Contract that is ALL inclusive and fair to EVERYONE things will remain status quo.

 

[DCAflyer]

It seems as though we at West are better off with our existing contract for now with better vacation, scheduling, deadhead, insurance, etc. Why would we want to get a merged contract that isn't significantly better than the one we now have? The East fa's have the numbers to force us to accept thier will, but I think if they got to know how nice it is to have significant flexibility, they would be likely to want it as well. On a side note....I have worked with pilots for whole trips, we used to do it that way. I cannot inagine going back to that and losing all our high yield trips and turns that we can do now. Sounds like another pay cut to me.

Believe me, nobody wants to force anybody's will on anyone. We just want a nice, cohesive environment where we all get along and respect each other. We know how nice it is to have flexibility. You should have seen what we had pre-9/11... our reserves were the envy of the industry. We could pass trips for no better reason than we want to fly only 757 routings. Being quick-called was another story... we had to take the trips then, but they called from the avail list in reverse seniority order anyway. If we were quick-called and had less than four hours before we had to be at the airport, we could take cabs the airport and back home after our trip and the compay would reimburse us (back when they actually paid for the things they were supposed to!). I lived 8 minutes from DCA, and if I was quickcalled, my car stayed at my condo, no schlepping to the crew lot and dragging bags onto the crew bus. It was awesome! DCA was a dual base with IAD, so the company paid for parking passes at both airports. Once I got a call at 0140 to be at IAD at 0530. I immediately called a cab to schedule a pickup at 0445, got up at 0430, jumped in the shower, got into the cab at 0445 and changed into my uniform in the cab, again avoiding the crew lot and crew bus. Not a bad way to spin an early morning call for an early check-in. If they had us DCA people work a BWI trip, we'd get a town-car ride from DCA. Once I took a cab to DCA and jumped into the towncar. You can't do things like that anymore, understandably.

Usually we'd know what we were flying the day before, and it was usually someting we picked.

You serve a meal on a flight, you get an extra flight attendant. On 321 transcons, we'd have six flight attendants (two in F); now it's down to the FAA minimum of four for the entire A/C, not that that's horrible, just a sobering contrast. I remember once after 9/11 I worked a 321 BWI-LAX trip, I was A, and a lot of F/As were still calling out afraid to fly. We couldn't get an extra, even though the flight was full and the Captain was calling SKED trying to get one more. The flight was totally booked and I had to work F by myself... 26 seats, full hot meal, pre-departure beverages, snacks, crystal and china service, hot towels, the whole nine yards. Oh, yes, and making sure I had a makeshift weapon always within reach in case someone tried to charge the cockpit... I was the only security... no fortified doors, no FAMs, just me and my wine bottle, hair spray, keys. My wine opener had been taken away so I couldn't serve wine, but I had three full bottles handy in case I needed them.

We used to have entire lines build for "extras" where a flight attendant would go from plane to plane that was serving meals. That's all they did for the month and these trips went really senior. They were always happy and would pass on their years of wisdom and experience to the junior people. I learned more about the ins and outs of our contract than anyone else.

Them was the days! Now our ranks have been gutted and people hired almost 20 years ago are on reserve. That sucks. You get into this career thinking that you'd pay your dues for a couple of years, and then no more reserve. I was told when I was hired that DCA reserve would be for about a year and a half.; tow years tops! Now it goes back to 1988 or 1989 hire dates.

 

[Travelpro72]

Back when the old US was to possibly merge with United our union put out a comparison chart between the two carriers contracts. It was quite interesting to see the differences. They should do the same thing today. Educate people on what each other has. That shouldn't be much to ask for. Granted some stuff may change on the west side due to section 6 negotiations. That though seems to be moving slower than a snail across a sidewalk.