Sep 10, 2010

Contract Negotiations: A Message For All Flight Attendants

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By Darren Shiroma, LAX Council 12 President

Reflecting On My First Union Newsletter

[01.25.09] -- In 1995, I began my career at United Airlines and was based here in Los Angeles. About 4 months after my arrival at LAX, I received my first printed Union newsletter in the mail. It was the AFA Council 12 Los Angeles newsletter named, "Wavelength." This issue was released as our Union and our front line work group faced Section 6 (Contract improvement negotiations) in late 1995.

Recently, I went through old mailings and found this resounding issue. I distinctly recall being made aware of the importance of my new Union with this one influential issue. Coming from the second-most unionized state in the U.S. (Hawai'i), I had a clear awareness of how critical to labor a Union was. It's important for me to share this with you because it has stayed with me from the start of my career as a Flight Attendant.

This newsletter reinforced my Union awareness, and it gave me a quick, crash-course in historical perspective of our Union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. It is my hope that by republishing this issue, I can "pay it forward" by re-introducing it to those that received it then, and also sharing it with our fellow colleagues who were not here to receive that definitive Winter 1995 issue.

"The beauty of having a Union is that none of us have to individually come forward and speak."

Ironically, as I re-typed the excerpts from the November/December 1995 issue below, I had the 10 O'Clock news on in the background, and the coverage focused on the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards. In the clip, NBC's "30 Rock" star Tina Fey made the following statement regarding the current potential for a strike. Fey stated, “I think the beauty of having a Union is that none of us have to individually come forward and speak,” and “we’re protected by bargaining together as a Union, and we’ll do whatever our Union needs us to do.”

I found much irony in her message simply because of the crossroads we are currently at with our arrival on the steps of our own negotiations with United Airlines. Her simple message had two sharp points: We have a Union that speaks our message, and we stand unified behind that message. We have the power of the 16,000 individual United Flight Attendants focused and sharply honed into ONE POWERFUL UNION and ONE UNIFIED VOICE.

Below, I re-typed three poignant and powerful messages I received from that Winter 1995 issue for your reading. Please take a moment to read through them, and share them with our flying partners across the system.

In 2003, the cost-prohibitive nature of printing and postage ended the Wavelength newsletter circulation. Three years earlier, in 2000, our AFALAXNEWS e-newsletter began, and it has since taken over the printed format of a newsletter. To date, our Award-Winning AFALAXNEWS e-newsletter now includes over 1,400 recipients who regularly receive updates pertinent to our base and AFA in Los Angeles.

Defending Our Rights
By Charlie Costello, former LAX Local Council President

"Wavelength" November/December 1995 Issue -- Frederick Douglass once said, “A man who will not labor to gain his rights is a man who would not, if he had them, prize and defend them.” While Douglass was speaking to the issue of civil rights, his words have application for many of us.

Our rights are outlined in several ways. The Contract, labor laws, government regulation and company policy all provide information about our rights as employees of UAL. However, many undervalue and take for granted those precious rights. When that occurs we see legalities being waved, meetings unattended, newsletters and union mail unread. The end result can be an erosion of our power in contract negotiations, and abusive misapplications of policies by management. After reading Douglass’ quote, it occurred to me that maybe some members are guilty of these things because they weren’t around when the battles for our rights were being fought.

We only need to look at the numbers who failed to go to the polls in recent years to realize that many Americans do not value their right to vote. If we could go back in time and hear from a Revolutionary War veteran, a former slave, or a Suffragette, we could learn what value they placed on their rights. They would probably tell us that their actions were driven by a need to secure what they considered to be basic human rights. Having fought for those rights made them even dearer. In speaking with two of the founders of AFA, I learned that their need to secure basic rights was behind the establishment of the first Flight Attendant union.

Those of us currently on the seniority list didn’t have to fight to secure the rights we now enjoy. But that does not mean we can ignore them or refuse to exercise them.

If we realize that 42% of us were not even working for UAL in 1985, and that over 30% of us have never been through Section 6 negotiations, it is almost understandable that we take our rights for granted. Most of our work rules and benefits have been in place for many years. (We have had 8-in-24 and 30-in-7 since our first contract was ratified in 1946). No, we didn’t have to fight for them, and those who did are long gone, but we have to defend them. We have to do this not only for ourselves, but for those who will come after us. We are all obligated to “prize and defend’ the rights our predecessors secured for us, for if we do not we are doomed to lost them. n

Another excerpt from that issue that hit a resounding note stated: 

"As the amendable date of our contract approaches, it has become clear that the only way we can prevail at the bargaining table is by putting our personal agendas aside and supporting each other’s issues. It is by installing and instilling a strong mutual support system that we will be able to build and strengthen the cohesive bond between us. That bond will be our most effective weapon in meeting the challenge of negotiations."

That November/December 1995 issue also instilled valuable "food for thought" for me: