Talk of CHAOS Gets Management Talking

 Negotiating Committee to Wolf and Gangwal: Pre-CHAOS Will Continue Until Flight Attendants Have a Contract of Choice

Obviously, these are some of the most difficult sections of our agreement which take care and attention to resolve. Many of the dramatic changes the company is asking for would be unacceptable to you. 

Our negotiating days have been somewhat limited in October due to AFA's annual Board of Directors' Meeting and the regularly scheduled MEC meeting, both of which were held in Los Angeles.

But thanks to your demonstrations of solidarity on September 27, the company has committed to a heavy negotiations schedule in November. We have set aside the first 19 days of the month for negotiations. By mutual agreement, these sessions will be held in Washington, D.C., but at a location away from AFA and US Airways' headquarters. This venue will be free from the distractions of being in either office, and should create a more productive environment for negotiations. 

If significant progress isn't made in the November talks, we will begin to pressure the National Mediation Board (NMB) to declare our negotiations at an impasse. The NMB will consider arguments from both sides as to whether an impasse exists, and then make a ruling. If an impasse is declared, then a 30-day cooling-off period would begin. If the NMB does not agree that an impasse exists, we will continue to press until we either have an agreement or we are released into a 30-day cooling off period.

If an agreement is not reached by the end of the 30-day countdown, both sides can legally engage in "self-help."  For us, that means CHAOSTM. But keep in mind, the entire process described here must occur before any CHAOS strike actions can take place.

A major holdup in our negotiations is the company's insistence that we accept a contract of "Parity Plus 1%." That means management wants us to take all flight attendant costs as a single figure (work rules, wages, benefits) and peg them at a level that is 1% higher than the average of a simulated "composite carrier". The "composite" the company is suggesting is made up of Delta, Northwest, United and American. 

The "composite carrier" is composed of an average of the flight attendant costs at these four airlines, weighted for the amount each of them competes with US Airways. This means they want your contract to be only 1% better than the average of all these airlines. And not just your pay rates, but your vacation accrual, pay, and bidding, your sick accrual and pay, your hours of service, your work rules. The list goes on and on. 

The biggest problem is that, in many areas, our contract is superior to the contracts of American, Northwest, and even United, and certainly to Delta's work rules (Delta is non-union and has no contract. Therefore, some work rules are very inferior to ours). 

Under the Company's current proposal, we would take cuts immediately in vacation, sick, scheduling, hours of service, training pay, and reserve, just to name a few. Later, we would conduct an annual review to check if we were at parity plus 1%. If we were not, then we would have to take further cuts to come down to parity plus 1%. If we were below parity plus 1%, then we would receive improvements in some area(s) to bring us back up.

Delta makes up the majority of the Composite Carrier. Since they have no contract, their work rules can be changed at the whim of management. Until they choose a union, think how disastrous it would be if we were to agree to the company's concept of Parity plus 1%. After we've made all our concessions, Delta suddenly decides to cut the pay or work rules of their flight attendants and the very next year the parity plus 1% concept would result in further cuts in our agreement. Overall operational parity plus 1% as the company is now proposing would have a devastating effect on our contract.

Your negotiating committee has steadfastly refused this concept. All the other labor groups at US Airways have parity plus 1% in some form. For most of them, it means an overall improvement. You can expect the company to turn up the pressure on us to accept it as well. The company has already started saying that there is no way it can make an agreement with us that doesn't contain this formula because "it wouldn't be fair to all the other groups." 
 

So, strengthen your resolve. You will need it when your coworkers in other labor groups start pressuring you to accept this concept. You will need it when your supervisor starts pressuring you to accept this concept. You will need it because the Company has made it clear they will not give you the Contract of Choice without a fight. A very hard fight that is going to take each and every one of us to win.

Your negotiating committee can't do it for you. Your LEC officers can't do it for you. Your friends can't do it for you. But if we all stand together, we can do it! We will fight and we will win! 

We started on September 27th. We spoke loudly and clearly. 1,000 days without a contract is too long. We deserve a Contract of Choice now, and we won't stop shouting until we get one.

Our Countdown to 1000 Days culminated with hundreds of members picketing across the system at airports, city ticket offices, and US Airways corporate buildings. 

Members donned their green CHAOS and yellow Contract of Choice T-shirts and marched in protest of our 1000 days in negotiations.

Thank you to all the members who took the time to participate and show US Airways management that we are serious about our futures. Management heard our voices. And as reported in the cover story, talks are heating up.
 

What's Next? 
A calendar of events is being developed that will strategically schedule activities to put pressure on management throughout the holiday season. Local leaders and Negotiations Support Committee Chairs will inform you of activities in your base or local areas.

Part of our negotiations support campaign will be advising travel agents in each of US Airways' major cities about the state of our negotiations and the possibility of CHAOS strike activities in the future. 

We will also begin regular leafleting at airports, requesting the names and contact information from US Airways frequent travelers, so that we can provide them with up-to-date negotiations information.

Starting in October, the video "How To Win A Strong Contract With CHAOS" will be distributed to volunteer flight attendants in each base. Each volunteer will conduct small informal meetings in their homes to discuss the CHAOS strategy. 

The video will then be passed on to another volunteer, who will hold her/his own meeting, and so on. That way, we'll quickly spread the word about how CHAOS is the most effective tool to achieve a Contract of Choice. If you would like to volunteer for this 'video tree', contact your local NSC Chairperson.

Your Local NSC will be conducting crew room sits during Halloween, explaining just how scary things can be for US Airways management. Your NSC will be there to advise you of any progress in negotiations and how CHAOS can and will work. 

US Airways is afraid of CHAOS. Management cannot prepare for it. This means you need to be prepared. Here's how:

Read everything from AFA that you see.
Don't believe rumors. If you aren't sure about something or if you hear a rumor, check your Negotiations Update, visit www.afausairways.org, call the Hotline, call your NSC, or contact your LEC for the facts.
Participate in pre-CHAOS activities: informational picketing, leafleting, rat patrols, informational meetings, rallies, Strike Fundraisers.

Currently, we are still in mediated negotiations. We have three weeks of intensive negotiations scheduled in November. If those talks prove to be fruitless, we will request that the National Mediation Board release us from negotiations. Once the NMB declares an impasse, it will begin the 30-day cooling-off period that is mandated by federal law before a strike can begin.

When the NMB declares that talks have reached an impasse, you will know. AFA will notify every single flight attendant, a number of different times and ways. If we complete the countdown without reaching an agreement, and CHAOS begins, there will be no way you could board a struck flight and not know that flight was being targeted for a CHAOS strike action.

During the 30-day countdown, the Negotiating Committee will meet with management in contract talks dubbed "super mediation." If no agreement is reached by the end of the 30-day period, both sides can initiate "self help." For flight attendants, that means CHAOS.

The job action CHAOS may take many forms and can only begin after a 30-day cooling-off period has ended with no contract agreement. CHAOS could mean:

• That a single flight may be struck;
• The entire system may strike a particular day or days;
• A base city may strike on a particular day or days;
• Metrojet flights may be struck;
• International flights may be struck;
• Shuttle flights may be struck;
• Any combination of the above, or an all-out walkout on the same day.

As you can see, CHAOS is impossible for management to prepare for, which gives flight attendants the most leverage at the bargaining table. Another important advantage to CHAOS is that it enables flight attendants to continue working (and drawing a paycheck), while the media attention given to CHAOS strike activities turns passengers away who don't want to risk getting stranded.

Absolutely. Not only did AFA successfully defend CHAOS in court when it was challenged in 1993 by Alaska Airlines management, but the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled in a number of different cases that the Railway Labor Act does not prohibit any form of "self help." 

Despite management's claims (prayers) to the contrary, CHAOS is creative, and it is a legal form of "self help."

To scare you. As we get closer to the time when CHAOS begins, management will take their scare tactics one step further. US Airways may threaten to fire every flight attendant who participates in CHAOS.

But it is illegal for management to fire you for participating in a legal strike action. That goes for new hires, too. So, if management breaks the law and fires someone for engaging in a legal CHAOS action, AFA will win your job back.
 

What can I do?
Volunteers are needed in each base to participate in pre-CHAOS activities. NSC members will be situated in each crew room over the next several months to advise you how you can help. 

As we approached our 1000th Day without a new contract, your AFA Negotiating Committee and MEC asked you to demonstrate your support and solidarity in many ways. By staying current on the situation. By reading newsletters. Calling the Hotline. Monitoring the Website. Attending meetings. Volunteering for picketing and other activities. Wearing your ribbon and pin at all times while in view of passengers and management. 

You stepped up to the challenge. Management heard you and saw your solidarity. But we still have a long way to go. And one of the next major hurdles we must leap is a strike vote. Without a strong strike vote, all of our talk of CHAOS will lose its air. A strong strike vote will give our CHAOS talk the legitimacy we need to pressure management to negotiate and give us a Contract of Choice. 

A strong strike vote will show management that we mean business. Management must KNOW that the only alternative to giving us the Contract of Choice is to deal with a flight attendant strike and CHAOS. The National Mediation Board must know that the US Airways flight attendants are strong and unified in our goal to win a Contract of Choice, or it will never release us into a 30-day countdown.

A low or failed strike vote will have a severely negative effect. If less than an overwhelming percentage vote to go on strike, management will know that the alternative to giving us a Contract of Choice is giving us the contract of their choice. 

A low strike vote is good news for the company. And the National Mediation Board will read a low strike vote as a sign of weakness.

The decision to ballot our members with a strike vote is outlined in the AFA Constitution and Bylaws. It is mandatory that a majority of the MEC, with the advice of the International President, approve the ballot. 

The timing of the strike vote is a strategic decision. The MEC and the Negotiating Committee want to use this vote for maximum leverage. We will let you know as soon as this important decision has been made.

In the meantime, the Wilson Center for Public Research, a professional opinion research firm, will be conducting another poll of the US Airways flight attendants. This poll will include questions about the strike vote. If you are called, please participate. We want to know your thoughts on this pivotal topic.
 

When we take the strike ballot, does it mean we are going on strike?

In any event, prior to a strike, the NMB must decide an impasse exists. This has not happened yet. It is only when the NMB releases us that we can begin a 30-day cooling-off period. No strike can take place until the end of the 30-day cooling-off period. In the meantime, the best way to avoid a strike at the end of the process is to be prepared for a strike. And that includes a strong strike vote from the membership.

What you can be sure of is that your leadership will use the authorization you gave us with the utmost prudence and your best interests in mind. 

A new negotiations telephone survey will be conducted in the coming weeks. The poll is necessary to ensure that the Negotiating Committee is fighting for what you want and to measure the level of support for a strike, should one become necessary.

If you are called, please participate.