TEAMSTERS FOR NORTH AMERICAN F/As

Update

NEGOTIATIONS

Progress in negotiations has been slow, although there has been some recent movement during the meeting on July 24-26.

The next set of meetings were originally scheduled for August 27-29, but the Company has a last-minute conflict with those dates.  Your Negotiations Committee will be using those dates to work on more proposals.

MEMBERSHIP MEETING

IBT Local 210 will hold a membership meeting on August 28, 2008 at JFK.  We will mail and email specific times and location  shortly.  We have tentatively scheduled 2 meeting for 11 AM and 1 PM in an effort to accommodate different schedules.

CONTACT INFORMATION

As new Flight Attendants are hired and other Flight Attendants resign, it is important to you keep you contact information updated with your Stewards and Local 210.  If you were recently hired or have moved since you last provided you mailing information, please send your updated mail and e-mail information ot
local210@earthlink.net

IMPORTANT SCHEDULING INFORMATION - FARs

Until 1994, there were NO federally-mandated duty time or rest restrictions for Flight Attendants.  Unless the carrier was unionized and succeeded in negotiating reasonable duty time and rest provisions, F/As could be kept on duty indefinitely and provided with minimal rest.  24 hour duty periods were common.   It took over 20 year of lobbying by various Flight Attendant Unions to convince the government to enact minimal duty time and rest rules.  The result was 14 CFR Part 121.467.  The full text of those rules are here. http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=070f945dc7b9a1f959dd2bcbb1845318&rgn=div5&view=text&node=14:2.0.1.4.19&idno=14#14:2.0.1.4.19.16.10.4

These provisions are mandated by LAW and CANNOT be waived by the Company or the F/A.

One of these provisions is a requirement that each F/A be given 24 hours off, FREE FROM ALL DUTY, in a 7 day period.  A 2005 interpretation of this provision by the FAA further requires that this provision be applied to F/As who are assigned to a trip after sitting Reserve, since a F/A who is sitting Reserve isn't really "free from all duty".  We posted an outline of this provision in April, but because NA has not applied this ruling until quite recently, we are posting an outline of the ruling again.

• Reserve doesn’t qualify as “duty” time.   
  
• Reserve doesn’t qualify as “rest” either.   
  
• If you have been sitting Reserve for 6 consecutive days, you are not legal to fly on the 7 th day because you have not been free from all duty. You must have 24 hours off before you can take a flight assignment.   
  
• 24 - in-7 is calculated on the basis of 7 “calendar” days.
• A “calendar”  day is midnight to midnight.
• That  means Scheduling must look BACK at seven (7) calendar days from midnight of the day of the proposed flight assignment to see if you have had 24 hour off during that period.
  
• You must receive notice of the 24-hour rest period in ADVANCE. For example, your pairing must indicate that you are to have 24 hours of rest, or Scheduling must tell you that you are released for the next 24 hours. Scheduling can't claim that you have had  your 24 hours off because they didn't use  you the day before.

The full FAA decision is somewhat lengthy, so we strongly recommend that you read the full FAA document by downloading it at:

www.faa.gov/safety/programs_initiatives/aircraft_aviation/cabin_safety/regs/legal/media/
24in7edwardscallisonfinal.DOC

 If you do NOT receive 24 hours off in 7 days before a flight and after sitting  reserve, please contact one of your Union Stewards immediately.  Remember, this is a LAW and the Company is in violation of FEDERAL LAW if you do not receive 24 hours off in a 7 day period before a flight assignment.

SURVEYS/ NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

we have been pleased with the response to the Contract Survey that was mailed this Summer.  Your input has been extremely useful in determining the direction we should take.  If you haven't yet returned your survey, please do so.  If you haven't received a survey, it is because we do not have your mailing address.  To obtain a survey, contact one of you Stewards, Hector Matias, Judi Harwood or Kathy Riedman.

Negotiations will resume Oct. 24, 25, 26.  We have discussed a number of different areas and feel that we have made some progress.  Nonetheless, the process takes time and we want to take as much time as is required to get the best contract possible.

SURVEY ENVELOPES

We recently mailed a survey to all North American Flight Attendants for whom we have an address.  Unfortunately, return envelopes were not included with the survey.  You should be receiving a second mailing shortly with a return envelope for the survey.  Our apologies for the oversight.

NEGOTIATONS/ CONTRACT SURVEY

Negotiations resumed on Wednesday, June 13 and will continue through June 15.

In light of the large number of Flight Attendants who have joined North American since this process began, the contract survey has been revamped and has been mailed to those for whom we have mailing addresses. Please look for your copy of the survey in the next week. If you do not receive the survey it is undoubtedly because we do not have your current mailing address. If you have not provided your mailing address to one of your Stewards, please send your mailing information to your Chief Steward, Hector Matias at braceheadsdown@earthlink.net

FLIGHT ATTENDANT FATIGUE SURVEY

 

Flight Attendant unions have struggled for decades to have meaningful legislation enacted to limit the number of hours that a Flight Attendant can be required to remain on duty as well as ensuring that they will receive adequate rest during a trip.  It wasn't until the early '90s that there was ANY restriction on the number of hours that an airline could keep the cabin crew on duty, and even those restrictions are minimal at best.

In an ongoing effort to improve the lives of Flight Attendants, Flight Attendant unions are collecting real life examples of the unreasonable and unsafe working conditions that F/As are subjected to as a way to getting the attention and understanding of Congressional leaders. If you have an example of how the Company's application of the current work rules and/or led to actual duty and/or "off duty/rest period" that left your entire crew knee-walking, or a back-to-back trips left you with unreasonably short sleep, please email your story to braceheadsdown@earthlink.net.

 

WORLD AIR HOLDINGS ACQUIRED BY GLOBAL AERO

Late Thursday afternoon, World Air Holdings, Inc. announced that it had been purchased by Global Aero Logistics, Inc. the parent company of ATA.  While the sale is pending both regulatory approval and approval by the shareholders, little information is available regarding plans for the actual operation of the 3 carriers.

Attorneys for Local 210 are reviewing the details of the sale and its possible ramifications for our members, and we will provide any relevant information as it becomes available.  In conversations yesterday with your Business Agent, representatives of both World and North American stated that it is the intent of Global Aero to operate the 3 carriers as separately held entities which is good news for our members.

World will convene a "Town Hall" meeting for its Peachtree City, Georgia  employee on Friday, April 6.  If any additional detail is provided at that meeting, we will post it here immediately.

You will find the full text of the yesterday's press release here: http://worldairholdings.com/news/20070405.php

RESERVE/ 24-in-7

One issue that has recently generated a number of question is the issue of 24-in-7 as it applies to reserves. On April 25, 2005,  Mr. James W. Edwards, Principal Operating Inspector of the Denver Certificate Management Field Office of the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ruling regarding how the 24-in-7 rule is to be applied to those F/As who are required to “sit reserve”. While the FAA ruling was published 2 years ago and the guidelines have been well publicized, there is still some misunderstanding concerning its application, so we will try to shed some light on the issue. 

Here is the “Readers’ Digest” version: 

• Reserve doesn’t qualify as “duty” time.
      
• Reserve doesn’t qualify as “rest” either.
      
• If you have been sitting Reserve for 7 consecutive days, you are not legal to fly on the 8^th day. You must have 24 hours off before you can take a flight assignment.
      
• 24 - in-7 is calculated on the basis of 7 “calendar” days.
  
  
• A “calendar”  day is midnight to midnight.
  
  
• That  means Scheduling must look BACK at seven (7) calendar days from midnight of the 7^th day to see if you have had 24 hour off during that period.
  
  
• You must receive notice of the 24-hour rest period in ADVANCE. For example, your pairing must indicate that you are to have 24 hours of rest, or Scheduling must tell you that you are released for the next 24 hours.   

The full FAA decision is somewhat lengthy, so we strongly recommend that you read the full FAA document by downloading it at: www.faa.gov/safety/programs_initiatives/aircraft_aviation/cabin_safety/regs/legal/media/
24in7edwardscallisonfinal.DOC

 If you do NOT receive 24 hours off before a flight and after sitting 7 days of reserve, please contact one of your Union Stewards immediately.

 

 

 

 

NEGOTIATIONS/ 24 IN 7

Your Negotiating Committee and Business Agent met with the Company again on Wednesday, March 7, through Friday, March 9.  As with the last session, the discussions involved various general issues that are vital to the negotiation of a good contract.  We are scheduled to resume discussion s April 11-13.

In the meantime, a few of you have asked how the Committee Members get the time off to attend negotiations.  The answer is that they must bid around the negotiating sessions.  If they are unable to successfully bid for the time off, they may request to be removed from schedule, resulting in a reduction of flight hours and pay, and try to make up the time/pay elsewhere in the month.

24 IN 7

We have been getting inquiries about the application of "24 in 7" to Reserves.  We will be posting an explanation, including examples, on Wednesday.  Please check back Wednesday evening.

NEW STEWARD/ NEGOTIATIONS

NEW STEWARD 

It is with regret that we announce that your Union Steward, Jose Cuevas, has left North American to pursue other interests. This requires that we fill his vacancy as Steward and also as a Negotiating committee member. 

His position will be filled by the Alternate/fourth place winner in the Steward election, Kathy Riedman. Should additional vacancies occur during the term of office of the current Stewards, the Alternate position will have been exhausted and a new election will be held. We are sure that you will benefit from the enormous amount of enthusiasm and commitment that she brings to the position. 

CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS 

On February 1 and 2, your Flight Attendant Negotiating committee and the IBT Local 210 Business Agent met with representatives of North American to discuss the negotiating process and protocol required for negotiations. 

Hector Matias, Judi Harwood and Kathy Riedman represented the North American Flight Attendant group. The company was represented by Lana Ervin-Belasco, Maria Perry, Rafi Rocamora, Paul Sterbenz, and their attorney, Ellen from the firm of Ford & Harrison. 

The next round of negotiations is scheduled for March 7-9. 

REVISED CONTRACT SURVEY 

With the addition of Kathy Riedman, the Stewards feel that it is advisable to send a revised version of the survey. That survey should be available by mid-March. We have again asked North American for a mailing list for Flight Attendants in order to mail information directly to your homes, and North American has, again, declined to provide us with that list.  If you have not yet sent your mailing address to Local 210 or given it to one of your Stewards, please do so as soon as possible so that we can provide you with a copy of the survey for your input.  Please email your information to:

braceheadsdown@earthlink.net

or mail to:

North American Flight Attendant
IBT Local 210
110 Wall Street - 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10005
local210@bigfoot.com