|
CONTACT US |
January 30, 2007
Paulette L. Corbin Dear Paulette: On behalf of a growing number of concerned Delta flight attendants, yet again, we write to rectify misinformation distributed by Delta Air Lines management and ask that you refrain from your continuing campaign to undermine Delta employees. Presumably you have already received the January 29th correspondence from AFA-CWA Assistant General Counsel Ed Gilmartin, wherein he corrects your false statements under the title "Let's Stick to the Facts" concerning job and security protections in a merger. The "facts", it seems, appear quite different at the desks of Delta management than they do for the front-line Delta Air Lines employees whose pay, benefits and working conditions have been decimated and who now face the possible loss of our seniority and jobs. This is the simple truth. It is no surprise that management executives view things differently than front-line workers: Upton Sinclair once stated, "You can't make someone understand something if their salary depends on them not understanding it." While we understand that current Delta managers take pride in their ability to 'bust unions', it is distressing that, given the need for vigilant attention to the safety of our passengers and security of our carriers in the current airline climate, you choose to divide and incite workers. This time, let's put all of the anti-union trump cards on the table so that later, we won't have to endure a lengthy debate to set the record straight. Here are the top four false statements you have used in the past to obstruct flight attendants' efforts to form a union:
First of all, AFA-CWA is comprised entirely of 'flight attendants' - not 'outsiders' - just flight attendants. By joining AFA-CWA, flight attendants gain an equal voice in making important decisions that impact our jobs and our families. By forming a union, we take a seat at the table, like adults, rather than meekly accepting what others decide to serve us from the table. Anti-unionism stems from nothing more than a misguided fear of employee involvement in determining their own wages, benefits and working conditions. We would like for all of Delta management to understand the dynamic benefits that can be realized when hard-working flight attendants-the people who deliver the service our airline provides-have a say in how we carry out our jobs. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA is a highly respected voice in our profession. If you view AFA-CWA as a 'third party', then do you view Delta flight attendants as a 'secondary party'? We simply want to be in a partnership with management in making the decisions that impact us-a healthy partnership built on mutual respect. Secondly, AFA-CWA is a non-profit organization. Flight attendant leaders at all local councils in AFA-CWA earn no more than their flying partners, so there is no individual economic incentive for the work they perform-just a desire for greater equity for all flight attendants. AFA-CWA relies on the activism of its members and leaders--work that is motivated by the advancement of the flight attendant profession, not money. Can Delta management say the same of their motives in trying to stop us from joining AFA-CWA? When a union negotiates higher pay for workers, there's less money for executive salaries and bonuses. If Delta succeeds in keeping its flight attendants from organizing, certainly there will be a hefty bonus for the managers credited with busting the union. These are the simple facts. Thirdly, your recent communication attempts to pit us against the flight attendants at US Airways/America West over our seniority concerns. This is no time to employ the divide and conquer tactics used by many labor relations advisors during past airline mergers. We will not allow that to play out at Delta. AFA-CWA has a fair and equitable merger policy designed to avoid the sort of internal fighting that your statements seek to create. Finally, we would like to learn to trust Delta management so let us begin with a respectful request for a copy of Delta's current flight attendant seniority list. You claim that Delta flight attendants enjoy all the same rights and benefits as our peers with a union contract; therefore, you should have no problem disclosing this list to us so that we can know how many flight attendants are within our ranks and verify the accuracy of our placement on the seniority list. Flight attendants with a union voice have access to their seniority lists, enabling them to verify proper processing of leaves, furloughs and seniority placement. We would like the same. To be clear, we are not requesting contact information--just a list of current FA employees, their status (leaves, retirements, IVF, VLT5, etc.). Please let us know if we can expect a prompt response to this request. Sincerely,
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO
501 Third Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 202-434-1300 Delta AFA Hotline: 1-800 424-2401, press 1, then 720# |