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December 8, 2006 Paulette L. Corbin Senior Vice President - Inflight Service Dear Paulette: We are responding to your anti-union campaign message entitled "Your Voice" sent to us on December 7th. Presumably, your defensive communication was in response to the recent communication by NWA flight attendant, Danny Campbell - where he clearly illustrated the importance of union contract protections in a merger or acquisition. You completely failed to address the importance of Labor Protective Provisions - choosing instead to continue to mislead Delta flight attendants about the American/TWA merger. As Mr. Campbell pointed out, the TWA flight attendants simply did not have the same contractual protections Campbell referenced from the NWA flight attendants' contract. The outcome in the AA-TWA merger had nothing to do with the fact that both groups had a union. Rather, the specific language in the TWA contract did not support their seniority rights. In no way did the IAM, the union that represented the TWA flight attendants at the time of the merger, agree to staple the TWA flight attendants to the bottom of the list. In fact, the IAM sued APFA (the American flight attendants' union) for taking this position. The real problem was that management at American Airlines, which was the acquiring carrier, conditioned its agreement to buy TWA upon the unions giving up the merger protection provisions of their contract. So, all the platitudes from TWA management about protecting their employees went out the window. Those same promises are what you are offering today, when you know you cannot control what management at the acquiring carrier might do absent a binding commitment in a legal contract. Again, AFA-CWA was not the Union representing either flight attendant group in the American/TWA merger and therefore those flight attendants were not afforded the protection of the AFA-CWA Constitution and Bylaws which ensures each flight attendants' date of hire seniority. Why have you deliberately failed (for a second time now) to point out this important fact? You state "...union organizers have begun the ugly business of manipulating your concerns for their own benefit. Instead of focusing on keeping you informed, the organizers are focused on exploiting your fears." Let's look at who is manipulating whom here. There is no personal "benefit" for the staff and volunteer organizers in AFA-CWA. Airlines executives often make millions no matter how well they perform (eg., even in bankruptcy); some executive's jobs depend on their ability to keep a union from organizing a company's workers. You have every incentive to manipulate flight attendant concerns. By contrast, there is no economic gain in the hard work union activists do, just a commitment to use our shared experience for our mutual protection. It is not fear that is being exploited, except with misleading information like your letters. Again the contrast is clear: the union is promoting a campaign of education and facts; the company is dealing in fear tactics. The fact is that only a Union voice and a Union contract will guarantee seniority protections for Delta flight attendants. While your letter does acknowledge just how important it is for our seniority rights to be protected, you then start dancing: 'Seniority is important, but you don't need a union to help. It's important, but let Delta management take care of it. Trust us. Seniority is important, but let's just wait and see.' And, "I want to personally assure you that I, and the rest of your Delta leaders including the Executive Council, are strongly committed to protecting our own employees' seniority." We all agree on one thing: seniority is important. But all you can offer us, is this: " ...Delta would never agree to any merger, acquisition or similar transaction that did not provide for the fair and equitable integration of seniority lists for our employees." Sounds good, especially to those of us who are worried about what might happen to our seniority if there's a merger. But your letter isn't worth the paper it's written on, and you know it. If Delta executives were genuinely interested in protecting us, you would agree to the only thing that can protect our seniority: a legally binding union contract. But, it appears you have no interest in that kind of real solution and instead are working hard to prevent us from organizing to protect ourselves. Let's face it: you want to talk about seniority protection, but you're not willing to do anything about it. Talk is cheap. If you're not going to give us any legally binding protection, then you should stop talking about it. AFA contracts, and AFA's Constitution and Bylaws protect flight attendant seniority. It's that simple. You can dance around the issue but you can't do anything about it. The company's empty promises mean nothing. Only a union contract can provide real, legally binding protection. Sincerely, DELTA FLIGHT ATTENDANTS /s /s /s /s /s /s /s /s /s /s /s /s /s /s |
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# |