AFA Update 7/23/10 Fellow Flight Attendants- This week we have several positive items to share!  We were able to come to an interim agreement with management, we conducted our first union meetings, and we are making great progress on our membership drive. Many of you were not able to make the membership meetings and asked for details of what was discussed, and although these will not be the official meeting minutes, this communication will bring you all up to speed on the important items.  THANK YOU to those members who were able to take the time to attend a meeting, keeping yourself informed, and sharing your thoughts with us.  We look  forward to seeing all members at future meetings. Membership Drive:  When the meetings were held in MKE and DEN, we were at 40% membership.  With the applications we have received and mailed in since then, we are at approximately 42% !  What a difference just a couple days can make!  Remember--you do not pay dues or initiation fees until we have ratified a contract.  The benefits of becoming a member are:  you can run for office and be on committees; attend membership meetings; vote for local officers, vote on our contract, and have a voice in changes in the AFA-CWA Constitution & Bylaws; participate in the negotiations survey about what is important for you in our contract; take advantage of all union member discounts and privileges (more info on www.afanet.org).  If you need an application, you can print one out by clicking here. Election of Officers:  As previously mentioned, we will be able to hold elections only after we reach a majority of members for our group.  There is a nomination process, and members having at least two nominations and have agreed to a commitment to serve will be on the ballot.  More instructions will be provided when the process begins, and you can also find the information at: http://www.afanet.org/cb/default.asp?id=41 Contract Survey:  We will be sending out a survey to members to find out what kinds of things you would like addressed in our contract.  To help us determine what questions are important to our members to have in our survey, we'd like to hear from you.  Please send an email to FrontierAFA@gmail.com.  We'll take suggestions from all flight attendants, however, only members will be able to participate in the actual survey. Interim Agreement:  An interim agreement with management has been reached!  The items in this agreement include the following:      1- The Company will continue to publish the seniority list on myfrontier.org    2- We will be able to post official union notices on bulletin boards in each domicile, including information regarding meetings, elections, and other internal AFA-CWA matters.    3- The MEC President or his/her designee may talk to new hire classes for no less than one hour during the first week of training to convey information about the union and it's role in dealing with the company on behalf of the flight attendants.    4- AFA-CWA may designate the following committees to meet with company representatives at mutually agreed upon times: Hotel Committee, Safety Committee, Scheduling Committee, and Uniform Committee.    5- Flight attendants may wear the official AFA-CWA pin.    6- A process for handling Trip Drops and Flight Pay Loss for official union business, such as negotiations and the AFA-CWA Board of Directors meeting.    7- A flight attendant may be accompanied by a fellow flight attendant in any disciplinary hearing. We believe this agreement is a great step forward in creating a mutually respectful and productive relationship between our union and management.  We are very happy with the company's immediate recognition of certain committees.  As soon as elections are concluded, we can post for applications for members who wish to be on a committee.  We hope all flight attendants recognize the immediate need for these committees and will assist us in reaching our membership goal so we can all move forward.   Changes:  If you have read your company email, you may remember there has been a change to our appeal/mediation process to what is called the "Associate Appeals Process" (AAP).  This change was not anything we agreed to. The decision to change this process was made long before the union vote. This is a change made by RJET to all groups without a Collective Bargaining Agreement (contract).  This process was already in place on the Republic side, and they made the decision to incorporate this process on the Frontier side to put all RJET employees without a contract on the same page.  Management has allowed any appeals that started before the company-wide implementation of the AAP (6/29/10) to continue under our previous rules.  Please familiarize yourself with this new process and let us know if you need any help with an appeal.  A copy of the procedure is found on this website, click on Associate Appeals Process link to the left. As a reminder, the appeal process is the only change management has communicated to the flight attendants.  There have been reports of flight attendants being told by other people that the handbook and the rules spelled out in it do not exist.  This is NOT something that has been communicated by management.  Please be responsible in knowing our work rules as spelled out in the handbook, as well as the FARs.  Also, please remember that almost the entire scheduling department is new, not just to the company but to the airline industry.  We understand that it is frustrating to bear the brunt of these growing pains, but try to be  patient and polite when you may disagree with scheduling.  If it's something that you feel is not handled correctly and needs further attention, please let us know so we can assist you in communicating the problem to management.  Let's lead by example while trying to rebuild a strong, respectful, and efficient working relationship with our crew scheduling department. In Summary:  It's been two months since the majority of our flight attendants voted in AFA-CWA as our union.  Although there were differing opinions during the campaign, it is time for us to move forward as a unified group.  We look forward to having the passion and commitment of all of our wonderful flight attendants becoming a strong voice in the future of our airline.  We need your support in creating a relationship with our new management that involves positivity, respect, professionalism, and communication.   Let's work together to minimize the growing pains as well as coming up with solutions, not just pointing out the problems.   If you have any ideas or suggestions, or issues you need help with, your officers are here to help you.  There have been many ideas that have been sent to us that we are currently working on, including making our website secure and interactive, setting up a reserve committee, and additional ways to communicate with our flight attendants.   Please help educate each other.  Do this by directing our flight attendants to this website (www.afafrontier.org). For any questions about AFA-CWA International, go to  www.afanet.org.  Our facebook group is AFA at F9.  Forward the elines to someone who hasn't received it, or print one or two out to share with others.  WE are the union. It is only as strong as WE make it. Thank you for your continued support- In Solidarity- Erika Schweitzer LEC/MEC Transitional President Erika_s23@hotmail.com 303-941-6065 Kim Mayne-Sasser LEC/MEC Transitional Secretary-Treasurer Smpac53@msn.com 303-475-7827