' Twas the night before Christmas......

and the AFA Grinches are already at work!

The flight attendants have endured an abrasive and intense December bid month: the first Christmas holiday with the new PBS system, then "awarded bids" were retracted and now the AFA folks want to take advantage of the membership's dues money and even violate seniority issues for their own selfish benefit.

Now how is that, for a union working for YOU???

What better way to ensure the holiday off, than to "charge" the day to "union business"? YOUR DUES AT WORK!

Seems there is an abundance of important "union business" from December 22-26, 2008.

Local 97, SFO.....Seems the only AFA staffer who has a "UB" on their line is none other than former NWA AFA Vice President, Albert Garcia. SFO's own elected LEC officers have not taken advantage of holding the Christmas holiday off by "charging" the union, but Grinch Garcia, a committee chair has certainly taken advantage. Albert Garcia, with a system seniority date of 5462 probably would NOT have held the Christmas holiday off, but of course, as Chair of Government Affairs, he has important government affairs in Washington during the Congressional break . Yeah, right!

Local 98, LAX....Seems they too have a Grinch who stole Christmas! Local President Les Meeks has assigned himself "important" union business from December 22-26, 2008. And no doubt about it, in Los Angeles with a seniority number of 4175, Grinch Meeks probably would not have held those Christmas holidays off. Plan on working in the AFA office during those 5 days during Christmas??? NOT!

Local 94, DTW....Seems the Grinch has found his way to the motor city, as well!! President Diana Mitchum has charged a single "UB" on December 26, 2008 and Vice President John O'Donnell has important union business from December 13-30, 2008. In fairness, both were senior enough to have held the day off but why charge the day to your members? Golly, with all that important business during the holidays, if you need a DTW union rep, someone should be available to answer the phone in the DTW office on Christmas Day! Yeah, right!

Local 92, BOS......This is a curious case of necessity. Boston is the smallest base with 286 members and a big spender President, Robert Cannatelli. Seems with a base the size of Boston, what possibly could warrant the LEC President to "UB" December 1-21, 2008 and then "BD" the rest of the month of December??? "BD" signifies "Blocked days", think Grinch Cannatelli will be flying over Christmas?? This is one base to watch for: going "way over budget".......... a plump turkey, with your dues money. Gobble Gobble

And for all the remaining Locals.....Do NOT be surprised to find the Grinch has put 2 lumps of coal in your stocking, too!!

It now seems to be accepted practice for many of the AFA officials to "bid" a regular line and be awarded that line [when in fact they had no intention of flying any of the line!] so it will appear that they are flying a full line and then later they "FPL" each of the trips! That's right. "Flight pay loss" every trip they were awarded.....that is your dues money paying for their "FPL". Some AFA officials drop upwards of 110 hours to "FPL" each and every month, on your dime!

And these same Locals wonder why they are consistently over budget ..... reMEMber, ring a bell?

This practice should be stopped! Awarding trips to union officials who have no intention of flying (and intend to FPL the month, anyway) takes away trips from the pool which could be awarded to potential schedule holders, now forced to "reserve"!

NOTE: For all of those honest and hard working union officials who are working within a flawed system, this is not meant for you. "FPL" is a useful and effective tool taking care of union business however, it clearly allows for abuses and each LEC/MEC official should be held accountable!! If you are NOT doing union business on Christmas you should NOT be using "union business" on that day. Period.

Don't be surprised to see a schedule awarded to an AFA official and they never show up for a single trip! Unless, of course, Northwest offers a "summer reliability" bonus, then LEC Presidents are clammering to fly to be included in the bonus payment......

(A "bonus" payment of your dues money, which Mark Gehrt authorized, was just paid to AFA leaders who "could not fly" this summer during the Northwest Reliability Bonus....Who is Gehrt to authorize such payment? Is that not a decision that the entire MEC should approve???)

Be certain to ask your elected Local officers......How much "FPL" and when they took each loss. It is your money and you MUST demand they are accountable!


On the Master Executive Level, the membership might expect the MEC officers, Kevin Griffin, Janette Rook and Mark Gehrt to "UB" the entire month, as the AFA Constitution dictates. However, there are multiple other "unelected" AFA officials who appear to have hijacked the system and are certain to be home for the holidays (with an entire month of pay)!

Bet these unelected AFA folks won't be flying on Christmas Day.......

Neal McMahon (website guy) His schedule: Dec 1-21 of "UB" and Dec 22-30 "BD"

Greg Riffle (contract admin) His schedule: Dec 1-21 of "UB" and Dec 22-30 "BD"

Maureen Reiley (Delta organizer aka "Mollie Reiley") Dec 1-20 of "UB" and Dec 21-30 "BD"

Danny Campbell (Delta organizer aka "I am paid by CWA, not the members") Dec 1-20 of "UB" and Dec 21-30 "BD"

Jarrod Anderson (IMPACT) Dec 1-21 of "UB" and Dec 22-30 "BD"

Angela Wood (IMPACT) Dec 1-21 of "UB" and Dec 22-30 "BD"

And what is the significance of "BD"- Blocked Days? It appears it is a scheduling indicator blocking a flight attendant from actually flying. No extra days added onto a trip, "forced to fly" or holiday trick scheduling "gotcha'" phone calls for these folks. The "full time" union officials are credited 92 hours per month, which translates into a scheduling code of "union business" credited at 4:15 per day for 21 days, the remaining days of the month are then deemed "BD".

To all the flight attendants who "had" to fly this Christmas: keep your union officials honest and ask them if they actually worked a flight or took a "FPL" for "union business" on the holiday.

And most importantly: BE SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL!!

Watch out for those AFA Grinches!