NMB makes ruling
December 3, 2009 — A message from Tim Nelson
Dear Crewmember,
Yesterday, December 2, the National Mediation Board [NMB] ruled to dismiss your petition for an election, based on coming up a few cards short.
That said, the dismissal will be the start of a new campaign. We want to be prepared to file a new petition and commence a new card drive immediately.
Also, the NMB’s newly proposed representation rule making is significant and may change the environment for future elections.
As an aside, the reason for the lengthy delay in this decision was because the Machinists Union was fighting on your behalf against your company’s inclusion of a number of children that your company stacked on the eligibility list. Your company’s position was bizarre, and the Machinists Union was successful in thwarting your company’s argument. As a result of the Machinist’s Union argument, the NMB ruled against your company and determined that the ATL Tranland workers could not be a part of this group. This is a significant ruling, one that we decided to fight for now, so it won’t be an obstacle in your future representational election.
As the new campaign starts, it will not end until we can secure your representation rights, and bring you into the Machinists Union.
Onward!
Tim
NMB still pending
October 29, 2009 — The National Mediation Board has not yet ruled on your petition for representation.
Your company is still fighting to include children from ATL Tranland on the final eligibility list. The Machinists Union has fought this aggressively since we believe the inclusion of these children will compromise the integrity of the eligibility roster. While the NMB has not ruled on this matter yet, the Machinists position is that they are not part of the 2,800 Fleet and Passenger Service group.
I realize there has been an extensive delay in the NMB determining if the Crewmembers have signed enough cards or not but we must stay professional and not allow AirTran management to taint the list with children.
At any rate, the Machinists union continues to support the crewmembers, not only in the legal battles, but also by visiting stations and providing updates on our message board, www.airtrancrewmember.net.
We will be in ATL this week, and we continue to build some of the outlying stations. My cell is 224-234-5414 if you need to directly contact me specifically regarding your station, or for general discussion.
Onward!
Tim
Director of Organizing, DL141, Machinists Union
Crew Members filed, June 26
AirTran crew member cards were filed in Washington, D.C. at the NMB (National Mediation Board) on Friday, June 26, 2009. It's the first step to changing an oppressive AirTran into “Fair”Tran for Crew Members.
The process is long, and it may be difficult. I anticipate the AirTran CrewMember ballots to be counted by late August.
AirTran CrewMembers can follow the AirTran crew member campaign here. Blog other AirTran CrewMembers on the AirTran CrewMember blog, which is the same web address except “.net”. That's airtrancrewmember.net. I’d encourage all AirTran Crew Members you to add encouraging comments to the AirTran crew member message board. Together, we can get it done!
‘Show me the money’
AirTran and Southwest have been the industry’s most profitable carriers. AirTran’s Bob Fornaro, meanwhile, has not been sharing the wealth. His non-union crew members remain among the lowest paid in the industry.
The lowest?
That memo hasn’t reached AirTran’s CEO, who claims, “The pay plan for 2009 keeps AirTran Agent pay competitive with the other airlines.”
Competitive, Bob? Here’s the real score:
Industry standard pay — customer service and reservations
| Airline |
Current Top Wage | Union | Future Wages Negotiated In Contract? |
| Southwest | $25.08 | IAM | $26.61 in new tentative agreement |
| United | $21.40 | IAM | currently in negotiations |
| Continental | $21.00 | none | none |
| US Airways | $19.16 | CWA | $21.14 |
| Alaska | $21.32 | IAM | currently in negotiations |
| Airtran Customer Service | $18.40 | none | no union, industry bottom wages, high health cost |
| Airtran Reservations | $17.15 | none | no union, industry bottom wages, high health cost |
So what about Bob’s pay?
Well, that’s why Bob’s smiling
While Bob is raising crewmember medical cost and giving you only a ten cent raise, he has actually done quite well for himself.
Bob protects himself with a contract at AirTran. He even had a termination clause in his contract, worth $4,020,378.00. That’s just in case Airtran terminated him [sec filing on 4-1-8, pg 47]. Got that? — 4 Million Dollars (and a little change). Bob enjoyed his total compensation over the past 3 years. It’s easy when you’re averaging $1.913 million a year. Bob’s salary even beat the CEO salaries of Continental and Southwest last year. His salary clobbers those of CEO’s at smaller airlines like Alaska and Frontier.
So why doesn’t Bob want CrewMembers to have a contract? The Annual report [page 9] tells stockholders, “The election of a bargaining representative could result in employee compensation and / or working conditions that could impact operating performance and expenses.”
Bob would rather give crumbs to crewmembers
Maybe another nickel or another dime increase would keep you on the bottom, while he pockets millions.
For CrewMembers, the path to respect starts with taking care of yourselves. For CrewMembers, the path starts by standing together against corporate greed. It starts with empowering crew members with a voice at the bargaining table. Join our professional organization of 100,000 airline workers.
Here’s something that didn’t make Bob smile
You signed your IAM card. Got other CrewMembers to sign. Joined our organizing committee, and invited crew members to visit our web site.