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MEC Officer Letter: We Know When It's Time to Fight

November 16, 2004

Ladies and Gentlemen:

United Airlines management has decided to embark upon a ruthless and obscene attack on Flight Attendants. Yet again we find ourselves, our work rules, benefits, wages and our Contract directly in the path of management's methodical and relentless destruction of our careers and profession. The defense of our Collective Bargaining Agreement has been a necessity for decades as management continually seeks ways to subvert our work rules and circumvent the protections of our basic rights. The assault on our profession has reached new lows as the power to manipulate the employees has grown exponentially by the power granted management by the Bankruptcy Court to abrogate our Contracts. Work rules and benefits that have been hard won through years of sacrifice, struggle and determination have been disappearing ever since United sought a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2002.

How much is too much and when is enough, enough? We have already experienced the 1113(c) process and previously acknowledged the economic reality that our airline would not survive without our help. As United demands further long-term employee cost reductions in this second 1113(c) process, we do not believe that the devastation demanded by our bloated management is in any way fair, equitable or at all necessary for our airline to emerge successfully from bankruptcy.

The situation we find ourselves facing today is not the hand of need, but rather the face of insufferable greed. The September 30, 2004 issue of the Economist states, "Mr. Tilton defends the industry's frequent recourse to the bankruptcy courts, quoted saying, 'So long as we have to fall under the scope of the Railway Labor Act of 1926,' he said 'Chapter 11 is the only way to gain leverage with the unions.'"

Since the beginning of United's bankruptcy, there has been a conspiracy and collusion between Glenn Tilton and those who financed our reorganization. Exploiting the bankruptcy court to provide them the unique opportunity to accomplish their goals, the banks want their investments collateralized by arbitrarily inflicting huge cuts on the unions. Through this misguided opportunity, United Airlines has declared war on us in proposed demands in cuts to wages, benefits and work rules. If management stands by these stipulations they will destroy United Airlines. We are not going to let that happen.

We are facing an unprecedented attack from all airline management upon the Flight Attendant career. While we must first prioritize our immediate strategy in defending our Contract, it is imperative that we look beyond the immediate and recognize the devastation that is looming over the Flight Attendant profession at all carriers, and the profession of all unionized industry workers. When the Wal-Mart strategy is applied to any group of employees, plunging the standard lower and lower towards the absolute rock bottom, it sets the standard in the industry the remaining carriers argue they must follow if they are to remain competitive. The demise of pension benefits, health care benefits, work rules, and wages at any carrier will eventually ripple through the industry creating an inevitability of repetition regardless of which airline we work for or, which union represents us.

"The current assault by airline management has evolved from seeking to cut costs on the basis of proven economic need to a destructive 'race to the bottom' that threatens to cause the collapse of wages, benefits and working conditions across the industry," said the AFA Board of Directors today during the annual meeting in Pittsburgh. "The bankruptcy process has emboldened airline management to use the court process to achieve cost reductions that are unfair and unnecessary."

Following the review of United management's demands presented to AFA on November 4, 2004, the United Master Executive Council unanimously adopted a resolution to prepare for CHAOSTM strike action in the event our Contract is rejected by the bankruptcy court. Today, the AFA Board of Directors unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a nationwide CHAOS strike to draw attention to attempts by the nation's air carriers to bust unions, destroy Contracts and obliterate our career. The Board of Directors called on airlines to withdraw and refrain from filing 1113 motions in bankruptcy court, and put management on notice that the abrogation of a Contract at any airline will trigger a CHAOS strike, subject to Membership approval. The Resolution also calls on all other airline employees, to join our strike action, and stand with us against management's greed.

The crisis that confronts our profession is dire and unprecedented, and we must address it with equally unprecedented methods. Never before has it been more important for us to come together, putting aside our differences and disregarding the notion of being separate, for what befalls any one of us, will ultimately be felt by all of us. Making a deliberate and conscious decision for all in the industry to stand solidly together and stop being on the defensive, we enable ourselves the power and right to take the offensive on that which truly is offensive and corrupt.

We will not let our profession erode quietly away into the night. We must not tolerate the unendurable. We will fight passionately, with more determination and unity than our industry has ever witnessed; and through our resolve we will fight them for every dime they unjustly seek to pry away from us. We will not allow a profession that has taken decades to build, be systematically stripped away from the dedicated individuals who have emphatically and wholeheartedly devoted themselves to the success and continuation of our profession. As we stand together to fight for our careers, it is imperative that we wear our AFA pin and take extraordinary care to gather the most current information through our website, Dear AFA, AFA E-lines and our Local Councils.

We call on each of you to reject managements attempt to engage in direct negotiations with their employees, and reject the notion that any of the demands made by United are necessary, fair or equitable. Management will do much in their attempt to distill fear, despair and panic in our workgroup with threats of liquidation. They may try to lull you into a false sense of security that they earnestly believe this is our only choice and what is best for all of us. Management has but one desire and concern, to take as much as they possibly can at a time, when the bankruptcy court provides them the means to do so. Management does not have your best interest at heart. We are fighting for our careers and our profession. AFA has our best interests and our very survival as the objective we collectively must achieve.

In Solidarity,