Please share this with flight attendants
who are not sure what to do. Despite the fact that the Association of
Flight Attendants (AFA) has sent out many newsletters and flyers over the
past few years, there are flight attendants who are only paying attention
now that they have a ballot in their hands. They have ignored the AFA,
gone about their regular lives, and not payed much attention to the AFA.
Now that we have an election, some of them have many questions. We
encourage you to give them our link http://www.deltafa.org
or send them to the Freedom Force.
There is excellent information on both sites to help them with their
decision.
Why are Nancy Lenk, Pat Friend, and the all of the
AFA activists having regularly scheduled conference calls with Delta
flight attendants NOW? (Hint: The AFA can feel this election slipping from
their grasp and are doing whatever possible to try to generate interest so
they can get our dues money to prop up the shaky finances of the AFA.)
We understand there have been questions recently
about little "bombs" that the union is throwing at us to confuse
us. For example: Pat Friend claimed in her recent speech before the 2001
AFL-CIO convention in Las Vegas that Delta was union free because it kept
flight attendant wages "up near the top of the industry and (was)
basically treating its employees well" (If this is really true, why
does she tell us that we need the AFA? For that matter, why is the AFA
even in Atlanta anyway. Shouldn’t the AFA concentrating on the 9,000
flight attendants who are now in unemployment lines?)
Read on and educate OUR flying partners about what
is going on. The AFA is trying to manipulate us to throw us off of our 60
year path of success; this decision belongs to US not the AFA.
For example, the AFA claims to have a copy of a
confidential Delta document called: "In-
Flight Service: Positive Employee Relations Plan and Strategy" April
15,2000 (confidential)
Yet, they have not scanned this document and posted
it on their website in its entirety. The AFA has provided no way for us to
authenticate it. They say that they submitted it to the National
Mediation Board (NMB) as part of the interference charges. However, we
do not know anything other than they submitted it. We do not know if this
document constituted actual interference or just more AFA spin. It
is a shame that we already cannot trust a group that needs us to elect it.
Confusing issues and making us react emotionally is
part of THEIR plan to confuse us and make us elect THEIR
union.
The AFA is working on its own seven year plan. It
started in the mid 1990's. We have been bombarded with all kinds of
information to make us paranoid and mistrust our company. The most
volatile of our coworkers have gravitated to the AFA because it gives them
an outlet to pursue their own personal grudges against the company. While
the AFA remains interested, their grudges are financed by the $2.50 per
month that all AFA members are required to pay to the Delta organizing
fund.
Since the filing with the (NMB), the AFA has started
the second phase of its campaign. In this phase, the AFA is engaging in a
negative smear campaign against Delta. It started with the trumped up
interference charges. The AFA was quick to point out that the NMB found a
prima facie case of interference. Yet, they do not want us to know what
this term really means, so they gave us a sophomoric definition based on a
regular Webster’s Dictionary definition. They told us that prima facie
means "self evident; based on immediate impression; apparent."
On this simplistic definition, the AFA claims that the NMB found that
Delta interfered in this election.
However, if we look closer, we find that they are
engaged in sophistry. In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Law, prima
facie is defined as " at first view: on first
appearance absent other information or evidence" Since the NMB did
not investigate the interference charges, there is no way of knowing if
there was Delta interference. All the NMB found was enough of an
allegation to merit an actual investigation after an election.
Why would the AFA misrepresent the findings of the
NMB? The AFA wanted to make its activists and the rest of us feel that
Delta is doing something wrong. The AFA hopes to create misdirected,
righteous indignation to help its cause. At least with the activists, it
is working.
What else is in the AFA plan? Intimidation.
We have heard that in some bases, AFA activists are spreading around lists
of who submitted cards and who did not. They are implementing this tactic
at our homes, on our layovers, in our lounges, and on our jumpseats. The
AFA figures that if they cannot get our votes by merit, they will do it by
fear. If you are a target of intimidation, remember the AFA can only harm
you if you elect it. After February, it will be gone and you will be safe.
If you see AFA harassment, let us know. We are tracking incidents.
The AFA says that Delta has furloughed flight
attendants. Yet, everyone who elected to take a leave chose to take their
leave voluntarily, and they have all of the benefits that went with the
leave. On what does the AFA base their allegation? In Orlando, flight
attendants who did not want to take a leave were displaced to other bases.
Displaced flight attendants were given three thousand dollars to move and
given a priority status to get back to Orlando. The company was fair in a
difficult situation. It is a shame that the AFA will not be fair and give
us truthful information.
By distorting the truth, the AFA is attempting to
try to scare us into voting for it. Even those who have taken the
voluntary leaves are not immune to AFA intimidation . Much like a pack of
wolves stalking a lone animal that has become separated from its herd, the
AFA is concentrating on leave takers because the AFA feels that those on
leave may feel isolated and are vulnerable. The AFA is telling them that
Delta is not going to recall them; they no longer have jobs. Yet, the AFA
knows that any flight attendant who took a Quality Time Out (QTO) during
Leadership 7.5 and who wanted to return to Delta were reinstated as flight
attendants. Yes, the AFA is engaging in this despicable behavior, but the
AFA is desperate and will say anything to get a vote. It is part
of the AFA’s plan.
AFA will continue to manipulate the truth as long as
it feels that it can get votes with a negative campaign. Deltafa.org would
prefer the AFA to tell us what they can guarantee us instead of running
this negative campaign. Instead of standing for something concrete that we
can examine, it is running a negative campaign of no substance.
The purpose of the AFA’s negative campaign is to
try to confuse us and make us mistrust Delta.
We encourage you to let those who
have still not made up their minds know that the AFA has been manipulating
us for quite some time.
We know that this letter has been long, but we would
like to close with one observation —— Pat Friend is the President of a
multimillion dollar business called the Association of Flight Attendants.
She and her minions have come to Atlanta to increase the market share of
her business. Does anyone really believe she came to Delta to help US when
she has admitted on numerous occasions that Delta treats us well and keeps
our pay and benefits at or near the top of the industry? How can we forget
President Friend’s statement that the AFA needs Delta to guarantee THEIR
benefits? It just doesn’t make sense that we
need the AFA. If it doesn’t make sense, it's probably not
true.
We also think it is interesting that the AFA says
that they can get us a "legally binding contract" when in the
past the AFA has not been able to enforce contractual provisions that it
has already negotiated.
Why do all of the posters on the JoinTogether board
sound like they have the same person writing their posts for them? Why are
they so emotional? Is there a hint of paranoia in their messages? Why do
the same handful of people write in over and over and over? If there is so
much pro AFA support, wouldn’t we see thousands of different people
participating in the Join Together list serv?
And finally, What's love got to do with it? Nothing.
We believe that the Henry Rollins Band in the song LIAR
sums up the AFA strategy and is more appropriate than any other song that
comes to mind. Here is an excerpt:
because everything I say, is
everything you've ever wanted to hear
so you drop all you defenses, and you drop all your fears and you trust me
completely. I'm perfect in every way
'cause I make you feel so strong and so powerful inside
you feel so lucky
but your ego obscures reality that you never bothered to
wonder why things are going so well.
you want to know why?
'cause I'm a liar, yeah, I'm a
liar
I'll tear your mind up, I'll burn your soul
I'll turn you into me, I'll turn you into me
'cause I'm a liar, a liar, a liar, a liar...
I'll hide behind a smile and
understanding eyes
and I'll tell you things that you already know so you can say:
I really identify with you, so much
and all the time that you're needing me is just the time
that I'm bleeding you, don't you get it yet?
I'll come to you like an
affliction then I'll leave you like an addiction
you'll never forget me... you wanna know why?
‘cause I'm a liar, yeah, I'm a
liar
I'll rip your mind up, I'll burn your soul
I'll turn you into me, I'll turn you into me
'cause I'm a liar, a liar, a liar, a liar...
This is still our decision. The union is crossing
the line. It is intruding into our personal lives and work lives in a
major way. Please let the union know this is inappropriate.
In solidarity,
The Staff at deltafa.org
DeltaFA.org
www.deltafa.org
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