Promise
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The AFA will
negotiate better pay and benefits for Delta flight attendants.
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Reality
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The AFA can only ask
Delta to make changes. Delta has the legal right to say no to any
union demand that is unreasonable or not in Delta’s best
interest. If the AFA is not satisfied with what Delta is willing
to give, the AFA can call a strike.
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Promise
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The AFA will never
call a strike at Delta Air Lines.
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Reality
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Many unions have
made this promise during their organizing drives. After the
employees voted in the union, the union called a strike. Remember,
a strike is the only real weapon that a union has to try to force
its bargaining demands on management. Anyone who tells you
differently is either uninformed or is being deceitful.
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Promise
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The AFA will get
Delta flight attendants the "respect and dignity of a
contract."
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Reality
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Many AFA members are
discovering the hollowness of this promise as they are being
walked off of the property during the furlough process. The only
thing that can guarantee us respect and dignity is dealing
directly with a management that has consistently treated us better
than our peers are treated at the union represented carriers.
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Promise
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If there is a
strike, the AFA would pay our salaries out of its strike fund.
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Reality
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Strike payments are
only made at the discretion of the union. It is important to note
that the AFA does not have a strike fund, and according to its
recent LM-2's the AFA does not have any significant financial
reserves. Additionally, the AFA’s dues base is shrinking as
AFA represented airlines furlough thousands of flight attendants.
Other AFA represented airlines are shutting down completely. Even
if the AFA had the money, there is normally a waiting period of
two to four weeks before payments begin, and payment is generally
tied to a requirement that the employee to do picket line duty. In
addition to Delta cutting off the salaries of striking workers,
Delta has the right to stop paying for our families’ medical
insurance and stop our nonrev benefits. The strike benefits
provided by unions are minuscule, amounting to a mere fraction of
the employee’s normal salary.
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Promise
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The threat of a
strike would make Delta agree to union demands at the bargaining
table.
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Reality
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It is difficult to
predict the outcome of the collective bargaining process. Whether
or not a strike will occur will depend on many factors including
whether Delta can afford to agree to the demands of the AFA and
whether the AFA has to win concessions at Delta to appease union
members at the other airlines. Every year, thousands of employees
go on strike. These strikes can last days, weeks or years. Delta
will develop a contingency plan in case of a strike. This plan can
include the hiring of replacement workers for the striking
employees. Remember, Lorenzo replaced striking flight attendants
and pilots at Continental. These workers are still gainfully
employed at Continental, while many strikers had to leave the
industry.
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Promise
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The AFA can provide
job protections.
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A unionized employer
can fire any union member for "just cause" under a
contract. Just cause can be any good reason. At Delta, this is
already standard practice. Delta only discharges employees after
an extensive process of progressive discipline starting at oral
warnings and ending at final probation. An employee is only
terminated as a last resort. At Delta, more so than at many AFA
carriers, it is extremely difficult to get fired. The AFA will not
change this.
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Promise
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It does not cost
much to belong to the AFA
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Reality
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The AFA currently
charges $39.00 a month ($468.00 per year) to belong to the AFA.
Because of the poor financial state of the AFA, many are expecting
dues to be raised after this election. In addition to dues, AFA
members can be forced to pay fines or assessments. For example,
ALPA members paid a significant monthly assessment to pay the
strike salaries of striking Comair ALPA members. AFA can also fine
you for being disloyal or crossing a picket line. The AFA will
also charge us an initiation fee. Remember, if the AFA ever called
a strike, the cost will include lost homes and jobs.
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Promise
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The AFA wants to
help Delta Flight Attendants.
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Reality
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The AFA, like
all unions, is a big business. Like all businesses, the AFA wants
to expand its market share. Like all big businesses, the AFA has
expenses. Any dues collected do not directly benefit the
individual dues payer; they are used for union business. Our dues
will pay the salaries of union employees, contribute to the
organizing funds of the AFL-CIO unions, pay for expenses incurred
(parties and expense account dinners). Remember that for duration of this campaign, each AFA
member at every AFA represented airline has been paying a
mandatory $2.50 per month for six years into the AFA organizing
fund. This fund paid for glossy flyers, telephone calls, expense
accounts, hotel rooms, food, office space, lost hours compensation
for Delta AFA activists, and airline tickets.
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Promise
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The AFA can protect
Delta Flight Attendants from furlough.
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Reality
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The AFA negotiated a
contract at US Airways that contained strong "no
furlough" language. The US Airways contract guaranteed that
no US Airways flight attendant would be furloughed before 2005.
However, it is now 2001 and US Airways is in the process of
furloughing 2,500 dues- paying AFA members.
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Promise
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The AFA will cause
all of us to join together and become one cohesive group.
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Reality
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As we have
seen during this campaign, unions cause dissension. Unions
maintain power by pitting the employee against the employer. The
whole collective bargaining process is based on creating this
friction. A worker happy with the company is not a good union
member. You can also expect union supporters to attack those
employees who disagree with the union line or who do not support
the union. This creates additional divisiveness in the workplace.
We are seeing the beginnings of this divisiveness on our aircraft
now.
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Promise
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A union would fix
problems and improve our working environment.
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Reality
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Unions often create
more problems instead of solving existing problems. If we
unionize, we can expect conflicts, divisiveness, and poor
communication to come on the property with the AFA. We can also
expect even more dissatisfaction as the yes voters slowly find
that the union can never live up to the promises that the AFA's
activists made.
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