Report from Joe Wieslander, C4236
MEC/LEC Government Affairs Chairperson
Briefing 2010,
joewieslander@cs.com,
602-317-7144
Below is a
general information list in no particular order.
NMB ruling still pending – public comment dates passed and
hearings held.
Flight PAC, building our dollars program 2010.
Cell Phone use on Aircraft – never ending concern that Flight
Attendants would need to manage this as related to Security.
Carry-On Baggage – Uniformed Flight Attendants keep exceptions,
TSA to refocus on people and not just on baggage.
FMLA – When does the new laws take hold. / Short term Disability
Drug Testing
F/A Fatigue and how the survey results affect the HP FA
F/A Profession – selling chips or a safe professional Flight
Attendant?
Pensions- 401k – matching funds. Retirement Programs - travel
Security Training – Call our PHX training center for details –
602-693-0800
OSHA Protections and standards clarifications.
Parking for F/A – support for those who support our Flight
Attendants-Harry Reid/Hector Adler
Open Skies – Do Mergers create more value to the customer –
Justice Department? Foreign Ownership.
Stock for stock mergers and debt is the real subject
Employee Free Choice Act and forming Unions, Collective
bargaining
MALF- Maricopa Area Labor Federation, (a monthly meeting for
#66)
PALF- Pima Area Labor Federation, (developing a flight attendant
roster for Tucson) Local TUS elections-Gifford’s
AZ – AFL-CIO and how our union dues are spent – the local #66
leadership/Tracking affiliates, (Friday meetings start soon)
Clean Elections
ruling – still in federal court -
Judge Roslyn Silver – January 2010
Keeping an eye on who is running for state and local offices-
John Shadegg-R AZ resigns soon and Jon Hulburd is running others
lining up – impact to AFA – Nomination Petition – Cristy Lopez
–District #16 – South PHX
CWA/AFA state council signs new By-laws – January 2010 – A
relationship for our future.
CWA State convention is coming to PHX– please attend – more
information to come.
Crew Interference – keeping the personal fines high to reduce
occurrences
Mandatory Arbitration – Our right to vote strike and have fair
representation.
Health Care and our fight to retain quality and affordable
health care – Blue Cross/Blue Shield-United Health Care?
House Passes Bill To Help Airline Crews Care For Family Members
Washington, DC - Today the House
of Representatives passed legislation originally authored by
Congressman Tim Bishop (NY-1) to ensure that flight crews are
treated fairly and are able to qualify for Family Medical Leave
Act (FMLA) benefits. Airline pilots and flight attendants
currently face unexpected hurdles to qualify for FMLA. These
hurdles are unique to airline employees since their non-flying
hours are not counted toward their total hours of service. To
remedy this situation, Bishop introduced the Airline Flight Crew
Family and Medical Leave Act to clarify the original FMLA 1993
law. Senator Patty Murray introduced a companion bill, which was
passed by the Senate last month and came before the House for a
final vote today. The bill now goes to President Obama for his
signature.
"Because of the unique way that
airline personnel's hours of work are counted, many workers have
been unable to take advantage of the leave under the Family
Medical Leave Act,” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, Chairwoman of the
Committee on Education and Labor's Workforce Protections
Subcommittee. "This legislation which the House has passed
today, changes that, and airline workers will now be able to
take much needed time to care for a sick child, parent or
spouse.”
"When airline crewmembers need
to take time away from serving passengers in order to care for
themselves or family members, they face unexpected hurdles. This
bill would prevent crewmembers from being losing out on their
FMLA benefits, which have helped so many working families in
this country,” said Bishop, a member of the House Education and
Labor Committee.
"We are very pleased at the
passage of Congressman Bishop's FMLA bill, which finally
addresses loopholes in the current language that have denied
many flight attendants from qualifying for coverage," said
Patricia Friend, International President of the Association of
Flight Attendants-CWA. "Every flight attendant in this country
is so grateful to Tim Bishop for passing this legislation on
such a strong bipartisan basis."
The FMLA requires most employers
to provide job-protected unpaid leave to employees who have
worked 60 percent of a full-time schedule over the course of a
year. However for flight crews, non-flight hours on the job,
between flights or on mandatory stand-by do not count toward
their FMLA credit. The Airline Flight Crew FMLA would correct
this unintended oversight of the original legislation.
For over 60 years, the
Association of Flight Attendants has been serving as the voice
for flight attendants in the workplace, in the aviation
industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill. More than 50,000
flight attendants at 20 airlines come together to form AFA-CWA,
the world's largest flight attendant union. AFA is part of the
700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA),
AFL-CIO. Visit us at
www.afanet.org.
