Message Board
AFA Pins and Bag tags
If you have not already, you should be receiving a letter from AFA via U.S. Mail. Included in this letter you will be receiving some informational packets as well as an AFA pin and bag tag. Employees are permitted to wear discreet union pins and insignia while on duty. Carriers cannot ban the wearing of union insignia, particularly when the carrier permits the wearing of non-union insignia. Any flight attendant or lead flight attendant has the right to wear an AFA union pin during organizing efforts and after. As stated in the August 18th memorandum form Steve Harfst "in order to make an informed decision, we urge you to speak openly with your co-workers and Inflight Supervisors." By displaying your AFA pin and bag tag you are openly showing your support for AFA.
We apologize in advance as these letters were only sent out to flight attendants who have a correct address on file with the AFA. If you did not send in a blue show of interest card, there is a possibility that you will not receive the package. As the AFA either does not have your address or the address we have on file for you is incorrect. This will not have any bearing on receiving your ballot card for the election, as the Company is required to give the National Mediation Board addresses of all eligible flight attendants. However, the Company is not required to provide AFA with these addresses. AFA will be sending additional informational packets as well as pins and bag tags to your steering committee, if you did not receive these items via U.S. Mail you can get them from your domicile organizing reps.
Union Election Timeline
The following is a brief synopsis of our union election timeline.
On August 10, 2009 we filed with the National Mediation Board (NMB) for a union election. To file with the NMB we were required to have 35% of the union authorization cards submitted.
AFA requested 60% of the cards to be returned to show strong support for the election. We returned an amazing 80%.
The NMB notified the Company on August 11th of our filing for a union election. The Company is required to provide the NMB with a list of flight attendant addresses and signature samples within ten business days. The addresses and signature samples are needed to verify the authenticity of the union authorization cards as well as to send out election ballots.
Once the required number of union authorization cards have been authenticated by the NMB, they will officially certify an election. At this time, the Company will be required to post a notice detailing set election dates.
Election voting begins once ballots have been mailed out by the NMB. Ballot information will be sent to each eligible flight attendant via U.S. Mail. You will also be receiving a pin number for internet or telephone voting.
With such a small group, the AFA is predicting that the election period will be approximately 3 to 4 weeks.
After the election period has ended there will be a ballot count and the NMB will announce the results.
Please note that 50+1% of flight attendants must cast a ballot in order to win the election. The Company's goal may be to keep flight attendants from voting, as votes that are not made are considered "NO" votes. The Company may start a campaign suggesting flight attendants destroy their ballots, as it is very difficult to get a duplicate ballot.