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From: Kevin Griffin
T1: kevingriffin@nwaflightattendants.com
Category: Northwest News
Date: 18 Jan 2006
Time: 03:06:03 -0500
Remote Name: 66.91.94.61
The following has come in today via email from the PFAA. Most could have said "told you so" but we should all be writing instead and get some action taken on this matter. Be positive. The wake up call has come. Time to get out of bed with NWA! ------------------------------------- PFAA CAT Hotline for January 17, 2006 Given developments at the negotiations table and bankruptcy court today (1-17-06), it would appear that Northwest executives have reneged on pledges made to various U.S. Senators and Representatives, in which the company stated - via NWA Vice President and lobbyist Andrea Fischer Newman - that management had set a target concessionary number that PFAA could chose its own manner to reach. For example, in a November 22, 2005 letter to Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Ms. Newman claimed: "...as we have told all of the unions, our proposals represent one method of achieving the necessary labor cost reductions. If they prefer a different manner of achieving equivalent savings, we are open to those discussions..." At this late and dark hour we ask all Flight Attendants to contact their Senators and Representatives (visit pfaa.com to find your Senator's or Representatives contact information: http://www.pfaa.com/News/Bankruptcy/1113(c)proc/FAX.asp via fax, email or phone, with the following letter: Dear Senator or Representative _______________ I am a constituent and a Flight Attendant for Northwest Airlines. I am writing to you to enlist your help in protecting American jobs, as Northwest Airlines - via bankruptcy proceedings - is attempting to outsource thousands of Flight Attendant positions to cheap labor from foreign countries. In a recent letter from NWA Vice President Andrea Fischer Newman to many Senators and Representatives, Ms. Newman stated: "... as we have told all of the unions, our proposals represent one method of achieving the necessary labor cost reductions. If they prefer a different manner of achieving equivalent savings, we are open to those discussions. There is no ultimatum here, nor any specific desire to target American jobs, just a very real need to restructure the airline's labor costs and return to profitability for the benefit of all our employees." Despite this statement and without regard to the nearly $195 million the Professional Flight Attendants Association (PFAA) has tentatively offered this week in annual savings in negotiations, NWA management continues to demand that thousands of Flight Attendant jobs be sacrificed in order for the airline to reach a final agreement. In what smacks of efforts to revise previous demands, in the January 17 edition of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune Northwest Airlines now publicly states that the Flight Attendants union "simply overlooks the reality that PFAA's members do not provide the language skills that Northwest requires." The article continues: "The airline said that 60 percent of Northwest's Pacific passengers originate from Asia, yet fewer than 5 percent of Northwest's flight attendants speak any Asian language." By that statement we contend that Northwest Airlines has broken its pledge to many Representatives and Senators that the company is not issuing ultimatums to its employees. Furthermore, we find the company's public statements shockingly racist, un-patriotic and un-American, especially given Northwest Airlines' history as one of the premier and oldest United States flag carriers. We call upon you to contact Northwest President/CEO Doug Steenland immediately to redress this breach in promise. Please help us save our careers from this terrible scheme to outsource our safety-sensitive positions to non-Americans. Sincerely, NWA Flight Attendant