The 44th Annual AFA-CWA Board of Directors Meeting
in Atlanta, GA. May 23-24, 2016
by Maribeth Kuhn, President, RAFA Chicago
Two newly organized carriers were represented at this year’s BOD Meeting. They are GO JET and American Trans International (ATI). Both carriers are in negotiations and have not completed electing their officers. I spoke with both representatives welcoming them to AFA. They were impressed with the Solidarity and Spirit of the delegates.
I was very impressed by Debbie Miller, ATI Interim MEC Chair. Debbie retired from United in 2013 upon the closure of the MIA domicile. She is 68 years old and truly understands the need for a union. ATI flies Military Charters in a 757 with 42 passenger seats. The back of the aircraft carries Secret Cargo. They are staffed with 3 FA’s. Their 37 FA’s are home based which means they live all over the world. They deadhead to foreign cities to pick up their assignments. They are given 7 days notice of all assignments. It is so different from United but she appears to thrive on the work and her customers.
International President Sara Nelson had a guest speaker on Day Two who was extremely interesting. I think that most RAFA members would have been interested in his presentation. Kenny Hansmire, Executive Director of the AFCA/FBI National Child Identification Program (NCIDP). He is making an identification kit available for parents to purchase for $3. The kit allows all child guardians to take fingerprints and DNA swabs for their children. His group will pay half of the cost of a kit if ordered before June 15, 2016. The parents need one for each child, follow the instructions and once done keep the data in their possession for specific need in the future. I thought it was so valuable that I ordered 1200 kits for my members, which I will pay for out of our treasury. If you are interested I would contact your LECP to add your numbers to theirs. I believe that Sara Nelson has decided to pay for the $1.50 for all AFA-CWA members but check to make sure.
Stan Kino (pictured far right, above), newly elected Vice President at Council 11 (SFO) made a presentation of APALA, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance an organization that addresses the needs of Workers, Immigrants and Civil Rights. As always Stan was excellent. He specifically addressed the work being accomplished in the area of LGBTQ members as related to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). I have a membership form if you are interested.
Last, but not least, Christoper Lee, Communication Director for AFA-CWA, led a workshop on their new Newsletter Sending System. I had an opportunity to speak with Christopher as I thought this NSS might be useful for RAFA. He is just rolling this system out and it is not available for anyone but AFA-CWA. He said that in the future it might be possible for us to piggyback into. The main concern, for RAFA, is that it will be necessary to download, and keep accurate, member records. The system is free to all Local Councils.