Herb to the rescue!!

[SWAInflt]

I don't think it's a minority view to say that the F/A's are very, very much appreciated by the pilots at SWA, as well as the rest of the company. You guys & gals do a tremendous job with some long days and occassionally tough situations, and a lot of people (I among them) really admire what you do, and it is NOT a throwaway line to say that we hope you get a good contract, and soon. Hopefully Herb's entry will make that happen sooner rather than later.

Thank You. One thing that works in our favor where flight ops is concerned is that you guys actually see what our jobs entail. So much of our work is done outside of the rest of the company's view it's tough for them to get the whole picture. Ground Ops just sees us goofing off in the jetway or sitting in the food court during ground time. When that is all you see...it appears the job is all fun and games. They of course are not there when 17C threatens to kick my a$$ if I don't serve him his 4th Amstel Light, the UM in 3A blows chunks all over 3B and 3C and Grandma in 6F realizes she is supposed to be on a plane to Jacksonville, FL not Jackson, MS...all at the same time on a 28 minute flight. Like alot of things in life you have to actually experince this job to truly "get" it. We're not splittin the atom or curing cancer here, but it is tougher than it looks.

I think much of the distrust and unappreciation (?) is directed not at the flight attendants themselves, but at some of the "leadership" of the union and the negotiating tactics & propaganda they've put out.

Yeah, I know. This of course is the main problem with collective bargaining. We're stuck with each other. I'm not used to having my fate in someone else's hands and frankly it sucks. I think the idea behind the strategic bargaining campaign was that we as a membership have very little leverage given industry conditions. The only ace in the hole was to play the "pity" card. Take it to the streets so to speak. Make it more "politically expensive" for the company not to pay. It is no secret that this company is fiercely protective of and deeply cherishes it's public image. The only problem is the most of the traveling public doesn't care if we've got Grandma Moses throwin bags for 2 bucks an hour as long as we keep the cheap tickets coming. I don't remember any impassioned letters to the editor by longtime frequent fliers pleading with SWA management to do by their flight attendants.
In my estimation we have garned plenty of attention but very little actual sympathy. Secondly, this membership was angry. Especially, those who felt that they got shafted by the 97' contract. The leadership wisely understood that if they came off looking soft....the more vocal factions of the membership were not going to stand for it. Any policitician will tell you, do what you need to do to get the swing voters but never forget to take care of your base. I think we will know very soon if the strategy worked. The main problem with bringing a compromise TA to the membership is dialing back the rancor that has been generated. The bile is flowin' man and it's gonna be a trick to get alot of the members to listen to reason now. But Thom is a pretty good salesman. I think he can pull it off.

Wanting to see you get a good contract and a fair contract and hopefully getting it quickly, is (as you probably well understand) not at all the same thing as suspending judgement of all that goes on, and after a while a LOT of pilots are seeing a pattern of duplicity in the TWU leadership's statements (both to the press & to the membership).

Fair enough and understood.

Recently, there was some suggestion of a notional "vote of no confidence" in Jim Parker among the F/A's. It was suggested in private discussions that maybe a confidence / no confidence vote in the union leaders & tactics would be more informative.

Hmm. That's new to me but given how ugly this got I'm not surprised. Was this before or after Jim stepped out of the negotiations? As for TWU leadership.. I believe we had a change at the helm after the last barely passed contract. If history repeats itself, I suspect the same thing will happen. For now at least, Thom and the rest of the NT remain pretty popluar and the membership is pretty united. In part likely because we realize that if we fragment we don't stand a chance.

I hope Herb can get things unjammed & you all get a good contract soon. My opinion of the Flight Attendants, the People, that I fly with, is very high. My opinion of the F/A union leadership is very low. I'm sorry that the one is represented by the other, particularly when it looks like the agendas have significant differences.

I understand. Deep down, I really do think the leadership has the interest of the membership at heart. I've spoken with Thom McDaniel at length and came away impressed. I think if anything he and the rest of the NT are like that parent at the soccer game who keeps yelling at the ref. He's just lookin out for his own...just goin about it in a way that rubs everyone the wrong way.

Just a personal opinion, but one that I think is very close to the mainstream in the company.

I think you're right.

All the best getting a good contract soon.

Thank you. The sooner the better for sure. I'm hopin Herb can bring this one in under the 2 year mark. He's got about 40 days and the clock is ticking.