A Newsletter to Connect CWA Passenger Service Professionals
Spring 2019
This is the CWA Agents Connected newsletter. CWA represents over 20,000 passenger service and fleet service employees at American Airlines, including mainline American Airlines and regional carriers Piedmont and Envoy. In this newsletter we cover stories of interest to agents at all three airlines. If you’d like to suggest a story or share a picture of you and your co-workers taking action to build our union, email us at info@cwaagents.org.
Dates to Remember:
Envoy Bargaining: April 17-19
Wage Increases Top Priority List in Envoy Survey
By James McKnight, Envoy agent and member of the CWA Bargaining Team
Last month Envoy agents voted not to ratify the tentative agreement reached between the company and our bargaining team in January. Now, the results of our CWA-Envoy bargaining survey are in. The survey responses will shape the bargaining team’s strategy as we negotiate changes to the tentative agreement.
Wage Increases are clearly the most important issue for our members, with 96% rating this as a top 1, 2, or 3 priority. Almost tying for second place were Wage Scales (56%) and Bonuses (54%). About 30% of those who took the survey said that Health Insurance Costs are a top priority, followed by Length of the Contract (26%) and Vacation (22%).
Our first meeting with Envoy is April 17-19. As a member of the bargaining team, I know that we will be focused on winning improvements in all the areas highlighted in the survey, but we can’t do it alone. We need strong and visible support from our members at every station—that really means everything when we’re sitting across from the company’s negotiators.
Members at DFW have scheduled a big Rally for Fair Wages for April 17, and we’ve had some amazing photos of members from across the country posted on Facebook, showing our solidarity. Send a picture of agents at your station wearing stickers to info@envoyagents.org and we’ll add it to the album. Help build the green wave! And if you need pins or stickers send your request to info@envoyagents.org.
At MIA, we’re planning shop steward classes for our new wheelchair attendants so they will understand the power of a union. We’re looking forward to their input and support as we move through this new bargaining process to achieve a livable wage for everyone.
You can get more involved by sharing this link with your coworkers so they can sign up for updates and alerts. And you can wear your CWA pins and stickers to show support for our bargaining team. If you need a pin or sticker, send an email message to us at info@envoyagents.org. If you’d like to join the Mobilization Team, just contact your local organizer or fill out a contact form here.
I also want to encourage everyone to support each other as passenger service agents, whether you’re at Envoy, Piedmont, or American—and to support workers in other industries too. For example, this month I’m joining a commemoration of the successful fight for a union for janitors at the University of Miami—which included janitors and students joining forces in a hunger strike. When you see someone walking a picket line or having a rally, why not step in or give them a shout of support? We are all stronger together!
The Fight for Assault Protection Continues
By Marge Krueger, Director of Airline Passenger Service
As of January 1, 2019, new protections from assault went into effect for passenger service agents across the country. Our members fought for more than ten years to get these protections passed by Congress, but the fight isn’t over. Since January, Union representatives from CWA and IBT have been meeting with American Airlines to determine exactly how we will implement tools and policies to make the assault protections a reality at all our airports.
Currently, one of the critical points is the kind of signs and warnings that will be visible at airports. Representatives at these meetings are calling on the company to make a strong statement that tells passengers that verbal and physical abuse will not be tolerated. We refuse to settle for anything less because this is what agents need and deserve.
We hear the stories of “airport rage” from agents, and I see it myself on a regular basis. As numbers of flights go up and delays related to weather and equipment increase, so will the tension and anxieties of passengers—and that’s what leads to verbal and physical assaults. We need to implement real protections as soon as possible.
We will continue to update our members as we work with the company to implement policies to protect agents.
Piedmont Agents Stepping Up at Local 13301
By Gwen Ivey, President, Local 13301
Piedmont workers are stepping up like never before in Local 13301, and I couldn’t be prouder. We’re looking forward to training about 16 new Piedmont stewards at the end of April. This year I’m seeing more and more agents getting motivated to be leaders, and that’s exactly what we need in order to serve our members and help our union grow stronger.
We’ll be mobilizing for political action in the next few months, and one of our chief stewards, Renee Shields, is taking on a big role in getting members registered to vote. In early April Renee spent time in Washington, DC, at the We The People conference and training. She had a chance to hear eight presidential candidates and CWA President Shelton talk about the challenges facing our labor movement at this difficult moment.
Renee says, “The DC training brought CWA members from different industries together so we could see what we have in common and learn from each other. I’m looking forward to helping people get registered to vote and then mobilizing!”
Renee and another chief steward, Robert Hersh, were recently appointed administrative coordinators for the 800 Piedmont agents at PHL. They’re doing excellent work with our brand new regional chief steward, Jose Rivera, to build stronger relationships between agents and managers across all eight Piedmont stations in Local 13301. Jose is a long-time union activist—first as a corrections officer, then at Envoy, and now as a veteran of five years at Piedmont, so he knows the ropes.
Jose explains, “We want to get all our Piedmont members engaged, so I’m in the process of visiting each of the stations to listen to agents’ concerns. I see some real progress being made. We’ve now got a good structure in place, and a lot of support from our executive board.”
Congratulations to all our brand new and long-serving shop stewards, and thank you to every one of our Piedmont members for their positive thoughts and actions each day. If you want to get more involved, please talk to one of our shop stewards—we need you!
Latest from the Locals:
Public Service Matters at Local 3140
By Georgina Felix, President, Local 3140
Our members have been doing some great volunteer work over the past few months to make Miami Dade a little more beautiful. One of our biggest projects happened late last year, when Local 3140 officers and volunteers grabbed some hard hats and gloves to join United Way and an organization called Kaboom to build a new playground at Excelsior Charter Academy. We all look forward to doing more together to serve our community, our members, and their families.
Thank you to all who came out and volunteered!
Empowering Stewards at Local 3640
By Vickey Hoots, President, Local 3640
Our CWA Local 3640 members have been hard at work for the past few months increasing the number of well-trained stewards. We trained ten stewards in February and another nine in March, and eight more in April. We’d like to give a special thanks and shout out to Vonda Hardy, our North Carolina Staff Representative. Vonda is teaching all our classes and has had a lot of positive feedback from the new stewards who are excited to take a greater role in our union.
Congratulations to all the new stewards!