***UPDATE 16th January 2011***

Voting has begun for our Tentative Agreement:

• Polls open on the 16th January 2011 at 1400 ET
• Polls close on the 3rd February 2011 at 1400 ET

Make sure you are informed before casting your vote.  Any information regarding the TA, can be sent to your Negotiations Committee at negotiations@afacompass.org.  Your supervisors are not informed to answer your questions, they were not at the negotiations table at any point.  Some provisions within sections, took as long as 5 months or more to reach an agreement.  Your Negotiations Committee has notes from each session, as to who said what and when and how provisions were agreed to, and what the provisions mean, not your supervisors. 

Remember that your supervisors are salaried employees of this company, their jobs depend on doing what is right for CPZ/TSH.  Whereas your AFA leadership are line flight attendants, who are NOT salaried employees of AFA-CWA, who are in fact volunteers and not reimbursed for all of their time serving our membership.  Your AFA leadership is serving the best interests of the Compass flight attendants.

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The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) Legal Department sent an official complaint to Trans States Holdings and Compass Airlines, and demanded a retraction, regarding the letter sent out by the General Manager of In-Flight on the 6th January, claiming that your Compass AFA Negotiations Committee, "agreed to recommend this Tentative Agreement".  AFA-CWA Legal has also strongly advised the company, to desist from interfering with the voting process.  Click here for more information.

To view this letter, click here.

Minimum Wage Violations at Compass Airlines, are now in the hands of the AFA-CWA Legal Team.  Click here for more information.

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New today - Delta FAs just got raises!  2 percent raise 1-11 years 3 percent for year 12 onwards:

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FACTS:

1) Let us be clear, not one member of your negotiations committee or the MEC, EVER stated to the company or to AFA International or to the mediator, or to our negotiator, that we would recommend this TA for ratification.

2) Mgt also states that there was NO bad faith bargaining. The mediator has the notes as to what transpired, so do we. Let us also be very clear, the company stated that if we resolved the insurance premiums, the 37.5 hours and the duty rig issues, that the company would go to industry standard for ALL of the longevity steps. We resolved those issues and the following morning, the company reneged on going to industry standard for ALL longevity steps. The mediator was furious and even the NMB was notified as to the actions of the company's team at the table.  Mediators in other parts of the country, who were with other AFA groups, were also aware later that day, as to what had happened at the Compass bargaining table.

3) As we have also just discovered, the company has now instituted a 1% company match for our 401k. At the table the company told us it would be 3%. Another bad faith bargaining move from the company.

4) We agreed to the final terms.  However the final terms your Negotiations Committee agreed to, differ from the ones being presented to you in this TA.  There were 4 items that were bargained over in the last few hours of our session, as part of an overall agreement.  There is an open dispute on one of the terms, the cost of living increases.  This was only discovered after your Negotiations Committee was afforded the opportunity to review the TA Summary and final written proposals, a week after the conclusion of the mediation session.  We tried to resolve this issue and the company was notified on the 2nd Dec, that if they did not change their position on this issue and if we were forced to present this TA, we would send it out with a NO vote recommendation.  At which point, the company emphasised that the $200 bonus for each year of completed service, would disappear altogether if this TA wasn't ratified on its first vote.

5) We plan to give FULL disclosure of all of the facts as to what transpired, during our road shows. Your team also directed our International office to notify the NMB of the dispute in the final terms, on the 2nd Dec.

6)  The minimum wage violations that were submitted to the DOL, involved CDOs.  The TSH attorney told the admin person at the DOL, that our 4 hours not flying, during the CDO, was spent languishing in a hotel and that we were NOT on duty.  This is completely false and the matter has been taken up by AFA International's legal department.  The proposed pay scale in this TA, will still result in minimum wage violations.

7) The pilots will preparing for their negotiations when there contract opens up early next year.  It is very difficult for any company to have their main two working groups in negotiations at the same time.

8) The company negotiations strategy all along has been to create a reign of terror environment, so FAs would be scared about being visible and vocal.  If someone is fearful just for wearing their AFA pin, the company can be guaranteed that there will not be 420 FAs at the negotiations table, but only a handful.

9) For 18 months of the current In-flight management's reign, they had been adamantly opposed to allowing the AFA reps into the new hire classes.  Our whole goal was to ensure that the new hires understood that they too had a voice in what was happening during negotiations, that their feedback was just as important to us and that they could have a voice by being a member.  Due to management's opposition for us to present to the new hires, we ended up conducting informal presentations at local hotels, hoping that the new hires would show up.  There was even adamant opposition to us even advertising our off site presentations, to the new hires.  Thankfully, someone else in the training dept allowed us to drop off the flyers!

From the TA, the pay rates for the first two steps were brought up to just about the industry standard, while the rest of the longevity steps fall far below.  With the company bad faith bargaining, by telling us they would go to industry standard for all steps, if we resolved 3 other economic issues. We resolved those issues, the company reneged.  The company let us into the new hire class in Nov! 

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401K Changes - After 6 weeks of trying to get confirmation of what the company actually means by 'discretionary' for the company match, in the new 401K plan, we received an answer this week.  Unfortunately the TSH company match is at 1% and has been 1% for a long time.  At the negotiations table, CPZ/TSH stated that the company match was 3%, we agreed to the 401K provisions in the contract, locking in the current TSH policy based on that information.  However, they have now stated 1%.  We think this amounts to a 2% paycut.

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The Contract Road Show Meetings have been set.  It is imperative that you try to attend one of these sessions. Regardless of where you stand right now on this TA, the pros and cons to ratifying or rejecting this TA, along with the process, will be provided in detail.  You will need to know this information to better understand what will lie ahead and what will need to take place, one way or the other.

We will also be holding council meetings next week, in advance of the AFA Annual Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting in Feb. There are agenda items that will need membership discussion and voting, in order for your officers to vote in accordance with your wishes you at the BOD. The agenda items will also be published as soon as we receive them from AFA International.

Road Show Contract Meeting Schedule:

• MSP - 9th Jan 1000-1300, 1330-1630 & 1700-2000
• MSP - 10th Jan 1000-1300, 1330-1630
• MSP - 11th Jan 1000-1300, 1330-1630
• DTW - 12th Jan 1000-1300, 1330-1630
• DTW 13th Jan 1000-1330, 1330-1630

Council Meetings:

• MSP - 10th Jan 1730-2000
• DTW - 12th Jan 1730-2000

All meetings in MSP will be held at the Crowne Plaza Suites, MOA (formerly Holiday Inn Suites), 3 Appletree Square, Bloomington, MN, in the Taylor Room. All meetings in DTW will be held at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, near the airport, 8800 Wickham Road, Romulus, MI.

Please talk to your co-workers as well and make sure they have the information for the road shows.

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The following documents are now posted online for you to view:

• Letter from your Negotiations Committee;
• Tentative Agreement (TA) Summary;
• Is This What You Are Worth?  TA pay rates in comparison to all other regional airlines;
• Entire text of the TA;
• TSH believes that Compass FAs belong in the bottom third of regional pay;
• What Happens Next?

Please click on the Negotiations - TA tab at the top of this page, or click here to view these documents.

• IS THIS WHAT YOU ARE WORTH?  DOES THIS REWARD YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SUCCESS OF COMPASS AND ENSURING BEST IN CLASS STATUS?  Click here to view the proposed Tentative Agreement pay rates, in comparison to all of the other 'regional' carriers.

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MINIMUM WAGE VIOLATIONS AT COMPASS

Compass flight attendants have taken action against Compass management’s repeated failures to pay front line first responders a living wage.  Several Compass Flight Attendants filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Labor office in Minneapolis, in October, alleging management repeatedly failed to meet the minimum wage provisions established by the Fair Labor Standards Act.  

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COMPASS MEDIATION Q & A

What does it mean we have filed for mediation?

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New MEC/LEC Secretary - Michael Nelson

Mike was elected by the Compass flight attendants last week, to serve the membership as the MEC/LEC Secretary.  Thank you to all who ran, participated and voted in this election.

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September Negotiations

Compass management ONLY made 2 attempts to negotiate fair wages at the negotiations table.  After only their 2nd pass for a compensation proposal, Compass management informed your AFA Negotiations team, that their 2nd pass was their final position and that they were "not interested in moving any further".  Their 2nd proposal was still far below the industry average and was far from acceptable.  Are we going to stay "Best In Class - Worst in Pay" or are we going to stand up as the safety professionals we are and be rewarded for the hard work that we do?

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FLIGHT ATTENDANT UNION FILES FOR MEDIATION AT COMPASS AIRLINES

Click here to view press release.

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CHECK OUT OUR NEW COMPASS AFA FAN FACEBOOK PAGE!  Are you a fan yet?

Be the first to get updates, by joining our networks

Facebook Compass AFA Fan page - www.facebook.com/CompassAFA

FaceBook Group:  Association of Flight Attendants – Compass Airlines

Website:www.afacompass.org

Hotline: 1-800-424-2401, press 1, then 294#

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Flight Attendant Union Honors 9-11 Heroes And Reminds Public Of Their Roles As First Responders

Earlier this month the union launched an on-line memorial to the honor the 25 crewmembers who were among the first to alert the world to danger and courageously fought back on September 11, 2001. AFA’s memorial Never Forget may be viewed at www.afacwa.org/neverforget/.

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Flight Attendant Union Calls For Strike Vote

PSA Airlines Flight Attendants are gearing up for a possible strike at the carrier, after mediated negotiations with management recently stalled over compensation.  Strike vote ballots were sent to the over 300 PSA Flight Attendants, with a vote count scheduled for September 14.  For more information, click here.

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