{"id":3969,"date":"2019-04-16T19:02:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T02:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/?p=3969"},"modified":"2020-06-28T18:32:13","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T01:32:13","slug":"a-newsletter-to-connect-cwa-passenger-service-professionals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/?p=3969","title":{"rendered":"A Newsletter to Connect CWA Passenger Service Professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"CWA<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Newsletter to\nConnect CWA Passenger Service Professionals <\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Spring 2019 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is the CWA Agents Connected\nnewsletter. CWA represents over 20,000 passenger service and fleet service\nemployees at American Airlines, including mainline American Airlines and\nregional carriers Piedmont and Envoy. In this newsletter we cover stories of\ninterest to agents at all three airlines. If you’d like to suggest a story or\nshare a picture of you and your co-workers taking action to build our union,\nemail us at info@cwaagents.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dates to Remember:<\/strong>
\nEnvoy Bargaining: April 17-19<\/em>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Wage Increases Top\nPriority List in Envoy Survey <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By James McKnight, Envoy\nagent and member of the CWA Bargaining Team<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month Envoy agents voted not\nto ratify the tentative agreement reached between the company and our\nbargaining team in January. Now, the results of our CWA-Envoy bargaining survey\nare in. The survey responses will shape the bargaining team’s strategy as we\nnegotiate changes to the tentative agreement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wage Increases are clearly the\nmost important issue for our members, with 96% rating this as a top 1, 2, or 3\npriority. Almost tying for second place were Wage Scales (56%) and Bonuses\n(54%). About 30% of those who took the survey said that Health Insurance Costs\nare a top priority, followed by Length of the Contract (26%) and Vacation\n(22%). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first meeting with Envoy\nis April 17-19.<\/strong> As a member of the bargaining\nteam, I know that we will be focused on winning improvements in all the areas\nhighlighted in the survey, but we can\u2019t do it alone. We need strong and visible\nsupport from our members at every station\u2014that really means everything when\nwe\u2019re sitting across from the company\u2019s negotiators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members at DFW have scheduled a\nbig Rally for Fair Wages for April 17, and we’ve had some amazing photos of\nmembers from across the country posted on Facebook<\/a>, showing our solidarity. Send a picture of agents\nat your station wearing stickers to info@envoyagents.org<\/a>\nand we’ll add it to the album. Help build the green wave! And if you need pins\nor stickers send your request to info@envoyagents.org<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At MIA, we\u2019re planning shop\nsteward classes for our new wheelchair attendants so they will understand the\npower of a union. We\u2019re looking forward to their input and support as we move\nthrough this new bargaining process to achieve a livable wage for everyone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can get more involved by\nsharing this link<\/a><\/strong> with your coworkers so they can sign\nup for updates and alerts. And you can wear your CWA pins and stickers to show\nsupport for our bargaining team. If you need a pin or sticker, send an email\nmessage to us at info@envoyagents.org<\/a>. If you\u2019d\nlike to join the Mobilization Team, just contact your local organizer or fill\nout a contact form here<\/a>.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also want to encourage everyone\nto support each other as passenger service agents, whether you\u2019re at Envoy,\nPiedmont, or American\u2014and to support workers in other industries too. For\nexample, this month I\u2019m joining a commemoration of the successful fight for a\nunion for janitors at the University of Miami\u2014which included janitors and\nstudents joining forces in a hunger strike. When you see someone walking a\npicket line or having a rally, why not step in or give them a shout of support?\nWe are all stronger together! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Fight for Assault\nProtection Continues <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Marge Krueger, Director\nof Airline Passenger Service<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As of\nJanuary 1, 2019, new protections from assault went into effect for passenger\nservice agents across the country. Our members fought for more than ten years\nto get these protections passed by Congress, but the fight isn\u2019t over. Since\nJanuary, Union representatives from CWA and IBT  have been meeting with\nAmerican Airlines to determine exactly how we will implement tools and policies\nto make the assault protections a reality at all our airports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, one of the critical\npoints is the kind of signs and warnings that will be visible at airports.\nRepresentatives at these meetings are calling on the company to make a strong\nstatement that tells passengers that verbal and physical abuse will not be\ntolerated. We refuse to settle for anything less because this is what agents\nneed and deserve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hear the stories of \u201cairport\nrage\u201d from  agents, and I see it myself on a regular basis. As numbers of\nflights go up and delays related to weather and equipment increase, so will the\ntension and anxieties of passengers\u2014and that\u2019s what leads to verbal and\nphysical assaults. We need to implement real protections as soon as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will continue to update our\nmembers as we work with the company to implement policies to protect agents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Piedmont Agents\nStepping Up at Local 13301 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Gwen Ivey<\/strong>, President,\nLocal 13301<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Piedmont workers are stepping up\nlike never before in Local 13301, and I couldn\u2019t be prouder. We\u2019re looking\nforward to training about 16 new Piedmont stewards at the end of April. This\nyear I\u2019m seeing more and more agents getting motivated to be leaders, and\nthat\u2019s exactly what we need in order to serve our members and help our union\ngrow stronger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Renee<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll be mobilizing for political\naction in the next few months, and one of our chief stewards, Renee Shields, is\ntaking on a big role in getting members registered to vote. In early April\nRenee spent time in Washington, DC, at the We The People conference and\ntraining. She had a chance to hear eight presidential candidates and CWA\nPresident Shelton talk about the challenges facing our labor movement at this\ndifficult moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renee says, \u201cThe DC training\nbrought CWA members from different industries together so we could see what we\nhave in common and learn from each other. I\u2019m looking forward to helping people\nget registered to vote and then mobilizing!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Renee and\nanother chief steward, Robert Hersh, were recently appointed administrative\ncoordinators for the 800 Piedmont agents at PHL. They\u2019re doing excellent work\nwith our brand new regional chief steward, Jose Rivera, to build stronger\nrelationships between agents and managers across all eight Piedmont stations in\nLocal 13301. Jose is a long-time union activist\u2014first as a corrections officer,\nthen at Envoy, and now as a veteran of five years at Piedmont, so he knows the\nropes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jose explains, \u201cWe want to get\nall our Piedmont members engaged, so I\u2019m in the process of visiting each of the\nstations to listen to agents\u2019 concerns. I see some real progress being made.\nWe\u2019ve now got a good structure in place, and a lot of support from our\nexecutive board.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations to all our brand\nnew and long-serving shop stewards, and thank you to every one of our Piedmont\nmembers for their positive thoughts and actions each day. If you want to get\nmore involved, please talk to one of our shop stewards\u2014we need you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Latest from the\nLocals: <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Public Service Matters\nat Local 3140 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By Georgina Felix,\nPresident, Local 3140<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our members have been doing some\ngreat volunteer work over the past few months to make Miami Dade a little more\nbeautiful. One of our biggest projects happened late last year, when Local 3140\nofficers and volunteers grabbed some hard hats and gloves to join United Way\nand an organization called Kaboom to build a new playground at Excelsior\nCharter Academy. We all look forward to doing more together to serve our\ncommunity, our members, and their families. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you to all who came out and\nvolunteered! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Empowering Stewards at\nLocal 3640 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By Vickey Hoots, President,\nLocal 3640<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our CWA\nLocal 3640 members have been hard at work for the past few months increasing\nthe number of well-trained stewards. We trained ten stewards in February and\nanother nine in March, and eight more in April. We\u2019d like to give a special\nthanks and shout out to Vonda Hardy, our North Carolina Staff Representative.\nVonda is teaching all our classes and has had a lot of positive feedback from\nthe new stewards who are excited to take a greater role in our union. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations to all the new\nstewards! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-envoy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}